In third year, EMU peace camp keeps growing

Eastern Mennonite University

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Two years after it started as a brief pilot program, an interdenominational summer camp continues to grow dramatically.

The Interfaith Peace Camp at Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg, Va., now lasts a week and has 44 children attending, more than twice as many youngsters as the
inaugural camp in 2008.

Maria Bowman, 2009 EMU grad, helps children construct bridges at the Interfaith Peace Camp at Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg, Va. Photo by Jon Styer.

"We have a waiting list," said Vesna Hart, co-chair of the camp's planning committee. "What we do is pretty unique."

What the peace camp does is join kids from different religions and nationalities for five days of art, drama, music and recreation. Through such activities, and the consumption of new ethnic foods, participants also build friendships with children from other cultures.

The camp, which ran Monday through Friday, June 28-July 2 at Eastern Mennonite University, features stories and lessons that help first through sixth graders grasp three religions known as the Abrahamic faiths: Christianity, Islam and Judaism. Accordingly, the camp featured field trips to Beth El Synagogue, the Islamic Association of Shenandoah Valley Mosque and Trinity Presbyterian Church.

Hart and other adults created the peace camp in 2008 to teach youths intercultural goodwill: the three-day mini-camp drew 22 children and three congregations - Beth El, IASV and Park View Mennonite Church hosted visits.

Last year EMU's Center for Interfaith Engagement, Abraham's Tent, partnered with the camp's founders. Trinity Presbyterian, Valley Friends Meeting and Shalom Mennonite Church joined the project and enrollment reached 40 kids.

Gretchen H. Maust, associate director of Abraham's Tent, says word of mouth promoted the peace camp. Some participants are out-of-towners who, visiting Harrisonburg for the summer, learned about the camp and decided to attend: several people came from Augusta County while one child hailed from North Carolina.

Others came even farther. Adam Baibeche arrived with his father, Abder, from San Juan, Puerto Rico, where Abder teaches college-level French. Adam, 7, who speaks French, Spanish and English, said he "wasn't sure I'd like" the camp but soon changed his mind. "I enjoyed weaving and art class, and making friends," said Adam, attending the camp for the first time.

The Baibeche family reflects the camp's human mosaic. Abder Baibeche grew up in Algeria in a Muslim home and his wife, Andrea, comes from a Mennonite family in Harrisonburg.

Others at the camp have attended before. Israa Alhassani, 40, arrived with daughter Jenna Altaii, 9, for the second year. Alhassani, a Muslim who teaches Arabic at James Madison University, leads the camp's art classes.

"For me, the camp celebrates diversity," Alhassani said. "At her school, my daughter didn't want to be different. Since attending this camp, she's proud to be different." While she likes the fun and friendship the peace camp offers, Jenna's interest runs deeper.

"I like seeing new ideas," she said, adding that exposure to other types of thinking "can help you in the future."

One art project of the camp symbolized the theme for this year's event: "Building Bridges, Building Peace." Children spent several days constructing a model bridge. Once finished, the children painted their hands and stamped handprints along the railing. Hart thinks the camp's meaning reaches all ages.

Said Hart: "This camp is planting seeds of understanding and tolerance in the children and, it involves teens who help out with the camp, and us, as adults, work together to make the camp a happy one."

Tom Mitchell is a staff writer with the Daily News-Record, Harrisonburg.