Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
By Seeds of Peace Pakistan
Citation preview
Vol. 2, Issue No. 7 1
New Seeds Depart for Seeds of Peace International
Summer Camp 2012
On the 23rd of June, a 14 member delegation departed
from Lahore to attend the Seeds of Peace International
Summer Camp, 2102. The camp began on the 24th of
June and will continue till the 18th of July 2012.
Before the departure, the new seeds attended 6-8
preparatory sessions in which they were introduced to
each other along with their parents. They also met with
the Delegation Leaders (DLs-adult educators who
accompany the group to the camp) and Peer Support
(PSs-those students who are selected to attend the camp
second time and act as mentor and supporters of the
new seeds at the camp). Ice-breaking activities took
place so that the campers could open up to each other.
The new campers also prepared presentations on
various topics, which included, but not limited to, Indo-
Pak, Pak-Afghan relationships, Kashmir and water
issues, as well as other important affairs of national
interest. These presentations and discussions were
meant to prepare the campers for dialogue at camp.
Along with presentations and discussions, the PSs also
guided the new campers on other camp related
concerns and they prepared for the talent show and
cultural evening at the camp. Before the departure of
the new seeds to the USA, they met with the older seeds
where they exchanged views about the camp and received
many suggestions/tips about how to make maximum out
of their camp experience. The campers will return on the
20th of July, 2012 (stay tuned to read about their
experiences in the next quarterly issue i.e. July to
September 2012).
National Integration Camp (NIC)
Follow-up Program has Begun
The follow up program of our successful NIC in Lahore
has begun. The camp had brought together 50 students
and 10 teachers from five major cities of Pakistan. On the
last day of the camp, the participants had come up with
creative and wonderful ideas that they wanted to work on,
in their respective cities. During the last three months, we
have conducted two follow meeting with the participants
from Quetta and Lahore. Video skype meeting was held
with the peace partners from Quetta to discuss the
feasibility and implementation of proposed ideas of
educating the under privileged and uneducated adults in
Quetta along with starting awareness talks regarding the
importance of national integration. A group of 8 NIC
participants and one teacher attended the
workshop, which went pretty well, though we
faced issues with video skyping. Another
workshop was conducted with the participants
of Lahore. A group of 10 peace partners and
one teacher attended the workshop. In Lahore
we explored the ideas of tree plantation,
education and household waste management.
Seeds of Peace is committed to provide
technical and financial assistance for these
projects. Soon we will be starting the follow
up meetings with the participants from other
cities as well.
In this Issue
New Seeds Depart for Seeds of
Peace International Summer
Camp 2012
1
NIC Follow Up Program has
begun 1
Meeting with State Department
Personnel 2
Seeds Participated in State
Alumni Led Work for Humanity 2
Updates on Know Electricity 3
Lub Azad : Legions of
Reason...Expression our
Weapon 3
Quarterly Updates April – June 2012 (Vol. 2, Issue 7)
Vol. 2, Issue No. 7 2
Meeting with State Department Personal
Ms. Kathryn A. Kiser (the Cultural Affairs Office-
CAO) and Ms. Brinille E. Ellis (Public Affairs Office-
PAO) of the US Consulate Lahore visited the new
office of Seeds of Peace. They got a chance to meet
the 2012 delegation before they depart for the camp.
The campers discussed their expectations from camp
and how they look forward to implementing their
camp experience back home. This was also a farewell
get together for Ms. Kathryn who was supposed to
finish her assignment in Pakistan at the end of June.
Seeds Participated in State Alumni Led
Work for Humanity
Seeds participated in the U.S. Alumni community
service project at SOS Children’s Village, Lahore. A
group of seven seeds joined over 25 State Alumni
from various youth exchange programs which
included YES, Global UGRAD and SUSI to repaint
playground equipment at SOS Children’s Village,
Lahore (a local home for orphan and abandoned
children). The Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy
Tara Sonenshine was also able to participate in the
community service project. It was also a good
opportunity for various State Alumni persons to
connect with each other for a good cause – despite the
heat and the fact that many of the Alumni were busy
with exams! The Under Secretary was impressed by
the hard work and commitment of the Pakistan State
Alumni including the members of the Seeds of Peace.
Some of the Seeds along with other US Alumni had
an interactive session with the Under Secretary
Sonenshine in which they all shared their experiences
in the U.S. and also updated her about the activities
that Alumni have been doing at the local level for the
welfare of the society.
“Individually, we are one drop.
Together, we are an ocean.”
Anonymous
Quarterly Updates April – June 2012 (Vol. 2, Issue 7)
Vol. 2, Issue No. 7 3
Know Electricity!!! (Faizan Rasool)
Talks and training activities were conducted in four schools and two universities on consumption efficiency the consumption and efficiency and
curriculum was developed. Three teams namely social media, content and partnership teams were set up. More developments include initiation of
an auditing guideline project, relationship building with LESCO and revamping of Schools and Students Engagement Program (SSEP).
"Lub Aazad" Legions of Reason...Expression our Weapon!!!
(Syed Fahad Ali Kazmi)
Lub Azaad when translated figuratively refers to the notion of "freedom of expression." It
attempts to impart strong faculties of critical thinking, and logical reasoning among the students of
schools catering to low income segments of society. Through the medium of “Parliamentary Style of Debate” (World School Style) and “conventional declamations.” The main aim is to turn our
extremely talented students from lower income segment and government schools into confident young thinkers, articulate public speakers and responsible citizens of Pakistan. When we initiated
the programm , our project "Lub Azad was met with both resistance and hospitality. Lub Azad is
an effort Nonetheless, I am proud of the fact, to this point we have successfully launched our
project "Lub Azad" and also reached quit a few milestones of ours. A few points must be noted at this point :
a. Teaching parliamentary style debate to state schools or schools catering to lower class of the
community has never been done in Pakistan...so team Lub Azad rightfully claims that their effort is something new and historic!
b. Till this point 16 schools of Lahore have been trained with the art of Parliamentary Debate
(in our national language Urdu).
c. Each school has been given 5 to 7 training workshops, and each workshop lasted for almost
three hours.
d. Teams of students for Parliamentary Style Debate have been formulated in these 16 schools. e. We are in negotiations with Government of Punjab for the expansion of the project to the
provincial level. (This is a long and tedious process anyway, yet we are trying).
Our next grand step will be to hold a Mega Debating Championship, this shall be unprecedented. We shall be having some 20-25 Teams from Government schools who will participate in this. Needless to say, it will be a benefiting conclusion to
our first season of Lub Azad (which will follow the Declamation Training).
Contributions
Layout & Edited By:
Syed M. Faheem Ahmad and
Sajjad Ahmad
Report Courtesies:
Saliha Malik, Syed Fahad Ali
Kazmi, Faizan Raaool,
Syed M. Faheem Ahmad
and Sajjad Ahmad
Photo Courtesies:
Rameez Ali, Syed M. Faheem Ah-
mad, Faizan Rasool and
Tauseef Sabih
For more information and updates, visit
www.seedsofpeacre.org
or check out our Facebook page i.e.
www.facebook.com/soppakistan or
Email us at: [email protected]
For Comments and Feedback Email at
Announcement:
As of June 16, 2012 we have shifted to a
new place, located at 166-B, Sikandar
Road, Upper Mall Scheme, Lahore.
However, telephone number will remain the
same i.e. +92-42– 3576 1900
Quarterly Updates April – June 2012 (Vol. 2, Issue 7)
