The Faces of Sleep for Peace

On September 21, HI USA participated in Sleep for Peace, a celebration that highlighted how hostels inspire a more tolerant and understanding world. More than 100 hostels in over 25 countries participated in the festivities, hosting events that ranged from community dinners to film screenings. However, what really continues to define Sleep for Peace, and hostels in general, are the people. From the travelers to the volunteers, it's their faces that help make Sleep for Peace a reality. Read the stories of these hostellers, hearing more about their travels, their experiences, and their perspectives. These are the folks that traveled through hostels across the Northeast during late September, and have experienced peace in varying levels in their lives. See how hostels have made them more peaceful and understanding global citizens. Our Northeast Regional Engagement Manager took the Sleep for Peace flag from hostel to hostel collecting messages of peace. The flag also served as the backdrop for the photos. Visit http://www.hiusa.org/education/sleep-for-peace for more information. A project of Hostelling International USA.

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Corinne Carpenter, Live-in Hostel Assistant

HI Martha’s Vineyard

Corinne has been the live-in hostel assistant at Martha’s Vineyard since May 2015, checking in guests, cleaning the beds, and providing local information to those visiting the island.  Hailing originally from Hudson, New York, she’s enjoyed the experience of working in the hostel and even managed to paint a beautiful watercolor depiction of Sleep for Peace this year.

When speaking about her art, Corinne noted that she has a bachelor in fine arts from SUNY Purchase, and that she really likes watercolor because it’s challenging and finicky.  The artistic practice for Corinne is about self-discovery.  Apart from her art, she spends most of her time meditating.

For Corinne, peace isn’t accepting differences and understanding differences, but more about allowing differences to be.  She thinks peace is broken when we can’t allow something or someone to be different.

She thinks that hostels work towards peace because they bring people together in a common environment, around things like breakfast and different activities.  It brings people together to have conversation that otherwise wouldn’t have met in hotel rooms.   At the end of the day, it really provides the community experience that travelers hunger for.

For this coming year, she hopes to be more dedicated to her meditation practice.  As Corinne eloquently put it: “If I don’t meditate I get too caught up in my thinking mind, and then I get stressed out.  If I can stay out of that, I can be more present with people and more available.  And ultimately, kinder.”  Thanks for working with hostels Corinne!  

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Maureen Greenaway, Guest Services Supervisor at HI Boston

HI Boston

Maureen is known to many guests and staff alike at the Boston Hostel to be the person who never stops smiling.  Whether it’s raining outside or there’s a huge line at the Front Desk, Maureen has always maintained an incredibly cheery attitude with everyone.  She started as a Guest Services Associate 4 years ago, and has been a Front Desk Supervisor for over a year now.  She is constantly mentioned in guest comment cards for her friendliness and welcoming nature when they arrive to the hostel.

For Maureen, peace means a variety of things.  First and foremost, it means diversity, unity, and equality.  And given the hostel experience, she points out that peace is also about sharing with people a common bond to reach a mutual goal: which is that everyone will live at peace with each other, living and growing together.  

With Maureen’s constant interactions with people from all over the world, she pointed out that traveling really is all about diversity.  While traveling you naturally learn about the different nations and how their way of life can be so different from your own.  Maureen has grown to appreciate many of the benefits of living in America and how there are more freedoms here than other places.  Of course too, Maureen likes people and the customer service side of meeting new faces.  As she noted “I get along with most people, and usually don’t have issues with anyone. I really do like meeting people from all over the world, and there’s always something to gain knowledge-wise from different hostels.”

To be a more peaceful person this year, Maureen is going to not let too many things upset her, and always try to let the pain and the challenges go.  At the end of the day, you have to move on and try to learn about how to be a better person.  It’s every person’s job to take a half empty glass and make it half full.  

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Samy Alirachedi, Hostel Guest from Los Angeles & Algeria

HI New York

Samy is a traveler from Los Angeles and originally hails from Algeria, where he still has family.  This was Samy’s very first hostel stay and he absolutely loved the experience that HI New York provided to him.  The friendliness of the staff and the hospitality he received has convinced him that he will stay in many more hostels in the future.  He was photographing HI New York’s fantastic bunk bed when we caught up with him and even stamped a dove on his arm so he could remember peace.  

To Samy, peace is about seeing yourself in other people.  His exact words were “I am you and you are me.”  He really feels that when people can start to recognize their shared similarities and see that we’re in many ways all the same, peace can grow.  And of course, peace is really about smiling.

When asked about how his hostel stay and travel in general has contributed to peace, Samy pointed out that when you’re a traveler you can’t hate.  It’s not possible.  He said that when someone hates that person will not travel because they don’t like others.   At HI New York, everybody in the hostel was unbelievably nice for Samy.  In his dorm room, he had travelers from Japan, Argentina, England and of course, Algeria, when he counted himself.   All of them get along, and have a plenty of mutual respect when learning about other cultures.

Last but certainly not least, when asked about what his hope for peace was this year, he had a very simple response: “Peace in the Middle East between Palestine and Israel.  I want to help them live together and find that common ground.  They are all brothers.  It would solve the problems of the world.”  We hope that through his continued travels and experiences that Samy continues to spread peace in his own special way!

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Rosie Hanson, Property Accounting Manager

HI New York

Rosie Hanson was born and raised in New York, and has worked at Hostelling International USA for more than five years.  She’s been an active member in the staff, and has helped plan a number of engaging activities in the hostel that go above and beyond her duties as Property Accounting Manager.  This year, for Sleep for Peace, Rosie purchased a number of stones and had guests and staff both paint their favorite peaceful designs on them.  They came out beautifully, with guests sharing messages of peace, happiness or even a little bit of national pride.

For Rosie, peace is an internal harmony and that it starts with yourself.  When someone is at peace with themselves, that person is at peace with the universe.  Peace really then becomes a sense of freedom and liberates you from other constraints.  Rosie pointed out that peace eliminates the worries and the barriers, and then you have the freedom to be completely authentic with yourself and other people.  It initially starts with you and you can share your comfort with someone else.

At the end of the day, hostels have helped Rosie see that all of us are the same.  Rosie has met a lot of people from various countries and she’s been able to have a connection with each person.  And once she has a connection with that person, then she’s able to find out unique attributes and stories from those individuals.  Ultimately, working at the hostel has helped her create peace between people from other countries and generally have dialogues that she never thought she would have.  

In the next year, Rosie wants to practice peace by taking yoga.  She feels that through yoga, she can create peace and balance in her life.  And just like hostels, Rosie notes that she has a community of people that love the tranquility and sense of space that it creates.  And Rosie is excellent at providing facials, which she thinks are peaceful too–she’ll be giving those out a lot more to friends and family!

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Rowland Scherman, Civil Rights & Peace Corps Photographer

HI Hyannis

Rowland Scherman is an iconic photographer that took the first photos of the Peace Corps after President John F. Kennedy introduced the program in 1961.  He took photography of the Civil Rights movement thereafter, capturing some of the most well-known images of the era.  Rowland’s photography has captured the spirit and the energy of the 1960s, demonstrating how visual depictions of social movements can have powerful effects across diverse communities.

Rowland, now a Cape Cod resident, partnered with the Hyannis Hostel and the JFK Museum of Hyannis to deliver a presentation about his photography at the museum.  He discussed the inspiration for his work and what it’s meant to him, especially in the context of the International Day of Peace.  Hearing JFK’s call to service and action left him inspired, and he felt compelled to photograph these amazing changes that were transforming the United States.

At the end of the evening, Rowland actually offered to sign the flag that was being taken around to the many hostels of the Northeast.  When asked what he wrote, he simply said “I choose peace.”  We hope that he gets the chance to stay in other hostels soon and share his photography and his experiences with other travelers looking for inspiration.

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Casey Whalen, Live-in Hostel Assistant at Truro and Guest at Hyannis

HI Hyannis

Casey Whalen started working at the Truro Hostel in August and was excited for the experience.  He loved meeting people and generally being at such a beautiful location on Cape Cod.  After helping close both Truro and Eastham, we found him at the Hyannis Hostel enjoying the last few weeks of his summer. 

For Casey, peace means the absence of chaos, confrontation and disagreement. It really comes down to a mutual understanding of other people and getting to know them.  For Casey, given that this was the first time he had worked in a hostel, he came to understand a few key attributes of hostelling.  Every guest that he encountered was aware that it’s a communal situation and that all problems and conflicts between guests are almost always brought to a peaceful conclusion.  Being an intimate quarters with these strangers always encourages people to reach an understanding and take that opportunity to learn more about each other.

For this upcoming year, Casey wants to work on being kinder to others and more patient with people when he’s traveling.  He hopes to be more accepting of communal spaces and his surroundings, learning more from the hostel life of accepting people’s differences.  Finally, being more tolerant will go a long way in general, and Casey is excited to embrace that.  

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Kyle Kochiss, Community Artist for HI Hyannis Dinner & Poetry Night

HI Hyannis

Kyle Kochiss is known around the Hyannis area as the Stone Heart Artist.  Connected to the hostel through Melissa Hersh, the Town of Barnstable’s Arts & Culture Coordinator, Kyle spends her summers at an Artist Shanty right on Ocean Street making fantastic jewelry from found stones.  Kyle spends her days roaming the beach finding stones in the shape of hearts and transforming them into necklaces, keychains, bracelets and more.  For HI Hyannis, she made her own custom keychains that read “peace” on them, helping guests and community members have their own peace souvenirs.  

For Kyle, peace is learning to be still in the midst of chaos and being centered.  When she travels, she loves soaking up other cultures and finding out their own unique traits.  She actually has never stayed in a hostel before but after her experience in Hyannis, she would definitely consider it.  

To live more peacefully in the coming year, she hopes more people know when international peace day takes place and know its purpose  For her, it would be great if it was more of a celebration across the world.  Secondly, she thinks it would be great if everybody did something small, like a genuine act of kindness for that day to spread awareness and pass on the peace.  Kyle sincerely believes that those acts of kindness come back to you in a huge way.  For now, she’s planning on continuing to walk the beach to find heart stones and find her peace inside.

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Ally Thibault, Hyannis Live-in Hostel Assistant

Ally has lived in the Hyannis hostel since May 2015, working as a live-in hostel assistant much like other seasonal hostel workers.  She helps check-in guests, check out local information, clean the rooms and generally create a warm and welcoming environment in the 42 bed hostel.

For Ally, peace is really about finding an inner peace even if the world isn’t great.  It comes down to finding a sense of comfort and a sense of community in a place, despite any challenges one might face.  As she’s worked in the hostel, she’s seen huge strides made towards peace between guests. She noted that when you’re in your culture you have these stereotypes towards others, and frequently Ally has those stereotypes erased as she meets guests.

Ally has several memorable experiences of seeing peace in action at hostels.  This past summer in Hyannis, she witnessed a family from Germany have a conversation with an elderly man from New York about World War 2.   Both sides were respectful of each other as they talked about a difficult part of history.  For Ally, this was a really impacting experience watching a mutually respectful conversation unfold before her.

One of Ally’s other stories that sticks with her was while she worked in a hostel in Arizona. She met a man who turned out to be a refugee from Iraq while she had been relaxing in one of the hostel common spaces.   She learned that he had been shot through the arm, and despite this horrible past, he was pursuing a PhD in Indiana.  The man had grown to feel like he was a part of the community and he’s bridged that gap between that violence and the misunderstanding.

When asked about her own pursuit of peace this year, Ally said she was most inspired by the hostel environment.  The biggest part about working in a hostel is the necessity of learning everyone’s story.  Hostel guests or workers always make a point to have conversations, and should remember not to make snap judgments.  A hosteller should always aim to have conversation and learn their stories, and when they make the effort to have a conversation that traveler will always learn about that person.  It’s always hidden and if you can just listen, you’ll realize how inherently good people are.

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Nosibah Abdallah, Guest at Martha’s Vineyard

HI Martha’s Vineyard

Nosibah was visiting Martha’s Vineyard for the same reason that Luis Oliva was: she’s an English language student studying in Boston.  Originally from Saudi Arabia, Nosibah has been in the USA for nearly two months.  This was one of her first hostels, and the experience clearly has left a deep impression on her perceptions of hostels and American culture.

For Nosibah, peace means to relax and to keep out of trouble.  It comes down to meeting new people, new friends, and going back to your home and spreading change.   Staying in a hostel was so cool to Nosibah because she learned more about people and met new friends.  As many of the students on her trip were mere strangers, she liked that the group left the hostel and the island as a family.

To practice peace this year, Nosibah says she wants to go back to Saudi Arabia and embrace peace in her country.  She’s excited to try and translate the way that she lives here in the United States to the way she lives there.   She hopes that through telling them about her stories in the United States, she’ll them feel the peace she feels here in Saudi Arabia.  After hostelling, she really wants to travel more and explore new places.  As she put it eloquently: “I wont travel until I finish my degree and then you’re free.”

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Luis Oliva, Guest at Martha’s Vineyard

HI Martha’s Vineyard

Luis was staying at the Martha’s Vineyard hostel just a week after arriving in the United States.  As part of his ELS program, Luis had the opportunity to take a weekend trip with other students to the Vineyard.  He participated in “Pancakes for Peace”, Martha’s Vineyard’s way of celebrating Sleep for Peace.  A signature activity at the hostel, the breakfast at The Vineyard is known for being one of the most engaging aspects of the hostel, bringing everyone together to eat pancakes.

Luis preferred to write down his messages rather than be interviewed directly.  He left the following message on his Sleep for Peace note “I have experience all kind of hostels and met many people from all over the world.  I made some friends and shared some awesome experiences.  Hostelling is a way to connect people and to keep peace in a world by helping people to understand other people’s cultures and religion.”

We look forward to hosting Luis at one of our hostels soon! Thanks for staying in Martha’s Vineyard Luis!

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Norvell Watts,  Volunteer at HI Boston

HI Boston

Norvell Watts has been volunteering at the Boston Hostel for nearly a year, and has enjoyed the experience of taking people on nightlife events like pub crawls and the hostel’s midweek mixer.  He is currently a Residence Director at Curry College, and enjoys interacting with the international community.

For Norvell, peace is really about community and setting up an environment where all of us recognize differences and take pride in those.  He sees the hostel as a hub for a lot of people that are coming through Boston, providing that place where people don’t have to make assumptions of each other.  It’s an environment where people are sort of living together and have to get along as a result.

When asked about being more peaceful this year, Norvell said that he’d like to challenge himself and the people around him to connect more with people.  The key is to step outside of all of our comfort zones and challenge the assumptions that people come in with.

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Chris Comers, Community Partner at Bummer City Historical Society

HI Boston

Chris works for the Bummer City Historical Society and has been working with the Boston Hostel for nearly a year now hosting their inclusive open mics in the hostel’s community room.  On this particular evening, Chris was running a special event for the hostel’s Sleep for Peace festivities entitled “Inclusivity and Safe Spaces: A Panel Discussion, Q&A, and Mini-Show.”  Chris enjoys the open mics hosted at the hostel and has been excited about this particular panel, which featured live poetry and music as well.    

Chris and the entire Bummer City Historical Society love the hostel environment, and they get a lot of people that are staying at the hostel looking for unique activities to participate in.  For him, it’s cool to have Bummer City having these kind of arts-based events spread beyond Boston when international travelers bring the experience back to their home countries.

When asked what peace meant to him, Chris noted that peace is an ideal, and probably an end-goal for what all of us do.  He noted that all of us try to foster peace between our friends, between countries.  Like hostels, it’s the goal for everyone to be in a safe, happy, and creative environment.

For this year’s peace resolution, Chris hopes to be more supportive in his relationships and hopes to have even more positive interactions with his peers.  And he was quick to note that he hopes to take advantage of HI USA’s hostel network since he hadn’t realized just how wide HI USA’s footprint is.   Traveling, will most certainly put Chris at peace! 

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Rowena Crisostomo, Guest at HI Boston

HI Boston

Rowena, or “Ro” as she prefers to be called, stayed at the Boston Hostel for a total of three nights as a solo traveler after traveling in Maine with some friends.  Living in Los Angeles, she hadn’t considered the possibility of staying in hostels in the United States until her stay in HI Boston.

For Ro, being at peace is really about being happy, and having people get along with each other.  Peace to her means that everyone is on the same page and not fighting, but respecting each other.

As a solo traveler, Ro tries to be as carefree as possible—and really aims to go with the flow.  She always stands by the mantra of not being negative and trying  to embrace new experiences that naturally lead to fun.  Along the way, she sees what the city and what the town has to offer as she explores.  Most importantly, Ro enjoys traveling by foot and getting lost.  As she put it: “I like being a free bird!”  When she’s away from work and on the road, she’s an entirely different person and her carefully organized schedules go out the window.

As a first time hosteller in the US, she’s loved the Boston Hostel since she’s been able to meet so many people.  She attended a ton of events and was pumped that they’re free and affordable.  Most importantly, it’s only whetted her desire to travel more: she met two new friends from France and hopes one day to visit them.  Like so many hostellers, Ro loves the people she meets and that’s why she hopes to stay at more hostels.

This year, Ro hopes to spread peace by always making someone smile.  For her, it starts just by doing a good deed like opening a door for someone since the smallest connections in life go a long way.  Peace truly starts with a smile, and that makes her happy.

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Linda Splatt, Friendly Crossways Guest

HI Friendly Crossways

Found picking greens and gardening at the Friendly Crossways hostel, Linda Splatt has traveled to multiple hostels across the United States during the last three years.  She has most recently worked at the Truro and Eastham hostels, and is currently helping out at the Friendly Crossways Hostel.  

For Linda, peace is the presence of unity.  When asked about how traveling leads to peace, she referred to a Mark Twain quote that she actually discovered while staying in the Boston Hostel several years ago: “Travel is fatal to prejudice”.  She noted that she never feels more peaceful than when she has the security of staying in affordable and open accommodations.  The people that she’s met have provided a different point of view, instead of the same issues and concerns.

This year for Sleep for Peace, while working at the Truro Hostel, she was reading HI USA’s list of hostels and decided that she wanted to work there.  She is hoping to work with the hostel manager of Friendly Crossways, Mary Helan Turner, to host a community dinner and host discussions for people that are staying at the hostel.  She is very excited to duplicate this activity with her friends back in Texas when she returns home in the winter.  As she eloquently put it, “I’m excited to embrace food, friends, family and fellowship.”