A Visit to the Seeds of Peace Camp
by Isabel Denham
Seeds of Peace
campers enjoy
their belaying course
Last spring, the board of Seeds of Peace asked the faith communities of Maine to donate a scholarship ($2500) for one student to attend the Seeds of Peace camp in Otisfield, Maine, where youngsters from countries in conflict meet to try to learn to coexist.
As the Social Action Director for the Unitarian Universalists of Maine, I made the pitch for this idea at our May meeting. I also asked my own congregation, First Universalist of Yarmouth, to consider donating. At our annual meeting the congregation decided to donate a whole scholarship. Because of this gift, our members were invited to attend "Congregations to Campers" day on August 3. The six of us who went are thankful that we did.
The waterfront on Pleasant Lake offers swimming and boating;. there are tennis courts, fields for baseball, soccer, and cricket, and a ropes set-up for belaying and climbing. There are buildings for art and discussions.
We had the opportunity to observe a "coexistence session." The young people from Israel, Palestine, and Egypt, had already had several weeks in camp and in other coexistence sessions. At this one they were eager to tell how much they had learned and how they had changed their minds about ideas they had before they arrived.
They said they had discovered that their "enemies" were human beings like them, who wanted peace and a happy family life. They had concluded that their own governments were not perfect and had made mistakes. They also attacked the media and their schools for skewing the facts and not always telling the truth. They vowed that, when they got home, they would share with their families and friends the new insights they had gained. The counselors warned them that it would not be easy and that they must be careful for their own safety.
A topic that was not on the agenda, but kept coming up, was the danger they live in, with bullets screaming into their houses, friends and family being killed, and the likelihood that they will have to serve in the military. It was hard not to weep at times.
Seeds of Peace richly deserves public support; it is one of the happy stories we can tell in these contentious days. We should be proud to have it in Maine.
Back to Peace Talk Index, Autumn, 2002