peacecamp 2011

This was Peacecamp 2011

Since I took part in peacecamp quite spontaneously, I wasn’t sure what was going to await me.
The original reason to participate in peacecamp was to write a paper about it for school.
Though the bottom line is that this time- for me unfortunatley only the last four days because I couldn’t make it earlier- was pretty much more than just work for school.
The prevailing atmosphere is hard to discribe. But from the very first moment I could feel that there existed a strong unity between all the participants, no matter which age or nationality. Still I really felt accepted and comfortable as “the newcomer”.
However it’s not “just” about making friends and having lots of fun together but also getting to know other cultures and opinions, learning how to discuss and listen to each other in a group, finding together solutions to promote peace.
In the end it was hard to everybody to part with each other because everybody got so close.
To me it was a great experience and I am really thankful that I had the change to participate in peacecamp. I would love to do it again! Also I want to thank all those people who enable this project, they are doing a really great job!

Saskia

I’m Firas Habib. For me peace camp was a unique experience that I never went through anything alike it . I met people that I would never even think of meeting before. From places far away from home =) .I learnt a lot about other cultures and languages. I listened the other side of the conflict (the Jewish-Israeli) opinions. I had the opportunity to share my opinion with other people and to listen to other’s opinion . I hope the peace camp program continues so other people can also experience this amazingly fun camp .
Firas Habib,
The Palestinian delegation
PeaceCamp 2011.

What peace-camp was for me …

Well it's kind of difficult to explain this amazing experience in words but ill try my best. At first we got to the airport, I saw a group of so many children and I thought to myself, am I really going to get to know all these people so good that it's going to be hard to say goodbye?! Later on I discovered that it will be harder then I thought…
We arrived at our house (I allow myself to call it "our house" because it felt like that exactly and all the people there felt like a big family). I was sitting in the room, and around me I am hearing 4 different languages, and I am like, what's going on here…?
After we had our first meeting everything started to feel better, we got to know each other and I felt great! During the days we participated in various workshops. During this peace camp and these workshops, a lot of stigmas that I had changed… I learned a lot about each culture. What they eat, there history, and there songs..
This experience was so unique; it's really hard to explain how much we had fun there! When we needed to say goodbye it was harder then I thought, we got to know these people like brothers and sisters... We try to keep in touch by emails or facebook and we are planning to meet next summer again!
tahel lekach

This was peace camp 2011. for me,

peace camp 2011 was the most amazing experience I ever had.
before i arrived there, i thought we will meet some new friends and we will have fun. i was sure that we will fight the Arab delegation all the time. i couldn't imagine how hard it will be to say good bye to all of my friends, including and specially the Arabs. i learned in this few days so many things, i heard so many different opinions, i met so many amazing people. i will never forget it. of course, we didn't make peace between the folks, but we did a small peace, peace between us.
but the camp was not only about the israeli-arab conflict. personally, i can say that i learned about my self. i got to know new sides in me that i didn't know. For example the yoga, the dancing and the singing. i would never guess that i will have so much good time.
of course it would never happen without Evelyn. This is the project of her life, and she does it so well. You can see that the project is very important for her, and each one of us is important for her too. She was like our mother for 10 days. She was laughing with us, crying with us and helped us with a lot of care.

Aviv gur

Peace Camp for me- Noam Shachar

Peace camp was one of the most meaningful experiences I had in my entire life.
Starting with meeting friends from different places in the world, listening to other views, learning about different cultures, laughing and having fun together.
Experiences that were mostly significant:
- Morning meditation- that brought us to the day with calmness and good mood, along with bringing us together as a group.
- Cultural evenings- that taught us every time anew about the different cultures, language, food, traditions, and made us more familiar with each other.
- Discussions in the large group- that brought us to the goal of finding ways to peace and dialogue in the conflict. I felt very connected to the pain of the Palestinians, still understanding better why I live in this country.

Before camp I was afraid I won't be able to connect to the place and the content. Once we arrived it all disappeared, With the Arab group we got connected along the flight, and the Austrian and Hungarian groups met us at the airport with an open heart.
Few weeks after camp I feel that I have strong connections with most of the participants, with the Arab friends we create possibilities to meet, and I hope we will have future opportunities to meet with the friends from Europe as swell.
I feel lucky for the experience. I feel I've changed and I'm not the same person that I was before, I am more open to people and have a stronger faith that there is a way for peace.
I am grateful for this precious week in Peace Camp, for the hard and sad moments, but mostly for the happy ones.

Noam Shachar