I'm an 'Unofficial Ambassador'

My brother-in-law Ben just posted this article on his blog. It's a great summary and interesting perspective on my two days teaching in the West Bank. Ben and my sister Ashley were fantastic hosts and pulled some strings to set up these last-minute meetings with groups that they sponsor thru the State Department.

Ben published a book last year about his experience living in Jordan, learning Arabic and traveling in the Middle East. It's a great read and you should all buy 10 copies. Thru interactions with everyday people Ben developed the concept of an 'Unofficial Ambassador'. In his blog, he explains how my days in the West Bank relate:

While Ryan didn’t solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict while he was here, the couple of days that he spent volunteering in the West Bank made a difference both for the people he worked with and for himself.

The little things that Ryan and other Unofficial Ambassadors contribute on visits like this and on longer trips add up to real and positive change at the grassroots level. Not to sound cliché, but in the absence of major political solutions, those little changes are big.

On a professional level, Unofficial Ambassadors fill gaps in a substantive way. Ryan offered his Palestinian counterparts something tangible – the people he met now have a better idea of how to approach the challenges that they face in their work. On a personal level, Unofficial Ambassadors represent an America that wants to engage with other cultures. In many parts of the Middle East, locals make a distinction between the U.S. government and the American people. While most are critical of U.S. foreign policies, they admire the American people, who they view as representatives of a land of opportunity, freedoms, and innovation. To the Palestinians he met – people who are likely critical of U.S. foreign policy but who don’t have everyday contact with Americans – Ryan offered a first-hand example of the positives of the American people. The Palestinians who met Ryan went home and told their families that they met an American from a place called Pittsburgh who was nice and cool and who helped them with their work. In a part of the world where anti-American polls are off the charts, that’s a beginning.

It's a grand idea to think that many little interactions can add up to a more connected, less culturally detached and war-filled world. However, based on my recent experience meeting people in the West Bank (and also from the Obama campaign doing door-to-door voter contact) it does, in our technologically connected world, seem very possible.

Other pictures from my Israel trip are here. Mine was a frequent flier ticket, and thus multi-legged like a millipede. This is a picture taken on the Zurich to Chicago leg, flying over Greenland.