Ingrid Stegemoeller: A 2007 graduate of Pacific Lutheran University with degrees in Communication (Journalism) and Mathematics. She will work as a news reporting intern this summer at the Tri-City Herald newspaper, and will continue to pursue my passion for peace-building and dialogue through continued work with the team going on this trip.
Jenn Henrichsen: A 2007 graduate of Pacific Lutheran University with degrees in Political Science and Communication (Conflict management). After this research project, she will work as a freelance journalist at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland before attending law school.
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- Observations (10)
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What does it mean to live in a divided community? A town split physically in half by a river, and split socially by ethnicity and religion? It means people do not use the bridge to cross to the other side. It means people living in the south do not "mix" with people living in the north, except for business reasons. And as the status of Kosovo remains uncertain, it means this city in the north part of Kosovo maintains a constant atmosphere of tension.
The constructed divisions by which people here live are realities totally foreign to anything I've ever known. As such, it is difficult to put words to the anxious buzz of the people here. This place feel much different than Belgrade, where we were last weekend. It also feel different than the places we visited in Macedonia. Being here right now is hindering my ability to process what such division actually means for the people here. It is clear, though, that undetermined future of Kosovo plays a major role in daily life.
Hearing the stories of people who work for the Nansen Dialogue Network has given me a sense of hope that the future of this tumultuous area can involve some sort of reconciliation. Many of the different centers' employees have shared narratives with us about their own transformations. They have come to an understanding through dialogue and interaction that the "other" is in fact a complex and interesting human, not an enemy with evil intentions.
The ambiguous future of Kosovo is almost tangible here, and it's difficult to imagine that a decision can make happy all of the different people living here. It's hard to know even if dialogue can make a difference. But the fact that people believe enough in dialogue to work in such a divided place, to say they are "focusing on improving people's daily lives," is both empowering and inspiring.
Since we arrived in the Balkans, we have had little Internet access, and even less time to write and process all that we are taking in. We have had interviews with teams at six offices throughout the region, shared countless meals with them, visited a Roma (gypsy) camp in which people are living in deplorable conditions (expect more on this in the next couple of days), driven for hours and hours in cars without air conditioning in 100+ F degree heat, shared some intense conversation with each other, and grown to realize what a life-changing, vocation-shaping experience this is.
