Ben Ben Ami of Haifa in Israel had absolutely no exposure to multicultural experiences when, as a then 17-year old, he was asked to serve on a Friends Forever trip to the United States. The global peace initiative designed to unite young people of different backgrounds by living, working, playing and serving together, thousands of miles away from home.
There have been teams of Jewish and Arab teens, as well as Catholic and Protestant teens from Northern Ireland. Ben Ami has been working with all of them, both during his short three-day stint in the twin cities, and an earlier month long stopover at Friends Forever's U. S. base in New Hampshire.
During Sound Ideas, Ben Ami , now 22-year old, said he never had even spoken to an Arab until he joined Friends Forever.
"This experience was very powerful for me," he said. "I've realized a lot of things about myself. I thought I knew (about cultural differences) but I didn't know. I want share this value with other people. This is why, five years later, I'm still doing it," Ben Ami said.
Ben Ami conducts workshops with Friends Forever participants in area ranging from public speaking to mindfulness. That's not the word he uses to describe it. He prefers a larger description.
"Much of the dialog between sides tends to deal with finding solutions. But, I want to consider 'what if it's not about finding a solution?' What if it's about acknowledging my feeling and your feeling, and we are different," he said. He uses meditation as a tool to facilitate mindfulness. He said it makes sense since breathing takes place with any form of feelings.
"I think for us to begin to speak about our differences, we should have mutual ground. We should know that we are really coming from the same place. Then, if we spend considerable time together and have conversations about politics and conflict, we will be more compassionate to each other," Ben Ami said.
His work with at-risk youth and his efforts to help young cancer patients transported from Gaza to Tel Aviv helped earn him the title of Israel's 2012 Volunteer of the Year.
During the Sound Ideas interview, Ben Ami also discussed his mandatory three-year military stint and how that conflicts with his peace-keeping nature. He also talked about his family's initial reluctance to accept the Friends Forever concept.
