Seeds of Peace Memo

Date: February 14, 2011

To: Lynn Gilden

From: Alfonso Sanchez

RE: Seeds of Peace

Violence around the world has divided humanity, whether it is due to religion, terrorist attacks, or political views. Each side experiences the negative outcome that comes from violence and places the blame on the rival actor, creating a stereotype of: guilty by association.  This creates a social road block that constricts communication and creates hatred on each side.

The program, Seeds of Peace tries to resolve the violence by creating friendships in an attempt to eliminate the violence and hatred for one another.  It attempts to break down this social road block by placing people from rival sides that have been divided by violence together in a stress free environment. The awkward situation forces the two to work together and to get a better understanding of each other.  In hope, that they will be able to persuade their friends and family that their neighbors are friends and not enemies. 

The Seeds of Peace attempts to achieve this goal by requiring a certain portion of the day dedicated to dialog.  During this session of dialog the two must communicate and share personal experiences with one another.  This allows the two to get to know one another and see, firsthand, how each side is affected by the violence.  This begins to break down the exaggerated truths that their governments have led them to believe. 

The program also attempts to build leadership skills and trust through activities such cultural events and color games. During culture night, the campers are asked to experience what the other cultures have to offer by tasting different foods, listening to each others’ music, and wearing clothing from different cultures.  During color games, the camp is divided into two teams.  The teams participate in sports like tug-a-war, soccer, basketball, baseball, chess, cannoning, and dance.

The spread of the seed doesn’t end here.  The website is very informative. On the website there is Information on how to donate, how to be a camp counselor, and how to enroll children in the program.    On the website viewers can also see inspiring video interviews of former campers.  In these interviews the campers share the cultural struggles and overall influence the program had on him/her.  The viewer can also read tweets of former campers posted on the website.  

Building Peace

After viewing the video, “Building Peace,” I thought about how there are many things we take for granted. For example, in the video the children were excited to go to school and learn basic learning skills whereas here many kids have to be forced to go to school. Children in America take the educational system for granted because it is offered to them for free. They do not know what it is like to work and have to pay for classes and books until they go to college. In many other countries children cannot go to school because their parents cannot afford to send them, school becomes a luxury and not a necessity. Another thing that stood out to me was how the community united together. They all helped build the schools and in a way it reminded me of the Amish community. They were all happy to help in any way they could, their pride was in building the schools themselves and not having outsiders do their work for them.  

Peace

When I think of peace, world peace comes to mind.   If violence around the world were to end today, jobs that dealt with crime and war would no longer hold value, and countries would stop focusing on war and focus on technological advances to improve everyday life.  Technological advances have increased rapidly over the past years because of the information highway known today as the internet.  The internet has allowed people to share inventions and ideas instantly.  If world peace existed the rate of inventions would increase even more because of new ideas and improvements on exiting inventions would be shared on a larger scale. The world’s greatest minds would be able to get their hands on the most recent and up to date technology.  The possibilities would be endless.