PORTLAND, Maine — Tuesday marks one month of the war in Israel. Despite taking place thousands of miles away, the war is touching lives right here in Maine.
For nearly three decades, "Seeds of Peace" has hosted a summer camp in Otisfield, where youth from around the world can come together to try and find common ground, while looking beyond their differences.
Tim Wilson, a senior program advisor, said when the war began on Oct. 7, former campers and staff members were worried as the violence spread.
"My phone, my everything I had was ringing left and right," Wilson said.
Wilson has been involved with Seeds of Peace for 30 years, and at one point in his life, even called Jerusalem home.
"My wife and I were on the phones and everything," he said. "We just broke down because there were so many people we knew and know on both sides of the question."
He said after decades of working to help young people reach across their lines of differences, he never thought he'd see the long-standing tensions between the Israelis and Palestinians come to this.
"It's not been perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but nothing like what we're seeing now," Wilson said. "There's got to be a way, I hope, to get past this. It's going to take time. It's going to take time."
One former camper turned camp counselor, Danielle Whyte of Westbrook, said her biggest takeaway from camp is any person, no matter their age, has the ability to change the world.
"Global structures often hope that younger generations will continue to perpetuate legacies of injustice oppression and harm," Whyte, said. "One of the things that Seeds of Peace does I think, it does quite well, is empowering young people to know that they can break those cycles of oppression by creating a space to find the humanity in the other person."
While Tuesday marks one month of violence in Israel, Wilson said he hopes the world can find that humanity soon.