Seeds of peace
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Transcript of Seeds of peace
Seeds Of Peace
The actual Genesis of Seeds Of Peace goes back to the world trade center in February 1993 when that took place in New York.
So It was the Logical idea for the Great John Wallach to bring the next generation of young people together in an age before they've been poisoned by the hatred of the past and they will not think about where they come from , they'll just see each other the way they are no matter what their backgrounds are.
Seeds Of Peace is a place where everybody is equal , It's a safe place to discuss things and forget sometimes which countries they come from , It gives the opportunity to kids from both sides to meet , to understand each other , to learn, to know each other, and to say that there are a lot of other Angles to look from in the problem not just the way that you look from , and It might be a drop in the ocean but sometimes when the drop is good enough , it makes an influence on everyone.
Then maybe one day we'll get two leaders here , an Israeli prime minister and a Palestinian president and they are both graduates from Seeds Of Peace and they both decide to have their first summit meeting at Seeds Of Peace all in the woods of Maine.
Seeds Of Peace really makes a difference on people's lives and a difference in the next generation.
John Wallach
John Wallach Has An Award-‐Winning Author And Journalist.
He founded Seeds of Peace in March 1993 to provide an opportunity for the children of war to plant the seeds for a more secure future.
From 1968 to 1994, John Wallach was the Foreign Editor of Hearst Newspapers, which syndicated his articles through The New York Times News Service. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, he was seen regularly on PBS’s Washington Week in Review, on many CNN programs, on NBC’s Meet the Press and on other network news shows.
In 1980, he was named the BBC’s first Visiting Foreign Affairs Correspondent and was a regular contributor to NPR, BBC and CBC. Among the stories he broke during his journalism career are the Iran-‐Contra affair, for which he received the National Press Club’s highest honor (the Edwin Hood Award), and the CIA’s covert mining of Nicaraguan harbors. John also received the highest diplomatic award from Georgetown University’s
School of Foreign Service, two Overseas Press Club awards and the B’nai Birth Humanitarian Award for helping publicize the plight of Soviet dissidents.
He was the founding editor of WE/МЫ, the first independent weekly newspaper in Russia, and was the creator of the Chautauqua Conference on US-‐Soviet Relations, for which he received the 1991 Medal of Friendship, the highest civilian award, from President Mikhail Gorbachev. President Jimmy Carter also presented him with the Congressional Correspondents Award for his coverage of the 1978 Israeli-‐Egyptian Camp David Accords.
From 1997-‐1998, John was a Senior Fellow at the United States Institute of Peace, which published his book The Enemy Has A Face: The Seeds of Peace Experience. He was also a teaching fellow of the Woodrow Wilson National Foundation. His awards include honorary doctorate degrees from Middlebury College and the University of Southern Maine, his selection as Washingtonian of the Year by Washingtonian Magazine, and the Legion of Honor presented by His Late Majesty King Hussein of Jordan. He was also honored in November 2000 by UNESCO for promoting tolerance and non-‐violence.
John co-‐authored three books with his wife, Janet: Arafat: In The Eyes of the Beholder, Still Small Voices and The New Palestinians. The Wallach’s have two sons.
John died of non-‐smokers lung cancer on July 10, 2002. He was 59 years old. What Seeds Of Peace has been doing since 1993 is so powerful , bringing people together from different countries. People were prepared to hate their enemy. But the effect of Seeds Of Peace on many people’s lives changed this fact. From my personal experience , my dream was since I first heard about Seeds Of Peace is to be there and to be a part of this great family , and now that I went there and that I’m a part of this family I couldn’t be more proud of myself , what I had accomplished and how I’m inspired by these amazing people. This was a life changing experience. It changed my life , and other’s lives. I learned everything from this wonderful camp , also the fact that many great people before me and before many seeds were in the same place , I’m so honored. I’m so honored to call this amazing and wonderful place my home and so honored to call these people my awesome and incredible family. No matter what I said about camp won’t be enough. And here’s some seeds thoughts about how did they change
and how camp was for them from the first day till the last one: *How did seeds of peace changed me. Hard question... And I could go on for days writing how it changed me. But I think I have the perfect answer I remember the first day, the bus going through the gates.. Seeing everyone dancing and screaming and I was standing alone on the side and I asked myself where am I? I was scared I won't fit in Seeds Of Peace ... Then it all changed, and the days went on.. I met amazing people that I'm sure I won't forget Stephanie, Tim, Perri, Salma, Ben, Louisa, Christine becca, Isabelle, way way more people ... I could go on naming almost everyone in camp! And then came the last day... And I left that gates asking myself where am I going leaving my home? -‐Rizek Bahbah / Palestinian Delegation *My seeds of peace experience my experience at camp.. how can I even describe it? it was amazing. It was the experience of my life, I got to do things that I would have never done without seeds of peace. I got to know amazing people, people from my country and people from other countries, that before seeds of peace were my "enemies".. I got to see these people as human beings, not as a state and without all of the stereotypes. I got the tools to think in another way, a way of peace, a way of understanding, I got the right to be between amazing people. I
got to be heard and understood. seeds of peace changed my life, it gave me the wish to change things. seeds of peace, the way life could be. From day one at camp, I changed, I had so much fun, and I opened to hear new things. -‐ Tom Grishin / Israeli Delegation *I would say camp has changed me in many different way's it sculpted a very mature more exposed to new ideas more confidant version of the person I was. And I am forever grateful for that , first of all I got to meet such amazing people that I cared for so much and I never had such relationships outside my family ever before I mean I had "friends" but the fact that they're in quotations kind of explains my relationship with them ,and concerning the political aspect I also got exposed different idea's different points of view I'm not going to share the specifics of my political views here but I will say that they were changed radically not in a brain washing sense but just in me being more informed I also would say I have matured over the course of those 3 weeks I can't exactly say how cause honestly I don’t know it's just that I feel it somehow I'm defiantly not the same person that I was for better or for worse but honestly it's for better .. -‐ Ameer Rayan / Palestinian living in Israel
*Seeds of Peace was certainly the greatest experience I had. From the first day to the last. I'm extremely grateful for the things I learned from the camp, it was an impressive transformation process. At first, I arrived at camp full of excitement and optimism, wanted to meet everyone there. The welcome party boosted the spirit in me. Then I went to the bunk for the first time, and I saw Palestinians, Israelis, Jordanian, and an American. At that moment I recalled all the stories I've been hearing about the conflict and Palestinians and Israelis problems. I started thinking how am I going to get a along with these people ? Am I going to sleep with Israelis in the same room ? I can say that this moment was the scariest to me in the camp. Then I started knowing the people in there and realized they were just regular people. Later on before dialogue, I started to realize that we are all the same and we should respect each other and no big deal. Then dialogue came, I started hearing different opinions, I started hearing hard things, offensive things. It was intense. I can't doubt that after the first dialogue, I had some hard feelings towards some of my friends I made. But afterwards, in the Group Challenge sessions, the magic happened. After several sessions, I realized again that we are all humans, we're friends , we have to depend on each other to do one mission. But most importantly, we had to leave our arguments and differences behind to work together. Without trust, we can't take a step forward, we'll never
accomplish anything. I wanna tell a story about trust, that happened with me at camp. There was this day where we had Group Challenge, and we had to do climbing. Ehud and me were assigned to do the third high ropes (with the tires and planks), so at first we were helpers to the counselors holding the ropes for the first climbers. We watched them as they climbed all the way up. Then came our turn and we stepped forward. The counselor said "Ehud and Bassem, are you ready to climb?". So we said "yeah, we can do it", then she said "Blind Folded". My face almost turned white, I couldn’t believe it. So anyways, we tugged tight the ropes and started climbing. I couldn't see anything, Ehud the same. I tried to climb first alone, Ehud tried, we couldn't. Then we started helping each other. We stepped on each others hands and shoulders, it was tough. But there was this point, I was above him in a higher level in the high ropes and he told me "Hey Bassem, I can't do it man, can you come down and help me ? " then I started thinking about how high I was and how difficult it was to get me at that level, but then I realized that we're in this together and there's a Friend behind me needing my help. I didn't think that we just have to get to the top or anything, I knew that there was a Friend behind waiting for me. So I climbed down and started helping each other to the top. That moment when we held each others hands and stood together on the tire and removed the blind folds. I was the most proud of myself in my
life. I accomplished an extremely hard goal with someone who in my country they call "Enemy". Since then, he became my best friend at camp. I was impressed of how we trusted each other and counted on each other so much. We had the best view of camp up there at the sunset. There, was how the transformation process succeeded. Now, I'm not judging people of their country or old history. I'm judging individuals. Even though, we used to have arguments in dialogue, now we respect each other and trust each other and are more open minded to listen to each other. In the dialogue sessions after, I couldn't feel the tension and frustration that we used to have at the beginning of the camp. We started to listen to each other more, and put our self in others places. Our perspectives were expanded now. Empathy was given, love and care were sensible. That moment I realized how beautiful is the field. That "Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there's a field I'll meet you there. When the soul lies down in that grass, the world is too full to talk about. Ideas, language, even the phrase "each other" doesn't make any sense." We are now talking with humanity principles leaving all the old taught beliefs behind. Everyone is talking as a human to a human. We're not using the phrase "each other", we are united now, we are one. There are so many beautiful memories at camp that changed in me. However, to sum up, Seeds of Peace, it's a magical place. -‐ Bassem Louis / Egyptian Delegation
*In seeds of peace i have achieved something more worthy than anything in the world. I have achieved hope. Hope for improvment, hope for development, hope that things could become better. At the last few days of camp, i was completely overwhelmed by the spirit of everybody. During color games, it was unrelevant wheather you were american, palestinian or israeli. It was ONLY about people. I truly believe things could change. I path is difficult to pass, but it is possible. And as soon as humanity makes it, we will reach the field. -‐ Shir Amir / Israeli Delegation
We do so many things during camp , all kind of sports like basketball, football , softball , Frisbee , volleyball , … etc and water activities like sailing , water skiing , canoeing and swimming … Drama , art , music. What we also do during camp is the dialogue ( we talk about the conflict ) which is important and the group challenge which is related to the dialogue like climbing high ropes with your eyes open or blindfolded with someone from different delegation and someone you don’t trust yet trying to reach the top and switch places , so many other activities and all the activities that you do at camp you do it with your dialogue
group. We like to recognize each delegation formally at a flag raising ceremony, to show respect and appreciation for their participation. We ask each one to sing their national anthem while everyone else remains respectful. We all stand together just outside our front gate, while a second year camper (Peer Support or PS) from each delegation makes a short speech to the new campers and many guests from Maine. The media also likes to cover this colorful event each year. Once all the anthems have been recited and all the flags are waving high above us, we join together, arms around each other, and sing the newly-‐learned Seeds of Peace song. The only flag which flies inside the gate is the green Seeds of Peace flag. The others remain waving outside the gate. This makes the entrance to Camp very colorful and welcoming. The flags from both sides of the conflicts, hanging next to each other, reflect the equality we hope to maintain in our Camp. International night where everybody wears the traditional costume of their country and the traditional dish as well , It’s really great. Color Games is a really fun and exciting thing at camp , the whole camp is divided into two teams blue and green they are
equally divided but also it’s balance of talents. They may be playing against their brothers or friends from the same delegation who are on the other team and they have to unite with their enemy in order to challenge the other team, which is a really amazing and powerful thing to do , to see everybody united . They do pretty much everything they did during camp for 3 days there’s camp events , individual events and team events it creates a level of intensity and a level of respect , team work , and communication, it creates bonds among people when they work together for this one very common goal of supporting their team. The winning team goes first to the lake then the next team joins with their clothes on and start hugging each other with their excitement and fun a sight you don’t want to miss. For me and I’m sure to others as well, every little thing we did and every event that happened were our favorite, from the first time we stepped out of the bus , to flag raising , to cheers in the dining hall , to every activity , talent show , international night , line up , bunk nights , seadogs game , color games , going to the lake and so so much more. Everything we did was so awesome and I’ll never ever forget all these great things we did, and every event that happened , best memories ever.
Whenever I look at this beautiful lake , this beautiful place I feel so happy deep down , just by looking at the lake and this beautiful place you immediately have this Great hope for a Greater future.
We all should have faith in each other, with the right mix of guidance, compassion , capacity to listen and strength we all can achieve peace maybe not tomorrow but hopefully soon , because inside of us we all are leaders and together we can make the world a better place.
Singing the camp song. Photo credit: Bobbie Gottschalk
Group picture. Seeds Of Peace 1st session 2013
Seeds Of Peace camp song: I am a Seed of Peace, a Seed of Peace, a Seed of Peace. I am a Seed, a Seed of Peace. I am! You’re what? A Seed! That’s right. I am a Seed of Peace. Peace, peace, peace, peace.
People of peace, rejoice, rejoice! For we have united into one voice: A voice of peace and hate of war; United hands have built a bridge between two shores.
We on the shores have torn down the wall; We stand hand-‐in-‐hand as we watch the bricks fall. We’ve learned from the past and fear not what’s ahead; I know I’ll not walk alone, but with a friend instead.