The power of youth in peacebuilding

By Salomėja Siparytė
 
Hello again,
 
It's now been a week since we got back from Kosovo, and I'm currently writing this post on my way home  to Lithuania for the summer. It feels strange - I miss Priština a lot. I keep looking at all the pictures and videos, and rereading blog posts. It's odd to think 20 of us spent ten days living together in a hostel far from home, and now I might never see some of these faces again. We are still all (I think) attached to each other and the memory and trying to spend as much time together as possible. I feel like a 12-year-old coming back from summer camp, where everyone was from different cities and there’s no way my mom will let me visit them during the school year.

Boat ride in Leiden the Sunday after our return

On a positive note, we just presented our projects! Ellen, Paola, and I worked on a documentary exploring food as a peacebuilding tool. We started by asking our interviewees simple questions like "What is your favorite food?" and "What ingredient could you not live without?" Gradually, we deepened the questions to explore the connection between identity and food, feelings of belonging, and views on "the other side." It was fascinating to learn about traditional food directly from the people of Kosovo. It definitely feels like a privilege.
 
Privilege is one of the main things I learned about in Kosovo. Everything, from interactions on the street to our food project, reminded me how privileged I am. One of the most significant realizations we had as a group came after interviewing our hostel manager on the last night of our trip. Despite it being the final interview, it was probably the most insightful one. We suddenly felt like fools - coming from our prestigious university, asking people about their favorite foods, and trying to connect that to peacebuilding. The hostel manager offered a whole new perspective, explaining that food is simply something needed to survive and that traditional foods often stem from poverty. It felt unfair that we hadn’t asked these questions to our other interviewees, and that we hadn’t arrived at this perspective ourselves earlier. 

Regarding peacebuilding, this project taught me that making distinctions and assumptions is unhelpful. I also learned that food can be both a cause of conflict and a tool for peacekeeping. I’d love to share the project video with you so you all can draw your own conclusions, but we promised our interviewees it wouldn’t be shown outside the classroom.

Our presentation of the documentary

Moreover, since experiencing Kosovo, speaking to the people there, and attending all the important meetings, I've realized just how confident I am in the power of youth in peacebuilding. Youth need a voice, and they are the hope for the future. Anne would sometimes say in class that our generation is already almost too old regarding peacebuilding, and that children are the real hope. However, from what I saw in Kosovo, our generation is definitely making progress. Let's not give up :). I also must admit, I had my prejudices before the trip. I remember telling my mom that I was scared to even go. However, I was proven so, so, SO wrong. The people in the Kosovo were incredibly welcoming, sweet, and open, always ready to help and recommend a nice place to eat :).
 
I wish I could go back to Kosovo and relive everything again. When people ask about the most difficult part or my least pleasant memory, I can only say it was leaving Kosovo. I wouldn’t change a thing.