Seas of Peace is a remarkable sail training and leadership program that brings together Middle Eastern and American youth for a summer of sailing and conflict resolution training.  This year, in their second summer of operation, they hope to bring together 18 young sailors on a 1,000 mile voyage on the Spirit of Massachusetts.  Monica Balanoff and David Nutt, the social entrepreneurs and youth leaders behind the program, are working to raise $20,000 by June 15th to make it happen.  Click here to donate to this fascinating program.

Seas of Peace – Sailing Beyond Borders to a More Peaceful World

What if the leaders of Israel, Palestine and the United States were put on a sailboat and forced to live and work together? Would they learn each others’ strengths and weaknesses? Would they better understand each other and what fears and hope motivates them? Would a just, lasting peace in the Middle East be easier to achieve? 

This is not possible today, but in 10-20 years, the leaders may just have had that experience!

In 2012, Seas of Peace will bring together 18 teenagers from Israel, Palestine and the United States. The first nine days of the program will be spent beginning the leadership dialogue course and learning to sail small boats in Portland, Maine. The remainder of the program will be spent living aboard a traditional, 125 ft (38 m) schooner, Spirit of Massachusetts, run by Ocean Classroom Foundation. While aboard Spirit of Massachusetts, participants will learn to sail and navigate this larger vessel, stand watch, care for and maintain the vessel, and eventually take command of the vessel. Departing Portland aboard Spirit of Massachusetts, participants will sail to New York City before turning around and ending the voyage in Boston, Massachusetts. During both parts of the program, students will engage each other about who they are and where they come from, undergo leadership training, and discuss how to continue working for peace back home. Most importantly, the participants will teach each other what it means to grow up in someone else’s shoes.

Seas of Peace operates under the auspices of Seeds of Peace, a world leader in youth conflict resolution. All participants in Seas of Peace have already attended Seeds of Peace International Camp in Maine. Limiting enrollment to this group ensures that the participants have demonstrated a commitment to peace building and a desire to continue difficult conversations. Because students were beginning from a developed understanding of the conflict, they were able to ask more difficult questions while also understanding the realities of trying to be peacemakers at home. Many participants come to Seas of Peace discouraged by the increasing polarization and conservatism at home and wondering what more conversations between young people can accomplish. These participants left Seas of Peace with a new sense of what was possible and renewed hope in each other and in the other side.

Seas of Peace is based on collaboration and teamwork essential to life at sea. Given the rigorous challenges of living on a tall ship, students quickly learn that they cannot accomplish anything individually aboard a 125 ft (38 m) sailing vessel and that they need to ask their shipmates for help. More than this, they find that if they pool their knowledge they learn more quickly and are more successful overall. One of our 2011 students remarked, “I felt there was an important difference between a completed voyage and a successful one. It was the difference between the [ship] carrying fifteen kids into Boston and the Spirit being sailed by fifteen Seeds into Boston. And for anyone who has not sailed on a schooner, it is no easy task. It requires unwavering trust in others, the ability to lead when it is required, and the maturity to follow.” Every day, “Seeds,” as the students call themselves, were given time to talk and relate to one another, both of which are essential to understanding and feeling understood. The setting of the program aboard a tall ship makes the experience unforgettable for all of our participants, most of whom have never set foot aboard a sailing ship before Seas of Peace. Waking up for night watch and being surrounded entirely by water and stars is awe inspiring, humbling and unifying.

The long term goals of Seas of Peace founders, David Nutt and Monica Balanoff, are to begin as a summer program and transition to a full academic, semester program. It will be the first of its kind to focus on conflict resolution.