Stories for curiosity, for courage and for change

By Veronica Hibbert

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It’s the end of June, and Peace Lab is over. The last four weeks have been very thought-provoking. As I have written in my previous blogpost, something shifted in me during our meeting with Besa Luci from Kosovo 2.0. She spoke about slow journalism: the idea that stories don’t need to be rushed, that it’s okay to take time, to dig deeper, to ask why something matters rather than just what happened. That idea stuck with me.

I’ve always loved stories and the art of storytelling. I remember reading Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls as a child, and letting those short, powerful stories shape my dreams. This has been an inspiration for our final project. 

Together with my group, we created a digital storytelling platform that celebrates Kovosar women, past and present, women who’ve made meaningful contributions to society. Each story highlights the lives, struggles and accomplishments of Kosovar women from various ethnic and professional backgrounds. We wrote these stories in the style of fairytales, aimed at young girls--which sounds pretty straightforward, but writing children’s books is not as easy as we anticipated. We struggled with using the right tone and describing someone’s life in a couple of hundred words. 

But it worked, and we’re proud of the platform we created. This project reminded me that storytelling can be more than creative expression; it can be activism. It can reclaim forgotten histories, amplify overlooked voices and offer alternatives to the narratives that dominate. Like Kosovo 2.0, our goal wasn’t to just inform, but to listen and care.

I walk away from Peace Lab not just with new knowledge, but with a renewed sense of purpose. I’ve been reminded that stories, when told with care, can build bridges. They can heal. And they can plant seeds, for curiosity, for courage and for change.