KENNEBUNKPORT — Members of the Kennebunk Portside Rotary hosted 10 students from Israel for the day last Tuesday, providing workshops and volunteering opportunities.

The high school students are a part of Friends Forever International, a nonprofit group based in Durham, New Hampshire, that strives to create a new generation of leaders, said Stephen Martineau, executive director of the program.

Representing two schools, Al Galil Municipal School in Nazareth, Israel, and Carmel Zvulun Regional High School in Yagur, Israel, the group members said they are a mix of Arabic and Jewish.

The students said that they have all been getting along like great friends, despite the historic tension between the two ethnic groups, which is what Friends Forever International hopes to accomplish.

“Their aim is to combine people who are in contradiction,” said Mazal Fux, a teacher at Carmel Zvulun. “Like in Ireland, they have Catholics and Protestants. This is their aim, to make young people leaders of the world, their future, to have a better world.”

Their time in Kennebunkport was spent volunteering and working on art projects.

President of Portside Rotary Tracey O’Roak said that in the morning they had a bake-off competition at one of the club member’s homes, and the leftover baked goods were donated to the Teen Center in Portland.

Eleventh graders Shaked Tzban and Mariam Fahoum said that each day has been so busy and so exciting, they can’t even remember it all.

“Every day we say, ‘This is the best day!’” Fahoum said. “We do so much that when we go back at night, we’re like, ‘What did I do today?’ So many things.”

In the evenings the group has been staying at a beach house in New Castle, New Hampshire, said Fux, and each day, they go out to explore a different area in New England, mostly New Hampshire, with the daily itinerary a surprise for the students.

“We didn’t have too many expectations,” Tzban said. “When we came here, they told us we don’t have a schedule. They don’t want us to worry about what is happening the day before or tomorrow.”

The students said that they met a couple times before the trip and didn’t anticipate becoming so close.

“We had a seminar before,” Tzban said, “a two-day seminar to just meet everyone. We watched a movie. We ate together.”

Fahoum interjected. “We got together so fast it’s scary!” she said.

Raida Hassan, a teacher at Al Galil, said that the students involved in Friends Forever International will leave will better communication skills.

“I think they have more confidence,” she said. “They experience communicating with people and learn what it’s like outside their cities. They gained a lot of skills to be volunteers.”

This intense two-week period is unlike any other kind of study-abroad or summer camp program out there, Martineau said. The students must prove they’re ready to take charge.

“When you’re young, people tell you, ‘Yeah, you can change the world,’ but no one tells you how to do it,” he said. “They’re developing a new peer network of individuals who believe that they can make a difference. We’re showing them that not only is it OK to feel hopeful, it’s essential.”

Even with the cultural differences, Fux said the students have maintained an open mind.

“The people we’ve met had a very good attitude towards them,” she said. “They volunteered at a church and met teenagers their age. They bonded together through music. They were nice to each other.”

She added that the Friends Forever International program helps to teach young people to be more tolerant of others.

“At this age they’re like a sponge,” she said. “You can change their opinions or attitudes. When they’re grown-ups, it’s more difficult. At this age, it’s easier.”

To be accepted for the program, Fahoum and Tzban said they had to write an essay and then were interviewed by the school.

“They needed to know English and be more tolerant and know how to communicate,” Fux said.

Hassan said a challenge for the students can be staying so far away from home without a cell phone to call their families, but she added that their time spent away from technology is beneficial.

Gil Page, a new member at the Kennebunk Portside Rotary, said that she was asked to host an activity for the students. A former art teacher, she helped them create montages with cut-out images from magazines and newspapers.

“They’re using their imagination and humor,” Page said. “They have all the choices of subject matter. A montage is taking two different images, integrating what isn’t yours, but you make it yours.”

After the art project at Page’s home, O’Roak said, the students went on a lobster boat tour with another club member and finished their day in Kennebunkport with a barbecue.

So far, Tzban said, one of the biggest differences she’s noticed between Israel and the United States is the food.

“They don’t joke when they say everything is bigger in America,” she said. “It really is. What even is ‘party size?’”

— Catherine Bart can be reached at cbart@mainelymediallc.com or 780-9029.

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