Spreading Seeds of Compassion
International students visit the U.S. for an inspirational gathering
(Left to right) Photographer Phil Borges mentors Sesethu, a student from South Africa; The Dalai Lama receives gifts from a Tibetan student during the Seeds of Compassion 2008 Conference in Seattle. Photos ©Joyce McClure
Article and Photographs by Joyce McClure
Sixteen middle- and high-school-age students, and three teachers, arrived in the United States from South Africa, India, and Guatemala in April 2008 for Bridges to Understanding’s annual Face-to-Face exchange. Bridges to Understanding is a Seattle-based non-profit organization that provides interactive, cross-cultural learning opportunities by linking students in the developed world with their contemporaries in indigenous communities.
The students’ visit was arranged to coincide with Seeds of Compassion, a five-day, community-wide gathering led by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. It focused on the relationships, programs, and tools that nurture and empower children, families, and communities to be compassionate members of society. Those in attendance had an opportunity to better understand the real benefits of compassion and to learn concrete steps on how to bring compassion into their lives.
As a volunteer at the event, I was able to witness the international students’ astonishment as they stepped into a new culture for the first time.
None of the students had been beyond the borders of their countries, and most had never been outside of their home villages. For three weeks the students attended classes at Bridges’ local partner schools, blogged about their experiences, shared their lives and cultures, talked about the issues they faced at home, and participated in a digital storytelling workshop with renowned humanitarian photographer and Bridges’ founder Phil Borges. In addition to speaking with local adult mentors, the students even met the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu during the Seeds event.
One participant, Sese, captured the importance of the event in this way: “His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama changed my understanding of what compassion is and made me realize that we tend to think about anger, hatred, and how it affects us, but we don’t pay attention to compassion and the role it plays in our lives. We focus on problems and challenges facing us today but don’t look at the things that people have done in order to make people’s lives better.
“Our generation is filled with opportunities and all the materials that one needs to achieve his or her goals and dreams, and all we need is to have compassion. Compassion is not only being helpful and loving to the people around you. It also understands the potential that you have and how you can use it to help yourself and other people as well.”
Photographer Joyce McClure spent more than 35 years in marketing and public relations while based in New York City, Boston, Los Angeles and Seattle before taking up photography and writing full time in 2007. Her passion as a lifelong traveler began when she moved with her family to Ahwaz, Iran, where she attended grades 6 and 7. Since then she has traveled widely, including most recently to Delhi, Dharamsala and Ladakh, a remote region of northern India on the border of Tibet. To see more of Joyce’s work, visit her website: www.joycemcclure.com.