BY OMAR KELLY | When he boarded a flight from Egypt to the United States over the weekend, 15-year old Mohammed Wasfy had his heart set on accomplishing a mission some deemed impossible.
“Friendships,” he said. This is my chance to make friends out of enemies.”
Mohammed’s flight landed in Boston less than two hours before he put his plan into action.
Clad in his blue jeans and white T-shirt, Mohammed took the first step toward his goal. During the first activity of the Seeds of Peace program, he hung out with teenagers from eight different Middle East countries, all at once, for the first time in his life.
Mohammed is among the 150 teenagers participating in Seeds of Peace, an internationally recognized coexistence and conflict-resolution initiative based in Washington.
Through teenager participants from Qatar, Tunisia, Jordan, Israel, Egypt, Palestine, Morocco and Greece, the program works with the next generation of Arab and Israeli leaders to promote Middle East peace.
Yesterday these young leaders spent the first day of their three-week stay in the United States in Boston. The remainder of the trip will be spent at a campsite on Lake Androscoggin in Maine.
“Most of these kids have never interacted with each other before. They were too busy fighting, “said John Wallach, the program’s founder and a former foreign editor for the Hearst newspapers.
“We get these kids together so that they can build a new foundation for peace. Forget the older generation. They’ve been fighting for years,” Wallach said. “The only chance we have is building the next generation before they begin to hate.”
The future world leaders participate in a camp that resembles the United Nations with a teenage twist. Their mission: learning how to get along and live on friendly terms with one another in a way that has eluded their countrymen.
Day activities at the camp include sporting events and fun and games while the evenings will be reserved for serious discussion at summit-style forums.
The participants are chosen through schools in their home countries. And each year the camp brings back the best participants for more.
The goal is to dispel fear in the hearts of the next generation, preparing them for the arduous task of peacemaking. By nurturing lasting friendships, trust and teamwork, this program makes it possible for youngsters to become the seeds from which an enduring peace will grow, Wallach said.
Iddo Shai, a 16-year-old Israeli student, is participating for the third time. He said the program has helped him, along with others, explore feelings and fears they have about one another.
“Everyone is learning to understand and empathize with those feelings from different and conflicting backgrounds,” Iddo said. “I learned even though we have differences, we are all very similar people.”
Yesterday, these young ambassadors, between the ages of 13 and 17, began their Boston visit by attending a New England Patriot’s exhibition football game at Foxboro Stadium.
Also on the group’s agenda is a visit to Harvard University, a picnic with young people from the Boys and Girls club on Talbot Avenue at Franklin Field in Dorchester, and a benefit performance by Marvin Hamlisch, the writer for the Broadway show “The Chorus Line.”
Seeds of Peace receives no government support. The primary source of funding is private donations.
“These children are helping to make peace, but it takes about $2,000 to pay for every kid who participates and we need the financial support,” Wallach said. “This program is the only chance we have with building the next generation before they begin to hate.”