Planting the seeds of peace

“I was shot in the spine by a soldier.” “My grandmother was killed by them on a train.” “My friend was killed by their rockets.” “My uncle was in that building they blew up.” The truth of these “them” narratives strikes a sense of sorrow and despair into the listener. For somebody who does not come from a conflict region, the pessimism of these tales is magnified by the young age of the narrators; between 13- and 17-years-old.
Adolescence is a fragile stage of life because innocence soon shifts into the skewed world of adulthood. Along with employment, responsibility, and maturity, an unhealthy stubbornness and closed mind may shape our view of the world. It is crucial for young people to be given the chance to dispel the myths of political, religious, and ethnic propaganda through dialogue before it is too late. Planting the seeds of peace means giving young people the tools to grow with the skills of education, communication, and community-building.
Young minds are easily molded by what happens around them, quickly soaking up information from their surroundings and reflecting it in thoughts, feelings, and actions. People who come from regions of conflict too often emulate the violence that plagues their homes. Vengeance, claims of righteousness, jealousy, and poverty fuel the blind hatred of ethnic, religious and socio-economic conflicts the world over. Stereotypes are built on baseless foundations that go unchallenged. However, it is understandable for a young person who has never met anybody from the “other side” to harbor ill will.
Imagine a young Palestinian whose best friend was shot dead before their eyes by an Israeli soldier. Or an Israeli adolescent who lives within range of rocket fire from Gaza. Or an Egyptian or Jordanian teenager who hears stories of invasion and war from their grandmother who lost her husband in battle. Or an American kid who constantly hears about turmoil in the Middle East and South Asia, but does not truly understand the ramifications of American foreign policy. Imagine experiencing these things without personally knowing anyone from the place where the hatred comes from. Your only perspective comes from what you hear and what you have seen firsthand. This is where “they” take on a group identity and the people behind “them” lose their human qualities. Once this happens, it is easy to justify violence against them because their lives are now worth less than yours. This is the danger of stereotypes everywhere.
Now imagine a 15-year-old Palestinian boy who was shot in the back by an Israeli soldier, and a sixteen year old Israeli boy whose cousin was killed by a suicide bomber at a checkpoint. They have never openly conversed with anybody like each other. They now lie side by side trying to fall asleep in a small, lakeside bunk on a humid summer night in the American state of Maine. Initially their interactions are timid and often reserved for tepid conversations, but day after day they wake up together, serve breakfast to each other, swim and play sports, make music and art together. They shout and scream at each other, and have both shallow and deep discussions with each other about football, love, and life. They laugh and cry together, sharing their dreams and emotions with the other side for the very first time. Every year since its founding by journalist John Wallach in 1993, this is what happens at Seeds of Peace International Camp.
At Seeds of Peace, young people from conflict areas are given the opportunity to share and grow for an initial three weeks in the safe haven of summer camp. The staff of Seeds of Peace work hard to harness positive energy and extract intense dialogue from the people who have assembled from the United States, Middle East, South Asia, the Balkans, and Cypress with the hope of bridging the gap of understanding. The overall goal of Seeds of Peace is nonviolent coexistence between all people. This may sound like a fairytale wish, but the process witnessed during the summer camp is truly magical.
By the time the kids leave camp to return home with their respective delegations, a transformation has taken place. People who hated each other three weeks earlier, and came to camp with an agenda to prove their side as right against their enemy, now tearfully hug and kiss each other goodbye with promises to stay in touch. Returning home as alumni, or “Seeds”, an implanted sense of unity is evident in their future goals. “They” lose their alien identity and become “us”. This is revealed in the words of Egyptian Seed, Yomna, who says, “I now believe that I'm Egyptian another is Israeli, another is Palestinian, but at the end of the day we are all humans and we should all deal with each other regardless of color, religion, or nationality. Now I deal with human beings as human beings. Before Seeds of Peace I didn't have those beliefs at all”.
The World Bank estimates that 36 percent of the Middle East and North Africa is under the age of fifteen, with this percentage of younger people growing dramatically over the next forty years. Future world leaders will have to responsibly deal with the repercussions of these demographics for peace and stability to exist. Perhaps this is why Seeds of Peace has the support of people like Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, Her Majesty Queen Rania, Colin Powell, George Mitchell, Her Majesty Queen Noor, Kofi Annan, and Shimon Peres. Mahmoud Abbas says, “The youngsters at Seeds of Peace are my symbol of coexistence and peace in the region”. These leaders of today know that young people are leaders of the future.
The young people who attend Seeds of Peace have the courage to confront and tear down the ideas so deeply entrenched in many of their peers. They return home with the strength of friendship and the power to make a difference starting with their own community. They are optimistic, yet realistic. Yomna says, “You may change the way 200 people think in three weeks, but you can never change the way 6 billion think of you all the time.” She is right, but also believes the avenue of change Seeds of Peace provides is a critical step towards reconciliation.
Check out Seeds of Peace for more information.
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