Ten years after

By Erik de Graaf

My name is  Erik de Graaf. For these last 10 years I have been privileged to join my wife Anne and her students for these trips to Kosovo. What do I do? Not much. I am the money, I bring some weight to the table, I am there should we need to go to the police, doctor or embassy. 

Ten years after I first visited Kosovo, when I joined Anne on a try-out trip of what later would become Peace Lab, I find myself back again in Pristina. During these last ten years, these trips to Kosovo have developed into a well-balanced, yet intensive ten days. If I look back at the initial trip, where we packed 3-4 meetings in each day, where we met at Newborn sometimes at seven or eight o’clock in the morning, where we had to cut meetings short, to make sure to be on time for the next one, the itinerary is now far more efficient and effective. Now there is time to reflect and work on the projects, time to meet with locals, time to get to know the city.

Ten years after, Kosovo has changed as well. There are more traffic jams, made up of nicer cars, (most) taxis have meters now, and there is a lot of construction of new housing and offices going on. Yet the friendliness of the people and the quality of the coffee have not changed. We can see a down-sizing of some of the international institutions. You may wonder if this is a good sign, or just another way to cut expenses? Visa liberalization has enabled travel for those who can afford it. Kosovo is now member of UEFA and FIFA, the World Bank and the IMF. It has its own SWIFT code in the international banking system and its own country code in the international communications network. And Kosovo hopes to soon join the Council of Europe. 

Ten years after, some 200 students have taken the Peace Lab Kosovo class during the June intensive. Not all of them were able to visit the country. During the Covid period, it had to be an online course. Being here, it makes me aware once more of the value of this trip--to be able to let the atmosphere, the scent and the vibe of the country penetrate into you. 

Ten Years After is the name of a rock band, scoring hits some 50 years ago. I was surprised it was not on Oscar’s playlist. That list was full of hits from that era. Ten Years After sang about issues that are still way too relevant. You could say they were ahead of their time. 

Themes in their songs were division and distribution of wealth, the environment and LGBTQI rights, to name a few. Their biggest hit was "I'd love to change the world." The chorus has a message for us, a mission, if you will. It reflects on the limits we have as individuals. 

We want to change the world, but we are not able to do that alone. It is an invitation to all of us to participate. It goes like this:

I’d love to change the world
But I don’t know what to do
So I’ll leave it up to you.

This song was composed well before Tom Cruise became a famous actor. Nonetheless, changing the world could be your mission, should you choose to accept it.