BY KIM MARSHALL | OTISFIELD If John Wallach’s visions are realized, Otisfield will become an eventual haven for young adults from around the globe—whether Arab, Turkish, Irish or American—looking for solutions to the conflicts by which they are surrounded.
Wallach, the founder and president of Seeds of Peace, has already established an internationally-recognized conflict-resolution program for Arab and Israeli youth. But now that Seeds of Peace has signed a 10-year lease on the former Camp Powhatan property, eliminating the time constraints of camp-sharing, the opportunity exists to expand the program and share a message of hope all summer long.
“It’s a tremendous breakthrough,” said Wallach, who can normally be reached at Seeds of Peace’s office in New York City, during his recent visit to the Otisfield property.
In the future, perhaps as early as summer 1998, Wallach envisions several separate three-week programs—possibly adding a program for Greek and Turkish youths and another for Protestant and Catholic teens from Northern Ireland, while continuing the well-established Arab-Israeli program. The skilled team of counselors who support Seeds of Peace’s conflict-resolution work can apply their successful approach to any situation, said Wallach.
Wallach would also like to expand an annual session for American inner-city youths, who have been a focus of Seeds of Peace’s programs since the initiative’s founding in 1993.
“Nothing would please me more than to have a separate program for 150-200 [inner-city] kids,” he said.
But this summer, as the new Seeds of Peace International Camp adjusts to its first year of operation, there will be only one three-week session in July—for approximately 170 Arab and Israeli teenagers representing eight countries. The inner-city youth program will also continue, and this year Seeds of Peace plans to offer scholarships to a number of underprivileged Maine teenagers so that they can attend, said Wallach.
Wallach, an accomplished author and journalist, describes the Seeds of Peace program as a “detoxification center,” where children who have been poisoned with hate can be cured. Youths who would be considered “enemies” at home are brought together in a coexistent environment in which they play, learn, eat and sleep together, with the hope that they can learn to embrace their neighbors in a shared goal of peace. As if part of a “kids’ [United Nations],” participants attempt to solve the problems of their parents and grandparents, said Wallach.
The need for such a program is evidenced by the growing number of young people who wish to become involved. Seeds of Peace received applications this year from approximately 4,000 youths, said Wallach, for roughly 161 openings. Many of those youths were defying their parents’ wishes just by applying, he said.
But for those who can participate, the benefits are often great. Seeds of Peace recently caught a glimpse of the future when a young man named Rayd, a participant in the initiative’s first program in 1993 who later returned as a junior counselor, was awarded a full, four-year scholarship to Harvard University.That accomplishment was likely due in large part to Rayd’s involvement with Seeds of Peace—a “bold, innovative, challenging experience in the most beautiful place in the world,” according to Wallach.
“I believe that at the end of our process we’ll have presidents and prime ministers that come out of our program,” said Wallach.
And Maine, the “most beautiful place in the world,” can rest secure in the knowledge that Seeds of Peace’s founder considers the program’s location to be critical to its success.
“Maine has a great reputation for making peace in the world—I always think of this as coming as close as you can to the world God created. It’s an ideal setting for people to begin to make peace with each other,” said Wallach.