Sowing Seeds of Peace
At first glance, it looks like any other summer camp. Kids are swimming, playing football, working together on a rope course, and canoeing. But if you take a closer look, you’ll see that most of the kids are from countries engages in conflict – Israel, Palestine, Afghanistan, India, and Pakistan. Each summer for 3 ½ weeks , Seeds of Peace brings together 14 and 15 year olds to Maine. They are there to express their feelings about their country’s conflict and to learn from the other side.
This past October, as part of the Woodrow Wilson Visiting Scholar program, Barbara “Bobbie” Gottschalk, Executive Director of Seeds of Peace, spent time meeting with over 400 students, faculty, and staff in classroom settings, meals, and public lectures talking about how the Seeds of Peace camp has changed enemies to friends – from generational conflict areas of the world – for over 17 summers.
In addition to regular camp activities, campers take part in daily group dialogue sessions about the conflict led by a trained facilitator. More than 2,000 participants have graduated from the Seeds of Peace camp and then returned to their regions for regular meetings and coexistence programs.
Her stories of the struggles and hopes of these young people helped the USF community to better understand how we are all part of the “Global Village” – the theme for this year’s iConnect courses.
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Previously Featured
- Assisting Surgeries Right from the Start
- Internally Auditing a Fortune 500 Company
- Respecting creation and using resources wisely
- Journey of a Lifetime
- Bringing Travels Back to the Classroom
- When Ice Cream and Accounting Go Hand in Hand
- Sowing Seeds of Peace
- Students on Pilgrimage to Assisi and Rome
- The Birthplace of an Ocean
- Serving One Another, Society, & the Church
- Our students try to give of themselves, “from head to toe.”
- Hands-on Learning with a Professional Artist