Cranford Review 2019

www.seedsofpeace.org
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Seeds Of Peace is a leadership development
organisation founded in 1993. I was very
fortunate to be able to attend the second year of this
phenomenal camp in London. It was incredible.
The amount of fun I had over the 4-day course is
unexplainable. I have adapted and learned many
skills which I now apply to my daily life. Skills
as simple as listening, respect and communication
have made an impact in my everyday life.
The days were quite intense and long and we
took part in many sensitive and emotional
discussions based on topics which include:
gender, religion, identity, Brexit, stereotypes,
euthanasia, relationships with family/friends,
nationality and social class. These discussions
helped me understand different perspectives and
acknowledge and accept them. A dialogue is
not a debate or an argument but simply an open
discussion where everyone gets a say without
their opinion being ‘judged’ or shot down.
This is important as I took away skills from a
dialogue and applied them to reality where I
no longer argue but try to understand the other
person’s point of view and I am determined to
use a dialogue as is a way to resolve conflict.
The Seeds’ and facilitators created a safe
environment which was extremely welcoming.
This helped to strengthen bonds we have with
each other and our relationships. The outcome
of this was that everyone could share personal
things that they would not share with anyone else.
This trust and emotional connection created a vibe
which was unreal. This impacted our success in
group challenges as we needed these bonds to
help us achieve our goal.
We also had a chance to learn about facilitation
and how to facilitate a dialogue. I was partnered
up with Jacob and we decided to base our
dialogue around the theme of “clothes and the
chance of being a victim”. We began our dialogue
with everyone closing their eyes and imagining
a scenario and then we went around the circle
asking everyone to share their thoughts and
opinions; this led to a wider discussion. At the
end of the session, the facilitators gave us some
constructive criticism as well as what we did well.
This was extremely helpful as I got to learn skills
I could take away.
As well as discussions and activities, I took part
in some lip sync challenges and a talent show.
We had singers, dancers, artists, footballers and
Alex presented his monologue from a play called
“Chaos” which we were both involved in. This
was so much fun that we were all laughing and
enjoying ourselves.
Overall, the experience I had was life changing as
my whole mind-set and mentality switched when
I returned to my daily life. I am still in contact
with the facilitators and my fellow Seeds. I have
created friendships for life. I consider myself
extremely lucky. I would recommend to everyone
to get involved in this programme. I am proud to
be a Seed.
Kavleen Arora (year 10)