A reflection on Peace Lab

By Lara Riemens

Now that Peace Lab is all done, time to think back on what this past month has been for me. Back in Amsterdam, we had some projects to finish in the last week. Maaike, Noé, Daria, Lily & I, following our trip to Kosovo, compiled a book about the dreams of the people of Kosovo that we met. During the trip, we interviewed the people of the different places and organisations we visited in order to better understand what people we met dream about and what their wishes for the future are. 

Wherever possible, we would take a photo of them and upon returning we combined all their interviews in personal profiles about each person and their dreams. The project was inspired first and foremost by dreams, because we feel that dreams are a powerful and hopeful concept that we can all relate to. We believe that by learning more about people’s dreams, this would tell us a lot about the people of Kosovo and their hopes. Prior to visiting, we had only learned about the grander plans for Kosovo’s future on a national or international level. We were hoping to better understand what individuals in Kosovo want for their future and to what extent this aligns with Kosovo’s future. 

Especially considering that Kosovo is a newer state, still changing after its past of war, we were interested to see whether that meant that the dreams of the people of Kosovo were different from, or similar to, our own and to each other’s. We were surprised to find quite a variety of responses to our question: “What is your dream?” When speaking to young Albanian Kosovars, they felt like they defied expectations and dreamt about making a change in their future. On the other hand, some of the Serb Kosovars we spoke to admitted to not having a dream because they felt like their situation was too insecure to have them come true.

A big takeaway for me personally was that everyone’s dreams were highly influenced by what they experienced their situation to be like. Some of the people we interviewed were driven precisely by the fact that living in Kosovo came with certain obstacles in their way, whereas others seemed to be tired of waiting for these obstacles to change. This is at least how it seemed to me, and both sides are understandable. 

For me, during the trip to Kosovo, I became more aware that simply being from Kosovo meant these people lived a different reality than I ever would. Being able to travel in Europe freely, for example, is something so normal for me yet almost impossible for most of the people we spoke to. Peace Lab & Kosovo taught me to be more aware of privileges like these. Besides that, talking with people from a ‘’post-conflict country” (a term which some of our interviewees did not like) made me realize exactly how complex peacebuilding is. I knew of course that conflicts have multiple layers and interests to them, and so does resolving conflicts, but hearing people talk about their daily lives in this context made the complexities all the more real. I learned that there truly does not seem to be a solution that satisfies everyone, something that the more idealistic side of me still hoped. On the other hand, our project also illustrated that many people dream of similar things, like feeling safe about what the next day will bring. Despite different ideas on how this would be achieved, what gives me hope is that perhaps united behind the same dream, a society could build a sustainable peace.

Looking back on Peace Lab and our trip to Kosovo, I don’t think I will ever take another course like this. This course took learning outside of the classroom to another level and even though we’ve seen only the tip of the iceberg that is Kosovo and its people, it was fantastic to get to be a part of it. We met wonderful people, were surprised by their kindness, openness and hospitality and even made some friends along the way. Peace Lab was something  I will take with me to wherever I go next.