海角大神

Peggy Stevens鈥檚 mind is clearly thinking ahead to a trip to Canobie Lake Park, the amusement park she is taking her Kids4Peace Boston brood to the next day.

鈥淏asically, it鈥檚 from 8 o鈥檆lock in the morning to 8 o鈥檆lock at night,鈥� she says, laughing. 鈥淎nd I can鈥檛 wait! They鈥檙e really wonderful to be with, and I鈥檓 excited.鈥�

With her flashing bright eyes, and the constant cluster of children around her, Ms. Stevens is almost like Mother Ginger from 鈥淭he Nutcracker鈥� 鈥� that is, a 海角大神 Mother Ginger who can do a perfect Jewish bread blessing and who looks forward to the iftar dinners that end the daily fast during Ramadan.

Stevens is the founder of Kids4Peace Boston, the Boston chapter of Kids4Peace International. Begun in Jerusalem in 2002, the nonprofit group runs centers in several US cities. The Boston center operates an interfaith summer exchange camp that brings together 12-year-olds of Jewish, 海角大神, and Muslim faiths from Israel and the Palestinian territories with those from the Boston area to promote dialogue and leadership skill-building.

The participants spend a week at Camp Merrowvista in Center Tuftonboro, N.H., and then a week in Boston learning about interfaith communication.

The idea to open Kids4Peace Boston emerged after Stevens took a trip to Jerusalem.

鈥淚 had never done something that was explicitly about peace,鈥� she says. 鈥淏ut it just seemed like something I should do because I could, and it seemed so important.鈥�

Stevens had no particular ties to the Middle East. She had worked in education since graduating from college. But when she traveled to Jerusalem in 2009 with her interfaith book group, Daughters of Abraham, she repeatedly came in contact with Kids4Peace International. Its participants or employees seemed to be everywhere she went. They told her about the revolutionary impact of their programs, as well as the challenges they faced because of a lack of space and resources.

Stevens realized she had experience as diversity coordinator for Camp Merrowvista. So along with some Daughters of Abraham friends she began a two-year process of starting a chapter of the charitable organization.

Fundraising loomed large 鈥� it costs about $1,500 to bring each Israeli or Palestinian child to the United States. And a sliding-scale payment plan for the Boston kids, needed to foster diversity and include low-income students, meant that many of their costs needed to be covered as well.

But in 2011, after having contact with their Peace Pals 鈥� pen pals arranged by the organization 鈥� the first set of campers finally met face to face.

The hands-on activities have an underlying message of interfaith understanding. In one activity the children are given canoes, logs, ropes, paddles, and life jackets and asked to build a raft. They talk about the story of Noah building his ark, which appears in all three religious texts, before working on their project. Afterward, the students discuss their challenges in cooperating to build the raft. And those who are successful discover, when they reach it, that the canoe moored in the middle of the lake is full of candy.

鈥淵ou can talk about learning to get along and what do you do when you have trouble deciding ... or you can build a raft,鈥� Stevens says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a camp activity, but it鈥檚 a Kids4Peace lesson, a lesson that teaches not only about religion but how do you get along with people. How do you solve problems? How do you listen to one another?鈥�

After a successful summer program, the campers wanted to continue their contact.

鈥淲e loved being with the kids, the kids loved being with one another, and the parents loved the program,鈥� Stevens says. The Boston children met for informal bowling trips, but that soon gave way to regular meetings each month that included participants from past years.

None of the Israeli or Palestinian children had to drop out of this year鈥檚 program, despite the violence in the Gaza region. Although Stevens and her team anticipated that the Israeli and Palestinian children could be affected by the events, 鈥渢his isn鈥檛 the first time鈥� violence has shaken the group, she says.

鈥淚f anything it just shows more desire for peace. This time people are more determined because [the news coverage] was so focused on the killing of children and teenagers.... It makes our work more important than ever,鈥� Stevens says.

At a Kids4Peace Boston meeting earlier this summer, Debra Freed laughs as she recalls a few years back when she had asked Stevens if she could contact the parents of previous students at the camp. Stevens admitted that there weren鈥檛 any 鈥� yet.

鈥淢y child at the time was in Jewish day school, and it was a way of seeing that the world is not all Jewish,鈥� Ms. Freed says. 鈥淏ecause her entire world was Jewish ... [Kids4Peace] was a way of seeing the wider world.鈥�

Her daughter, Shoshana, agrees.

鈥淚t helped me bring some of that back into my environment, which I think was lacking a little bit in knowledge about other types of people,鈥� she says.

The program seems to have been nearly as influential for the parents, who were 鈥渢his group of people who were really different and didn鈥檛 know each other,鈥� parent Julie Dalton recalls. 鈥淪o as a group we agreed that ... we could ask each other anything we wanted.鈥�

Her daughter, Chaney, participated in the 2013 program. Later, Chaney鈥檚 class at school discussed Islam.

鈥淪he understood so much about it that the teacher just turned it over and let her take it from there, which was pretty exciting for me,鈥� Ms. Dalton says.

Cultural ties can also come into play, as they did for Eyal Alghool, who is Palestinian-American and participated in the summer camp in 2011.

鈥淢eeting all these people from where a lot of my family is from is pretty exciting, learning how it is back there,鈥� he says, adding that 鈥渨e鈥檝e almost all stayed in touch just by e-mailing them and coming to these monthly events.鈥�

This outlook warms the heart of his mother, Hannah.

鈥淢y son was becoming a young man, and I thought this particular place and time would brighten his eyes,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to start on the path of 鈥榯hey鈥檙e my enemy.鈥�... It鈥檚 time to put peace in front of us.鈥�

Yakir Englander, vice president of Kids-4Peace International, says that Stevens鈥檚 focus on a high-quality experience solidified Kids4Peace Boston as a cut above the rest.

鈥淚n Jerusalem, the idea was that being in America was just to learn about [America]. But then with Kids4Peace Boston, we decided to shift,鈥� Mr. Englander says. 鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 make sense that [American] kids focus [only] on us. Each side needs to bring his and her voices.鈥�

Now Stevens plans to extend the program through high school, challenging youths鈥� preconceived notions and creating constructive dialogue and talking about how the world looks to American kids compared with how it looks to kids in Israel and the Palestinian territories, who may have daily contact with violence.

鈥淲hat we want to do is focus on skills like ... [the] ethic of service for others鈥� that can apply to many situations, she says.

This sense of service seems to be Stevens鈥檚 trademark.

鈥淚 think the thread that has gone through my life is helping kids reach their potential and understand the potential of everyone around them,鈥� she says. 鈥淭o train them to be leaders, and as an educator, to train them to be good thinkers.鈥�

Using those skills has truly built a community.

鈥淭he parents, the kids, the way I see them come together, it鈥檚 a wonderful feeling,鈥� Ms. Alghool says, serving her homemade Palestinian dish of chicken and vegetables to the growing line of children at the dinner that concludes a Kids4Peace meeting.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a peaceful feeling. And I hope that we can pass that on to more and more generations.鈥�

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