Young Women From Israel, Palestine and the U.S. Join in the Hopes of Seeking Common Ground
Seeking Common Ground, a Denver-based non-profit organization dedicated to empowering young women with the tools to create a more just and peaceful world, will once again bring together young women from Palestine, Israel and the United States to participate in the 12th Annual Building Bridges for Peace program. The program will begin with a two-week summer retreat held in the Colorado Rocky Mountains from July 28 – August 14.
Denver, CO (PRWEB) June 13, 2005 -- Seeking Common Ground, a Denver-based
non-profit organization dedicated to empowering young women with the tools to
create a more just and peaceful world, will once again bring together young
women from Palestine, Israel and the United States to participate in the 12th
Annual Building Bridges for Peace program. The program will begin with a
two-week summer retreat held in the Colorado Rocky Mountains from July 28 –
August 14.
Building Bridges for Peace, the flagship program for Seeking
Common Ground, brings together 40 young women (16-19) to participate in an
intensive program where they learn new communication techniques, develop
leadership skills and engage in activities that promote peace and the
empowerment of women. After the program, participants return to their respective
communities to continue in a year long follow-up program.
“Each year the
experience at Building Bridges is different, reflecting the tensions that exist
in their communities. But what is consistent is that by sharing their
differences, these young woman find their similarities,” said Melodye Feldman,
executive director of Seeking Common Ground. “As we celebrate our twelfth year
of the program, we celebrate the stories of young women who come as enemies and
leave as friends.”
One such story is of a young woman named Inas, who
upon arrival to the Building Bridges for Peace program told her fellow
participants that they were looking at the face of a suicide bomber. A couple
months before, her father suffered a heart attack. The ambulance that drove him
from his village to the hospital had been stopped at an Israeli checkpoint. He
died in the ambulance, leaving her mother a widow with five young children to
care for. Her pain and anger was palpable when she arrived to the BBfP program.
Living in Palestine, she watched Israeli tanks and soldiers every day on her way
to and from school - these were the only Israelis she had ever met until she
participated in the BBfP program. Two weeks later, on the last day of the summer
program, she cried. When asked what she was feeling, she said that she would
miss being in the only safe place she knew and with Israelis that she considered
her “best friends.” She said she couldn't imagine hurting her new friends or
anyone else. She learned that “all life was holy” and special, and that violence
was not the way to end the conflict.
Seeking Common Ground’s programs
are grounded in the philosophy that in order to create peace, people must accept
that conflict is an inevitable part of life and learn to approach it effectively
and constructively. Through integration, socialization, communication and
leadership development, participants of SCG programs gain the skills to resolve
conflict peacefully and the self-confidence to effect change in their
communities.
“By giving individuals the proper tools today, we are
laying the foundation for a better future,” continued Feldman.
Limited
media opportunities are available. Please call to request an informational
DVD.
Contact:
Steven Shapiro
303-886-6342
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/6/prweb249818.htm