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The Future Is Bright for Kids4Peace France

Jordan Goldwarg —  April 5, 2018 — 1 Comment

by Jordan Goldwarg, Kids4Peace Seattle Chapter Director

Many people know that Kids4Peace operates in North America and Jerusalem, but did you know that we also have a chapter in France? Since 2014, a team of dedicated volunteers has been building a presence in Lyon, and on March 16-18, I had the privilege of joining them for a weekend of visioning, training, and planning.

As with everywhere we operate, the need for our programs is great in France. The global migration crisis has provoked an Islamophobic backlash against the many migrants and refugees who have arrived in France seeking a better life for themselves and their families. Meanwhile, there has been a significant increase in Anti-Semitism that has been frightening enough to cause many Jews to leave France. Against this backdrop of religious discrimination, France also struggles with many of the challenges that face other countries, such as racism and economic inequality.
Kids4Peace France (or Copains pour la Paix) has been working to change all of this. Through partnerships with a local synagogue (Keren Or), mosque (Mosquee Othman), and church (Paroisse de la Nativite), they have been bringing together youth every month to learn about each other’s religion, to promote understanding, and to foster dialogue.

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Members of the K4P France team at weekend retreat outside Lyon with Paroisse de la Nativite

Over the course of our weekend together, we attended worship at all three partner congregations. In between, we spent time as a team looking back at what K4P France has accomplished since its founding; created a 1- and 3-year vision for where the chapter wants to go; and also had fun through some of the games and activities that we use with our kids when we meet.
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Members of the team working on 1- and 3-year visions

Many thanks to John and Brigitte McGregor, along with the whole K4P France team, for hosting this weekend, and for their unwavering commitment to improving the lives of youth in Lyon! Below, you can find a transcription of remarks that I shared during our visits to the partner congregations.

Merci beaucoup pour accueil chaleureux ! Je m’appelle Jordan Goldwarg, et je suis le Directeur de Développement des Nouvelles Branches pour Kids4Peace International. Je travaille à Seattle, sur la côte ouest des États-Unis, et c’est vraiment un honneur d’être ici ce Week-End pour travailler avec notre équipe de Kids4Peace France, ou comme on dit des fois, les Copains pour la Paix. 

Je me considère comme éducateur, et dans le passé, je me disais souvent que mon travail a pour but de préparer les leaders de demain. Puis, un jour, une de nos jeunes qui fait partie de Kids4Peace à Seattle, m’a dit: ‘Jordan, je ne sais pas pourquoi tu dis toujours que nous sommes les leaders de demain. Nous sommes déjà des leaders aujourd’hui!’

Et, bien sûr, elle avait raison. Cette réalité a été illustré nettement aux États-Unis au course du dernier mois. Le 14 février, nous avons souffert une autre tragédie horrible quand un adolescent a tué dix-sept étudiants et professeurs dans  une école secondaire en Floride. Cet événement a été tellement affreux, effrayant et atroce, que dans les semaines depuis le massacre, ça continue d’être vraiment interessant de voir le leadership des adolescents et leur réponse à l’événement. Ils commencent à forcer un changement dans les lois et la culture des  États-Unis au sujet des fusils. La semaine passée, le congrès de l’état de Floride a passé de nouvelles lois pour réglementer les fusils, et ils ont fait ça même avec une opposition féroce de la part de groupes de pression très puissants. Ces nouvelles lois ne seraient pas possibles sans le travail et l’influence des adolescents. Je répète: ces nouvelles lois ne seraient pas possibles sans le travail et l’influence des adolescents.

À Kids4Peace, notre mission est de supporter des leaders jeunes dans leur travail de réparer les problèmes qui causent la violence et les divisions dans nos sociétés. Nous sommes une mouvement global, travaillant avec des adolescents de 12-18 ans qui sont  juifs, chrétiens et musulmans, en Amérique du Nord, a Jérusalem, et en France. Les participants se réunissent régulièrement pendant l’année scolaire, et ils participent aussi dans des programmes plus longs pendant l’été. Tous nos programmes ont comme but l’éducation interreligieuse, la formation de compétences en dialogue et leadership, et la formation de communauté, dans le but de créer un  changement social positif dans nos communautés.

A un moment où tellement de gens autour du monde utilisent la religion comme une force pour diviser les gens, nous cherchons les valeurs et mérites partagés dans la religion qui favorisent l’empathie, l’acceptation, et le respect. Quand on réunit les adolescents dans une communauté favorable avec ces valeurs partagés, et quand on soutien le développement de ces compétences de leadership, les résultats sont motivant .

Prenons l’exemple de Lia, une fille juive de 16 ans qui fait partie de Kids4Peace Seattle. Pendant une époque quand plusieurs groupes de personnes aux États-Unis, en particulier les minorités et  les immigrants, subissent la violence aux mains de la police, Lia a passé beaucoup de temps l’automne passé en s’engageant comme bénévole pour une campagne dans notre état pour essayer de changer cela . Cette campagne a pour but d’exiger que la police dans l’état de Washington prenne  des cours pour diminuer le conflit, et par ce moyen, de réduire la nécessité d’utiliser leurs pistolets contre les citoyens. Après avoir ramassé des signatures pour des pétitions, après avoir parlé avec ses amis, et après avoir amplifié son message par les médias sociaux comme Facebook et Instagram, Lia a écrit le suivant: ‘À l’âge de 16 ans, même si nous ne pouvons pas voter, nous pensons que c’est très important que nous soyons    conscients de la justice sociale. La violence de la police est injuste et ça nous concerne tous. Nous, en Kids4Peace, avons une obligation de réparer les choses qui sont déchirées dans notre société.’ Et je suis vraiment fier d’annoncer que cette campagne a été acceptée par le congrès dans notre état la semaine passée et c’est maintenant une loi.

Je peux vous donner aussi une exemple de notre branche à Jérusalem. Dans la ville de Jérusalem, malgré le fait qu’un tiers de la population parle l’Arabe comme langue maternelle, les cinémas ne montrent que des films avec sous titres en Hébreu. Nos jeunes travaillent dans une campagne avec la municipalité de Jérusalem et les cinémas pour ajouter de sous titres en Arabe pour les films. Cela peut paraître comme une changement petit, mais ça va avoir un impact énorme en augmenter la visibilité de la population Palestinienne. De plus, ça va rendre les cinémas, des espaces partagés, ou les Israéliens et le Palestiniens peuvent se rencontrer pour des expériences en commun, quelque chose qui est vraiment rare dans une ville très séparée.

Et ici à Lyon, Kids4Peace, ou Copains pour la Paix, travaille depuis plus de trois ans pour construir des liens entre communautés diverses. Dans un moment où la tension religieuse a augmenté beaucoup dans plusieurs parties d’Europe, Kids4Peace travaille sans cesse avec les jeunes à Villeurbane et dans d’autres parties de Lyon pour montrer qu’en réalité, nous sommes plus forts ensemble. Nous avons aussi créé un partenariat avec les Scouts et Guides de France, et avec plusieurs mosquées, églises, et synagogues pour faire des programmes avec davantage d’enfants.

Pendant que nous continuons de construire ce mouvement global, ici à Lyon et  ailleurs , nous vous invitons de nous rejoindre. Ensemble, nous pouvons répondre au menace de fondamentalisme de toute sorte en promouvant l’acceptation et l’empathie, et en montrant que la religion est une force positive dans la société. Racontez à vos amis ce que vous avez entendu ici aujourd’hui. Portez-vous  volontaire avec Kids4Peace. Si vous avez des enfants proches de vous, encouragez-les de se joindre à notre travail. Ensemble, nous pouvons construire une mouvement d’espoir et une mouvement pour la paix.

Plusieurs gens me demandent ce qui me donne de l’espoir pendant une époque de peur, violence, et division. Ma réponse est simple: Je prends de l’espoir en voyant des leaders jeunes qui recherchent la différence, qui promeuvent la paix, et qui ont un désir pour la compréhension mutuelle. Merci à vous tous de  nous aider à diffuser ce message d’espoir.

In Blog, Chapters, France
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Eating Together, and Being Heard: A Kids4Peace Dialogue Dinner

Jordan Goldwarg —  February 8, 2018 — Leave a comment

by Sara McArdle, Kids4Peace Seattle Chapter Board Chair

On Friday, January 26, I had the pleasure of hosting my second-ever “Dialogue Dinner” in support of Kids4Peace Seattle. As a board member, one of the things that we’re invited to do (and I happily oblige!) is host an intimate fund- and/or awareness-raising event for our communities once every couple of years.

This time, eight of us gathered around two big tables in the community room at my complex in North Seattle and shared a deep, meaningful discussion about the issues that are most important to each of us. The group consisted of Muslim, Jewish, Christian and non-religious friends of mine who care deeply about the future of our nation and our youth. Most of my guests did not know each other before getting together that night.

As a special treat, I ordered a cornucopia of delights from Gorgeous George’s Mediterranean Kitchen, owned and operated by Kids4Peace friends and Jerusalem natives, George Rashed and Rula Saleh. We feasted on mouth-watering tabouli, falafal, salad, pita, hummus, babaghanouje, dolmas, makdous, grilled vegetables, salmon and chicken.

We spent the first half an hour mingling and getting to know each other a bit. Then, we sat down to eat and pondered some big questions. We gave each person around the table the space and close attention to articulate what was on their hearts and minds, without interruption.

The gist of the questions I posed to the group were: 1) With all that’s currently going on in our country and the world, how do you choose which of the numerous, deserving causes/events/activities to give your time, energy and attention to? 2) What kinds of things do you do to take good care of yourself and make sure you’re saying “no” to the things that are lower priority for you? and 3) How do you handle conversations with loved ones who see issues differently than you do? (Or, do you even get into it?) The conversation was rich and varied, and I left with some new ideas and inspiration.

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Guests enjoying delicious food and rich conversation.

 

After we talked for about an hour and a half, I shared how these concepts relate to the work of Kids4Peace; in our community, we get together and regularly ask big questions about what we want to do to make a difference in our communities, how we can support each other and how we can care for ourselves in the process. Then, we take action.

So, I took action by inviting this little community of mine to give to Kids4Peace Seattle so that we can make a real difference in the issues that so many of my community care deeply about, like youth, equity and anti-oppression, nonviolence, living in greater harmony with each other and our planet, etc.

In addition to their financial generosity, I was delighted to see some of my guests exchanging contact information and brainstorming how they might collaborate together in the future on their overlapping projects and visions. These kinds of exchanges are exactly why dialogue dinners can be so powerful!

One meaningful piece of feedback I received was, “I am so nourished by the care and thought you put into whom to invite, what to eat and what questions to ask. I loved meeting such a mix of people, and really liked getting to respond to those questions.”

I highly recommend hosting a dialogue dinner for any cause you care about! (No need to ask for money, either, if that’s not a fit for you.) In a society that’s constantly busy, on the go and multi-tasking, it feels like a real treat to sit across the table from one another and be heard for what moves us deeply, as individuals.

 

In Blog, Chapters, Seattle
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Introducing Team Oppily, a Kids4Peace Giving Circle

Jordan Goldwarg —  November 2, 2017 — Leave a comment

by Jordan Goldwarg, Kids4Peace Director of Chapter Development

On Saturday, October 28, a group of friends gathered in a home in Seattle for dinner. They came together for a facilitated discussion about this question: What is one thing that is frustrating you right now about our city/country/world? What in your personal experience makes you care about this thing? How are you acting on those frustrations (if at all)?

The hosts of the dinner, Emily Patton and Matt Oppenheimer, are longtime supporters of Kids4Peace. They value the work that Kids4Peace does to build a community of interfaith youth peace leaders, but they were also looking for the opportunity to have their friends experience the magic of Kids4Peace. This led them to invite people to dinner to see for themselves the power of the honest dialogue that Kids4Peace helps facilitate.

After an hour of conversation about the night’s question, the evening culminated with the creation of Team Oppily (a combination of “Oppenheimer” and Emily”), a Kids4Peace giving circle. A giving circle is a group of friends who come together to support a cause in a variety of ways. Financial support can be an important aspect of a giving circle, but Team Oppily will also be giving to Kids4Peace through things such as providing snacks for youth meetings, mentoring youth through sharing their experiences during K4P meetings, and helping to set up for larger K4P events.

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The first gathering of Team Oppily!

 

Team Oppily is also pooling financial resources to provide a matching challenge for Kids4Peace’s year-end fundraising efforts in Seattle. They will match up to $1500 in year-end gifts, essentially allowing people to double the power of their contributions.

“All of us have experienced frustrating things in our lives,” said Emily. “While some people may resort to hopelessness, I am continually inspired by the youth and adults involved in Kids4Peace. I talk about the program all the time, so I wanted to find a way to have my closest circle of people reach a more comprehensive understanding of Kids4Peace, too. It was a really meaningful evening and I’m so grateful for our friends who were able to attend the dinner and commit to giving of their time and resources.”

We thank Emily, Matt, and all of Team Oppily for their commitment to building peace in our communities! If you are interested in starting a Kids4Peace giving circle, please contact Jordan Goldwarg, Director of Chapter Development, at jordan@k4p.org.

In Blog, Chapters, Seattle
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Kids4Peace Visits Camp Solomon Schechter

Jordan Goldwarg —  July 31, 2017 — 1 Comment

by Jordan Goldwarg, Kids4Peace Northwest Regional Director

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Kids4Peace youth at Camp Solomon Schechter

 

This week, a group of youth participants from Kids4Peace were privileged to be guests of Camp Solomon Schechter, near Seattle, Washington. These 13 youth, an interfaith group of Jews, Muslims, and Christians from Seattle and Jerusalem, visited Schechter as part of the Kids4Peace Global Institute, a leadership program for high school students that helps Kids4Peace youth become strong advocates for a peaceful resolution to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.

While at Schechter, Kids4Peace youth led educational programs for Schechter campers and staff. Youth shared their personal stories of what life is like growing up as Israelis and Palestinians in Jerusalem, including the struggles they face living in a divided city where peers and family members are often not supportive of their efforts to work together with people from the other side of the conflict. At the same time, American Kids4Peace participants shared why they also work for peace in the Middle East.

In addition to these peer-to-peer education sessions, Kids4Peace youth engaged fully in the life of the camp, learning new songs and traditions, doing activities side-by-side with Schechter campers, and seeing the rich culture of Jewish worship. Through being at camp, Kids4Peace youth saw clearly the deep love of Israel expressed by Schechter campers and staff, as well as the joy that the Schechter community takes in celebrating Judaism.

Kids4Peace youth and staff were grateful for the opportunity to spend these days at camp. At a time when conversation about Israel can be highly polarized, this visit afforded an opportunity to engage in a new kind of dialogue, one that is grounded in respect, civility, curiosity, and openness. It provided an opportunity for many American Jewish campers to meet a Palestinian for the first time, and to recognize that there are Palestinian partners who want to work–together–for peace. It provided an opportunity for Palestinian Kids4Peace participants to experience American Jewish life and to gain a deeper understanding of why a strong, stable Israel is so important for Jews the world over. And it provided an opportunity for all campers and staff to recognize that despite the deep disagreements that exist about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, a different kind of conversation is possible, one that helps move forward to new solutions and a hopeful future.

Kids4Peace thanks Camp Solomon Schechter and its director, Sam Perlin, for partnering with us in this endeavour. Judging from the comments of both Schechter campers and Kids4Peace participants, our time at camp provided a rich opportunity for exchange and forged new friendships that will carry on long past this summer. In doing so, Camp Solomon Schechter has shown itself to be a leader in creating deep, meaningful Israel education at camp.

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Solidarity in Seattle

Jordan Goldwarg —  November 26, 2016 — Leave a comment

by Jordan Goldwarg, Northwest Regional Director

In my life, I don’t think I have ever had the experience of an unknown grown man hugging me while breaking down in tears. Today, it happened twice.

These have been an intense, emotional few weeks in the United States. To add to the weight of those emotions, last weekend, someone vandalized the main sign at the Muslim Association of Puget Sound, the largest mosque in the Seattle area and one of K4P’s oldest partners in the region.

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In an act of vandalism, someone took a sledgehammer to the granite sign outside MAPS (photo courtesy of MAPS)


In response to this act of hate, MAPS responded with love and hospitality by hosting an Open House for the whole community to come and learn the truth about Islam as a religion of peace.

The Kids4Peace community showed up in force for the Open House and also stayed afterward to hold up signs of support as members of the MAPS community arrived for the large Jum’ah prayer.

Standing in front of the mosque with our signs was such a simple act. It literally took only minutes to coordinate the invitation to our families and to make signs (which for some families, became a fun Thanksgiving activity!). This simple act, however, had a profound impact on the members of the MAPS community who saw it — and by extension, on all of us from K4P who were there. Countless people came over to talk to us and to thank us for standing together with them. Some brought snacks and sweets to share with us, further extending the hospitality of the Open House. Many people took photos or selfies with the group. And toward the end, a teenager approached and asked if it would be okay to take a photo of his grandfather with the group. The older gentleman had sunglasses on, so it was hard to read his expression. But when he put his arms around the shoulders of me and a K4P father as we posed for the photo, we could feel him start to sob. After the photo, without saying a word, he hugged each of us as the tears streamed down from under his sunglasses.

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Standing in front of MAPS

It is so important for Jews, Christians, and others to be strong allies for our Muslim friends and neighbors right now. A simple act of support goes such a long way toward lifting people’s spirits and making everyone feel like they belong in our communities.

In the wake of this divisive election campaign, if you are thinking about concrete things you can do to make a positive difference in the world, here is one easy solution: grab a group of friends of family (or both!), make some signs, and stand outside your local mosque during Friday prayers. You will be making a world of difference.

In Blog, Chapters, Seattle, Staff Reflections
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Celebrating Other’s Democracy

Jordan Goldwarg —  November 8, 2016 — Leave a comment

by Rebecca Sullum, Jerusalem Co-Director

“You know, I actually voted in these elections. I am registered in a swing state, so I felt that I had to vote,” I yelled on top of the noise at the US Embassy Election Celebration in Tel Aviv. I was speaking to Mohammad, my colleague of 5 years, and his wife.

I hadn’t told most people that I cast my vote this year for the first time in U.S. elections at the age of 35. I always held the belief that I should only be voting where I was living, and although I hold dual citizenship in Israel and the USA, I have only lived in Israel since the age of 14 and therefore had only ever voted in Israel.

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With Trump versus Hillary, this election seemed different, more polarizing, more important to vote. So I did. I have now taken part in the democratic process in Israel and the US, something that I should be proud of, something that should be a basic right to all people.

A moment after confiding in Mohammad, I started to feel that sick feeling at the bottom of my stomach, that feeling when you realize that you have asked the wrong question or said the wrong thing, and I suddenly remembered that Mohammad and his wife have never voted.

As residents of Jerusalem, by Israeli law they can’t vote in the Israeli national elections. They also had never been able to vote in the Palestinian presidential elections. During the previous PA presidential election in 2005 there were voting booths in East Jerusalem for Jerusalem residents, but there were many obstacles in the way including inadequate numbers of workers and a general feeling of fear at the polls. Therefore Mohammad and his wife had never voted for their leadership.

So here I was in the middle of the US Embassy Celebration in Tel Aviv celebrating American democracy while my colleagues and friends can only celebrate others’ right to vote.

This seems a bit ironic, to celebrate others’ democracy and freedom while you can’t celebrate your own.

My evening started with a lot of enthusiasm and excitement but took an unexpected turn, and now at midnight I sit here writing this blog, feeling torn and wondering what I can do tomorrow for the freedom of all in Jerusalem.

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Finding Common Ground in Seattle (or, Why Doesn’t My Coach Understand When I Need to Miss That Important Practice?)

Jordan Goldwarg —  May 12, 2016 — Leave a comment

by Jordan Goldwarg, Northwest Regional Director

On Sunday, May 8, Kids4Peace Seattle held its first joint activity with students at Noor Academy, the Sunday school of the Muslim Association of Puget Sound. Over the course of three hours, our youth began the process of getting to know each other through a number of activities. There were icebreakers and teambuilding activities, such as having to navigate a human obstacle-course while blindfolded.

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Youth navigating the human obstacle-course

 

We also explored each of our three religions through a game of Interfaith Bingo. Holding a bingo card that contained images and words from Islam, Judaism, and Christianity, youth needed to find out the significance of each item by asking other youth to share their knowledge.

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Working on Interfaith Bingo boards

 

Finally, we engaged in small-group dialogue on a variety of topics. In my group, there happened to be only Jewish and Muslim youth, and we had a fascinating discussion about what it’s like to be in the minority in our schools. Youth shared stories of needing to miss important rehearsals or sports games because of religious holidays. And while most of them enjoy the opportunity to share their religion with others, there was also shared frustration of situations in which people expect them to know everything about about Islam or Judaism.

Thank you to Noor Academy for hosting us for what we hope will be the beginning of many collaborations!

In Blog, Chapters, People, Seattle, Youth
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Speaking Up for What’s Right

Jordan Goldwarg —  April 29, 2016 — 1 Comment

By Jordan Goldwarg, Northwest Regional Director

In Kids4Peace, we encourage our youth to be leaders, and one powerful way of exercising leadership is by speaking up for what you believe in. This is especially powerful when you speak up on behalf of another group. We called this being an upstander (as opposed to being a bystander when you see something bad happening).

This week, David, a participant in Kids4Peace Seattle, spoke up by writing a letter to the editor of his local newspaper. In recent weeks, David’s community has been the scene of an intense and, at times, ugly controversy about the building of a new mosque. Islamophobic sentiments, together with misinformation, have been spread very publicly, as documented by this article in the Seattle Globalist.

In response, David wrote a letter to the editor of his local newspaper, asking people to educate themselves and overcome their fears. Thank you, David, for being an upstander and speaking up for what’s right!

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David and other K4P Seattle youth, hard at work during a recent Kids4Peace Seattle service project at a local food bank.

In Blog, Chapters, People, Seattle, Youth
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Lessons from the Lotus Pond

Jordan Goldwarg —  February 18, 2016 — 1 Comment

by Hannah Hochkeppel, K4P Seattle Program Director

An Evangelical Christian Pastor, a Unitarian Minister, a Buddhist Monk, and a Jewish Business Woman walk in to a room … and it is not the beginning of a bad or confusing joke!

A few weeks ago I had the privilege of attending Seattle University School of Theology and Ministry’s Interfaith Harmony Week banquet.  The theme of this year’s banquet was, “What in the world are we here for?”  This question, one I think many of us often ask ourselves in jest, was addressed by each of the 4 panelists.  Each panelist spoke from his or her own personal experience and personal faith tradition.  Despite the extremely different approaches to faith, spirituality, and the human experience, each panelist spoke of the interconnectedness of humanity and of a desire to work always for the greater good.

Rev. Jon Luopa, a Unitarian Minister, spoke of the transitive versus intransitive use of the word hope.   For so many, hope is confined to a specific item or idea – hoping for good weather on vacation, or hoping for a favorite present on our birthday.  Luopa challenged the audience to think more broadly about how we define hope.  What if hope was instead the way that we chose to approach our life each day?  What if hope brought about a self-awareness of the responsibility we have to the greater good?

Taijo, a Buddhist Monk, began his sharing with the story of a lotus flower, growing in a lotus pond to be big and beautiful, with an unrivaled delicious scent.  He painted the picture for all of us of this beautiful flower.  Then he began to describe the pond that the flower grows in.  Stagnant water, compost and waste, dirt and mud, the list goes on but it is obvious that this pond is dirty and smells decidedly less delicious than the flower.  This description jarred us from our image of this beautiful flower, to an image drastically different.  Taijo left us with this thought: if a flower as beautiful as the Lotus could grow from the disgusting lotus pond, what can come from the difficult, and decidedly less hopeful situations that we find ourselves in from day to day, week to week?

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As I was reflecting on the question, “Why on earth are we here,”  I settled on the word we.  We are here, we exist in the world.  I do not exist alone, nor do others exist alone, but we all exist together.  Many times this existing together as a dynamic we means that we find ourselves in messy lotus ponds fraught with political arguments, violent actions, and prejudice based on any number of judgements that one passes on the other.  Despite this mess, how does hope influence what grows?

In Kids4Peace, the interfaith work that we do is often messy.  It is hard, and emotionally draining.  Yet, it is also beautiful and life-giving.  The intentionality that we have as we cultivate growth amidst the messiness, intentionally seeing and upholding the gifts we see in others, gives me hope.  I am hopeful for the greater good of the we when I see others willing to come together amidst the mess, to find the roots for what one day, I hope, will be a big and beautiful flower.

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In Blog, Chapters, People, Seattle, Staff Reflections, Volunteer/Intern
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Standing in Solidarity in Seattle

Jordan Goldwarg —  January 18, 2016 — Leave a comment

by Sarah Rose, K4P Seattle Counselor

Kids4Peace Seattle’s overnight last weekend was one for the books! It was filled with laughter, fun, and bonding between the first and second year participants. We watched the Disney/Pixar movie Inside Out, and then tried to connect the ideas presented with the mission of Kids4Peace. We examined the importance of accepting everyone, recognizing what individuals can contribute and that everyone has something valuable to offer to society in some way. We also discussed the importance of understanding our emotions. Our dialogue leader, Pam, asked us to share a time we felt sad but did not feel we could reveal it. One of the second year participants, Maya, noted that, she “learned that there are different perspectives on each side. Someone isn’t being mean just because they want to be mean, there’s always something else going on that causes them to act out that way. Listening and understanding where they are coming from is key to accepting them.”

The issue of popularity in school and its impacts came up and definitely struck a chord for all of the participants. Establishing a safe place for everyone to be open allowed for a meaningful and eye-opening experience for all. One of the first-year participants, David, explained that he “liked how we talked about popularity and shared our real feelings. We weren’t holding anything back. It helped me understand that we all have different situations but we can still connect.”

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The group hard at work at the Jewish Family Service food bank.

 

Emilio, another first-year participant, came to similar conclusions stating, “I really liked the discussion about popularity, because we never talked about that stuff before so it was nice to hear other people are experiencing the same things. I also really liked our discussion this morning about connecting more with each other. I feel like now the 7th graders are talking more with the 8th graders so I feel more comfortable talking with them.”

As I sat listening to the discussion, I became even more amazed and inspired by the participants. To be able to have such an open and mature conversation and share such insightful thoughts was truly an unforgettable experience. By allowing themselves to be vulnerable and talk about a tough and very personal matter, they become an even stronger and more connected group. In Seattle, we would refer to this as the “magic” of Kids4Peace.

Another magical experience of the weekend happened when we had Hebrew and Arabic lessons. Two of Seattle’s Program Team members, Tamar and Rula, taught us conversational phrases along with some food words (such as chicken, cheese, and bread). On the one hand, this was quite fun for the kids, but on the other hand it was very frustrating. This exercise helped the kids understand what it must have been like for their friends from Jerusalem to come to camp and not know a lot of English. Beginning to understand the difficulty of learning new languages led to a conversation about how to stand in solidarity with people they encounter who do not speak English well.

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The group learns some Arabic and Hebrew phrases with Rula (and baby Malka!) and Tamar.

 

Standing in solidarity with each other, our friends in Jerusalem, and everyone that we encounter has been our theme this year during discussions and activities in meetings. Hearing about the seemingly relentless violence in Jerusalem, where we all have friends living, has been heart-breaking for all of us here in Seattle.  We continue to find hope in the actions of others, not just in Jerusalem but around the world.

The fact that the Kids4Peace Jerusalem family is stronger than ever and continues to have hope that peace is still obtainable, is truly inspiring and amazing. Seattle will continue to stand in solidarity with Jerusalem. Although we could not be physically any farther apart, our faith, love, and connection to our K4P family on the other side of the world is closer than ever.

Above: A short film that Kids4Peace Seattle made for our friends in Jerusalem.

In Blog, Chapters, kids4peace seattle, Seattle, Youth
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