I was YIHR’s intern for fall 2023. I’m originally from the United States (near Washington, DC) and I go to school at Boston College. I’m in my third year at Boston College and it is typical for students my age to spend a semester abroad. I chose study abroad in Croatia and have loved it since I arrived in early August. Croatia isn’t a typical destination for Americans studying abroad, but that was my exact reason for deciding to come here. As a political science and philosophy student, I’m very interested in the Balkan ethic and cultural conflicts of the 1990s but unfortunately, I have not learned much about them during my education in the United States. Because of how little I know about this region, I wanted to learn more about the life and history of the Balkans. My schools partners with an NGO called the European Center for the Study of War and Peace (ECSWP) to have students come to Zagreb each semester and study political, philosophical, and theological approaches to the conflicts around the dissolution of Yugoslavia. After learning all about the context surrounding fall of Yugoslavia and its social and political consequences, coming to YIHR was a natural next step in furthering my education. My time at YIHR has helped me apply my classroom knowledge to the real world and more importantly, experience the modern-day reconciliation process undertaken by YIHR and so many other organizations throughout the Balkans.
During my time with YIHR I contributed to a glossary of terms related to policymaking, political engagement, and activism. This glossary will be given to YIHR activists and other Balkan organizations to ensure that people from every part of the Balkans can engage in peacebuilding efforts with a similar understanding of these basic terms. The work of developining definitions and compiling sources was not incredibly difficult, but I found enjoyment in it because I can see how valuable this glossary will be for YIHR in the future. The overcoming of separate (and oftentimes conflicting) narratives is a central mission of YIHR and this glossary is a key piece in advancing this goal. Through doing this I learned about how these terms like politics, lobbying, and referedum, as universal as they may sound, have different uses and connotations here in Europe than they do at home in the United States.
While the glossary took most of my time in the office, I also helped with other efforts and had great experiences with YIHR outside of the office. I proofread articles and emails published in english to make sure my Croatian coworkers’ english said exactly what they intended and I helped review different social media graphics for several YIHR posts. Outside of the office I had the chance to go to several events that illuminated parts of the nonprofit world I had not known of before. The first was a talk held by Virtualni muzej Dotrščina on the Bremen Construction Camp, a Nazi concentration camp created with the purpose of creating the Reich’s biggest U-Boat ever. At this talk I not only learned about the camp and the lives it impacted but also about the organization and how, as a nonprofit, it goes about collecting and honoring the stories of the people of Bremen and their families. I also met with local YIHR activists and had a relaxed conversation with them about the issues they care about and the differences between their lives as university students of Croatia and mine in America. Learning about cultural differences in an educational setting has been very helpful during my time here, but talking with real people about their lives and telling them about mine has done more to educate me on life in Croatia than any amount of schooling could. I also spent the day with my coworkers and members of the YIHR Belgrade office filming a video to celebrate YIHR’s 20th anniversary. Interacting with our Serbian peers was fun, and seeing how they went about the filming process and even being interviewed myself was such a memorable experience. I didn’t feel as though I had much to contribute given my lack of time at YIHR, but everyone was so accommodating and accepting of whatever I had to say so once I let go of my own expectations, I really enjoyed participating in the project. In my last full week with YIHR I attended the premiere of Lost Country, a movie by director Vladimir Perisic about the Serbian political turmoil in 1996. The movie follows the son of the Socialist Party’s spokeswoman as he navigates the familial and social consequences of being associated with a government that is acting undemocratically in order to hold onto power. The movie is very powerful and I’m so lucky to have been able to attend it with other YIHR activists.
It’s hard to properly verbalize how meaningful my time at YIHR, and in Croatia as a whole, has been. The people here have been so kind and have done an excellent job at welcoming me, an American new to the Balkans, into their lives and educating me about YIHR’s mission. I thought I would originally face some discomfort in the office because of cultural misunderstandings but after my first day these worries faded and I felt as if I was working alongside friends. I was worried about the language barrier (my Croatian is poor to say the least) but my coworkers have been very understanding and it hasn’t been a challenge. What I enjoyed the most and what certainly helped me grow the most were the casual conversations between my desk mates Dorotea and Senna. Our conversations oftentimes improved my work but I think the more valuable conversations had nothing to do with work. I loved hearing about their lives that, while so different from my own on paper, resemble my experiences in many ways and taught me so much about being raised in Croatia. From childhood shows to university classes, hearing about the similarities and differences between the lives of young people in Croatia and the United States really made my experience here that much greater. I want to thank my supervisor Dorotea and my coworkers Senna, Branka, and Morana for being so warm to me throughout my time here. Though it was short, I will always remember my time here and take the lessons of doing the work for peacebuilding with me for the rest of my life.
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This text was written by Boston University student Jack Villa, who interned for a month at YIHR through the European Center for War and Peace Studies.