Exit
program even though I couldn’t
give them the stipend anymore.
Even now when I think about it
tears come to my eyes,” she says,
her voice wavering.
Her program has grown since
those early years. In 2007, after
seeing the impact her then-teenage daughters had on the students when the girls would join
her on her trip, she began bringing groups of American youths
to help with her initiative, now
called Service for Peace Side by
Side. Including the service projects — such as filling potholes
in village roads, building towers
on a mosque and cleaning up the
villages — the students partake
in exercises such as interfaith
dialogues to strengthen their
characters and relationships
with each other.
“What I’ve learned is that the
point is not just doing the projects,” she says. “I feel the most
impact is the relationships. The
key point was that they were
meeting each other. They were becoming close friends, like ambassadors for peace.”
One of the Gambian students
Berndt has worked with for years
had the chance to exercise his own
ambassadorial skills in the U.S.
GREATEST PERSON
OF THE WEEK
when she sponsored him and took
him back to live with her family
in Maryland. Raised by his older
brother after the death of his parents, Musa Jadama, now 21, attended high school for three years
at New Hope Academy on a scholarship. He is now in New York for
a yearlong leadership program
called Generation Peace Academy.
“He has this incredible smile
HUFFINGTON
09.30.12
Berndt at
New Hope
Academy
with students
Musa
Jadama and
Alysia Flynn.