By Rory, SNS Student Leadership Programme alumni.

[Note: Our Student Leadership Programme - now called the Bridge Builders Programme - is now open for applications. The programme takes place August 20-25th in Cambridge, UK. The application deadline is July 10th.]

4 years ago, I participated in Solutions Not Sides’ Student Leadership Programme (now known as Bridge Builders) - and to this day, it is one of the things I’m most proud of doing in my lifetime, and I sorely miss it. I’m now the National President of AIESEC UK - the national branch of the world’s largest youth-led organisation. At the age of 26, I’m basically managing 70 year old-organisation of 250+ volunteers of young people across 12+ Uni campuses, while representing my country to 100 others in our network. I’m sure that this programme played a large role in my motivation and ability to be in this position today.

To put it frankly, SNS’s programme gave me a platform I had craved for so long to not only learn about Israel-Palestine in the way I felt most accurate, but also about the UK society, its issues and its young, diverse people.

I grew up in the Welsh-speaking community of Cardiff - which was not so diverse at that point - and other than 1 or 2 in my school (who weren’t so strong in their identity) - I never properly met a Muslim until I was 16 nor a Jewish person until I was 19. On both occasions, it opened up a fascination with these communities, as well as a real exposure to issues that mattered to them. From this, I came to see some very contrasting views around Israel-Palestine - and as someone who was lucky to have an open mind and naturally valued critical thinking, objectivity and truth very strongly, I got more and more agitated to know what the ‘truth’ really was. I realised I was questioning thoughts I had had years before and might need to re-think all the views I had been exposed to before - and it made me realise what being stuck in a bubble or immersing yourself in one narrative or community can lead to.

My fascination in this conflict and activism in both fair understanding of it, and bridging communities together for dialogue, led me to be selected to lead a dialogue trip for students of all faiths and backgrounds to Israel and Palestine in Summer 2019. I went crazy in promoting it, getting around 80 applicants and 25 students to go and see the region and speak to activists on both sides in-person. This led me to later find out about SNS’s Leadership Programme and I immediately signed up, knowing this was the place I had been looking for.

I was so glad to be around so many diverse young people who I’d otherwise not get to meet, spend the week with two inspiring Israeli and Palestinian peace activists (and show them around London - something that felt so powerful to me, like I was directly shaping peace, even in a small way), gain the skills to talk about what mattered to me, ask questions I’d been dying to ask to leading experts on the topic, learn about the state of interfaith and discrimination in the UK and have such fun evenings with people who became friends. I felt above all like I was enjoying being young, and learning to be a change-maker. The experience even led me to get a job as a workshop facilitator for an anti-discrimination charity. It also made me feel proud to be British and have faith in our future by seeing such a group of diverse, young, critical thinkers who could be tomorrow’s leaders and wouldn’t submit to the toxic and divisive polarisation I see so often in the UK on Israel-Palestine that ultimately goes nowhere in progression to solutions. I wanted to make more of this, and make it bigger.

The responsibility I felt from the experience led me to start my own Israel-Palestine Discussion Society at Uni - a project I felt so passionate about, and looking back, realise I was so fearless to do. I was so lucky that SNS support and belief in me continued beyond the programme with this initiative. I also have such fond memories of volunteering at their school tours in 2019 (meeting even more Israelis and Palestinians - some of which I’d later meet up with as friends in the Holy Land itself), and even in Lockdown SNS helped get me through with some really fascinating, harrowing webinars not just about the conflict but about other conflicts and issues.

I later came back to the Bridge Builders programme in 2021, this time as a speaker as I began my role as a VP at AIESEC. This made me realise how far I had come, that I was now on the other end as a leader, as someone who could go from being inspired myself, to inspiring others. I wouldn’t have had this full circle without doing SNS’s programme. I ran for President of AIESEC as I wanted to also bring the best out of others, and to have a platform to start directly making the UK society better. I’ve even brought in elements of what I’ve gained from SNS into this platform - whether that was bringing an Israeli and a Palestinian peace activist to speak to some of our National Presidents while in a country where this was taboo, or having the speakers speak to our own membership, or showing my team Northern Ireland and its divided neighbourhoods given SNS does work with peace-building efforts there too.

If you want to have a first-hand and nuanced insight into Israel and Palestine from those living its realities, sign up for the Bridge Builders programme. If you want to expose yourself to incredibly inspiring and influential leaders trying to make UK society more cohesive, sign up for the Bridge Builders programme. If you want to learn about your own values and how to act upon them to heal divisions, sign up for the Bridge Builders programme. If you want to meet other amazing young people who will teach you so much about other cultures and beliefs, sign up for the Bridge Builders programme. I can testify that it put me onto the path I am now, and I would do it all over again.

SNS’ Student Leadership Programme is now called the Bridge Builders Programme - and is now open for applications. The programme takes place August 20-25th in Cambridge, UK. The application deadline is July 10th.