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Building Bridges for Peace is the flagship program for Seeking Common Ground. BBFP brings together young women and men (16 -19) from Israel, Palestine and the United States to participate in an intensive summer program. During their time together participants learn new communication techniques, develop leadership skills and engage in activities that promote peace and the status and empowerment of youth.
After the summer program participants return to their respective communities to continue in a year long follow-up program. Our inaugural program took place during the summer of 1994.
These young women and men are able to meet and learn from participants from diverse ethnic, racial, and religious communities. |
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Read More about our Building Bridges for Peace program.
Participants Speak about our Building Bridges for Peace program.
How to Apply to our Building Bridges for Peace program.
Support our Building Bridges for Peace program.
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Building Bridges in Israel
November 29, 2008
BBfP 2008 Follow-up Fall Retreat
The Middle-East BBfP participants and LITs recently met in Jerusalem for their first weekend retreat since returning home from the summer intensive. During the weekend, participants enjoyed meals together, song sessions, and teambuilding exercises lead by the LITs. They were also courageous and open in their dialogue and were not afraid to confront difficult issues.
The group visited the Museum on the Seam, a socio-political museum for contemporary art, where they toured an exhibition called Heart Quake dealing with traumas and fears on the social and national level. They later went on to analyze and discuss their own fears in relation to the conflict and the violence in their own lives. Participants and LITs produced visual representations of this relationship.
For many of the participants, a tour of East Jerusalem and the Separation Wall/Fence on Saturday was an important encounter of complex issues regarding the ‘Other’, conflict, and separation. The experience led to intense dialogue that allowed participants to move from conversations about morals and facts to expressing their emotions connected to the subject.
Ultimately the participants and LITs continued to express the difficulties and challenges in returning home from the summer, their distance from that experience, and new questions about what can they do individually and as a group to make a different in their own communities. They will be able to address these issues through the individual curriculum of Speaking Engagements and Individual Projects. Participants and LITs received their follow-up handbook and orientation at the end of the weekend retreat.
Follow-up home group meetings will take place before the second retreat in the winter of 2009.
Read More about Building Bridges in Israel.
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Building Bridges in the U.S.
March 31, 2009
Final Retreat for the BBfP Follow-up Program
The third and final retreat for the BBfP U.S. Home Group was held in the Badlands National Park in South Dakota from March 21-25, 2009. We would like to thank the staff at the Badlands Inn for their generosity and wonderful hospitality- without them, this retreat would not have been possible! The theme of the retreat was Change in Action and also focused on contested spaces. The group was very excited to be together in such a beautiful space for the last retreat, where they talked, laughed and grew as a group.
On Saturday, the group spent several hours traveling from Denver to the Badlands and arrived safely. The weather was a sunny 75 degrees and the view was unbelievably beautiful! We were isolated from the distractions of cities and towns and enjoyed the tranquility of the land. We began programming by playing “Capture the Flag”, in order to begin the discussion of “contested spaces”. We see areas where individuals and groups, such as the Anglos and Native Americans, fight and disagree over space such as land, which often stems from centuries of religious, political, or ethnic conflict. While many Americans grew up playing Capture the Flag, we rarely consider the origin of the game, which originated on deadly battlefields; soldiers knew a battle was over when the enemy’s flag was captured. We also talked about our group goals and expectations for the weekend, which ranged from wanting to learn more about the Native American and Lakota cultures to growing even closer together as a group.
Sunday allowed us time on the bus to see the expanse of the land and how residents in the area lived. Paige Baker, superintendent of the Badlands National Park, accompanied us on our journey. He provided us with valuable information about the park and reservation, including controversies about the land such as existing, active bombs leftover from WWII, and showed us places where Native Americans were not allowed in the past. The group traveled to the Oglala Lakota College, where approximately 1,400 Pine Ridge residents, Lakota Native Americans, and others are able to receive quality, higher-education opportunities. The site houses a museum about Native American and Lakota history and its leaders. Speakers from the community met with the participants and the second-year, Leaders in Training (LITs), and gave everyone an insightful look into the past, current, and future ways of life for those living on the reservation. Once we returned to the Badlands Inn, participants engaged in communication exercises (microlabs, Agree/Disagree continuum) to discuss what they had experienced thus far on the reservation, what they thought about the way of life of those in the community, and topics regarding land, resources and the role of the government.
After enjoying such a beautiful day, we were hit with blizzard and tornado warnings! The weather came in quickly on Monday as we headed back out onto the reservation to visit an elementary school and high school. Schools on the reservation were being dismissed early due to the weather, so our meeting with the Director of Institutional Relations at Red Cloud High School was unfortunately cut short. She spoke to the group about the high graduation rate of its students, bringing together the Lakota and Catholic values and traditions, and the deep connection to the community, as evidenced by students returning to the land and community with higher education and training. We also had a quick tour of the school’s museum and artifacts, including a model school house which represented the forced assimilation that Native American children experienced in the early 20th century. Back at the Badlands Inn, the afternoon consisted of a workshop (Paper Bags) where participants write down their thoughts on controversial topics such as "opportunities",
“privilege” and “ethnocentrism”. The day continued with a role play activity, where all participants and LITs were given different fictional roles of individuals in a community like Pine Ridge. They were asked to brainstorm ways to actively support the community and create change, whether it be adding resources for education, health, childcare, or a variety of other needs. To end the day, the LITs planned a small talent show and “hot seat” activity, where everyone learned a little more about each other’s individual culture and life.
Our final day together was spent indoors at the Badlands Inn because of the weather. What a bonding time! We began the day revisiting the Paper Bag terms and comments, then Tonia- a BBfP alumna from Pine Ridge- facilitated a brainstorming activity where the group identified stereotypes and generalizations of the Native Americans. She was very open to letting the group ask her several questions around Native American history, the Lakota culture, and life on a reservation. The group was so grateful to hear the perspective of such an honest and insightful peer. They came away with a greater awareness of the Pine Ridge community and understanding of Lakota culture. After this, everyone was able to enjoy some free time with one another as we prepared for our final evening program. For this, all participants and LITs gave one another affirmations about their hard work and dedication throughout the BBfP program, and also reflected on the highlights of the yearlong program.
Even though the yearlong follow-up program is nearing the end, the BBfP U.S. home group continues to ask questions, to empathize and to support one another. They continue to explore the importance of dialogue, community and their relationships with each other. One participant reflected, “The retreats provide the necessary support system during a yearlong process of disconnection and confusion, and they reignite the sparks of our motivation and inspiration. [They] have been extremely helpful and I always look forward to them…I think I have grown dramatically, [both] intellectually and emotionally.”
Read More about Building Bridges in the U.S..
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