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FOREWORD
The year 2010 marks an important moment in the existence of the University for
Peace. During the thirty years after its establishment in 1980 the university has
grown substantially. Currently UPEACE offers several Master programs, regional
programs, distance education programs and various courses, thereby covering
almost the entire spectrum of education in peace related issues. But its growth
is not only in the supply side: each year more and more students, from all over
the world, come to the campus in Costa Rica to study and to meet with fellow
students with all sorts of backgrounds, religions and interests. This experience,
as many of them indicated afterwards, has changed their lives in a fundamental
way. Living and working in such a unique, multicultural environment made them
realize that, although each person is an individual, they all share common,
existential values that are essential conditions to promote peace in all parts of
the world.
Also in Europe UPEACE is gradually becoming more known. This is largely due
to the support it receives from the Dutch Postcode Lottery. Since 9 years now
UPEACE receives a large annual donation from this “Good Causes” lottery: a
partnership that is most welcome as it helps UPEACE in strengthening its
financial basis. The foundation “Alliance for the University for Peace”, based in
Rotterdam (NL), acts as an intermediary for the Postcode Lottery and UPEACE,
and supports the activities of UPEACE in many ways. One of its special activities
this year, because of the 30th anniversary of UPEACE, was the establishment of
the so-called “UPEACE Society”: at first a network of European alumni but later
also other alumni were invited to join. This “virtual community” (on LinkedIn and
Facebook) now has some 80 members and is still growing.
One of the alumni, Catherine Garcia, came up with the idea of “UPEACE Soul,”
the result of which you can now see before you. She explains the reasons for
her initiative in the Preface. The Alliance asked the members of the UPEACE
Society to submit their own individual stories which were then accurately
processed by Eliana Carvalho Mukherjee, who was until mid 2010 Assistant
Professor for the Peace Education M.A. Programme in the Department of
Gender and Peace Education at UPEACE.
The Alliance for UPEACE hopes that UPEACE Soul will give you an impression
of the importance and of the impact of UPEACE, and that it will trigger your
curiosity. We also hope that the booklet will help in explaining to the outside
world what UPEACE is about: “providing humanity with an international
institution of higher education for peace with the aim of promoting among all
human beings a spirit of understanding, tolerance and peaceful coexistence, to
stimulate cooperation among peoples and to help lessen obstacles and threats
to world peace and progress.”
Marius Enthoven and Petra van der Ham
Alliance for the University for PEACE
November 2010 www.allianceforupeace.nl
UPEACE SOUL: LOOKING THROUGH THE LENS OF OUR COMMUNITY
PREFACE
UPEACE SOUL: LOOKING THROUGH THE LENS OF OUR ALUMNI
In a nutshell, the University for Peace (UPEACE) consists of a community of souls students, alumni, faculty and staff members - from all over the world, which after 30
years of existence, has become a flourishing social movement aiming at promoting
among all human beings the spirit of understanding, tolerance and peaceful
coexistence.
UPEACE has been more than an academic experience but a lifelong learning
process. Consequently, it has enhanced wisdom for learning to ‘know’, to ‘do’, to
‘live together’, to ‘be’, which has been translated in our commitment as bridges,
facilitators, provokers, builders.
Many of us might have encountered several challenges in our professional and
personal paths when trying to advocate for gender and social justice and culture of
peace. However, an indomitable will of building a peaceful world – will triggered
by the UPEACE soul - might help us to find inspiration to overcome these challenges
or to find workable and creative solutions.
This year UPEACE is celebrating its 30th anniversary, several activities and initiatives
has been launched to celebrate it. One of them is precisely this little book project little in size but rich in soul - that features poetry, thoughts, photographs and other
forms of expression revealing and preserving the vision of our community, a
community of peace builders.
Catherine Garcia
Gender and Peace Building, 2005
UNIVERSITY FOR PEACE 1980 - 2010 XXX ANIVERSARY
Introduction
December, 2010
The University for Peace is a special place that attracts some of the most
interesting people from around the world who are dedicated to promoting
peace. I had the unique honour of working as an assistant professor at
UPEACE for nearly six years, and during that time, I benefited from meeting
countless inspirational and extraordinary people, including the faculty, staff and
students. I learned to be more patient, caring, perceptive and critical. Indeed,
the lessons I learned at UPEACE will carry with me throughout my life.
During my time at UPEACE, I made dozens of life-long friends. I remain in close
contact with many of my colleagues and students. In fact, I often receive
messages from my previous students expressing how their education from
UPEACE has contributed to their work and personal lives. Some of their stories
overwhelm me.
Although we have not conducted a formal assessment of the influence that
UPEACE has on its alumni, the stories I often hear leave me with no doubt about
UPEACE’s positive contribution to the lives of our alumni. This book, UPEACE
Soul, provides a glimpse of how the university has impacted our alumni. The
stories of our alumni, told in this collection, attest to the significant and
long-lasting impact resulting from a year spent at UPEACE. As you will see,
their stories are moving and inspirational, and one can see seeds of peace
being planted and cultivated throughout the world.
As UPEACE celebrate its 30th year, I am reminded that it is still a young
university. Indeed, it is achieving its mission: "to provide humanity with an
international institution of higher education for peace and with the aim of
promoting among all human beings the spirit of understanding, tolerance and
peaceful coexistence…” As the university continues to grow and graduate more
students, I anticipate many more remarkable stories of peacemakers making a
difference in the world.
Eliana Carvalho
Mukherjee
Editor
A year at UPEACE
My year spent at the UPEACE was formative, instructive, fun and overall
exceptionally fruitful. Being motivated to study by devoted professors rather than
by pending tests turned out to foster my learning curve and helped memorize
the lessons learned, until today. Being able to exchange thoughts and ideas
with students from different cultural backgrounds was interesting, and is a major
advantage in my current position.
Said position - heading the legal department of a machinery exporting firm - is
probably not quite typical for a UPEACE graduate. The benefits I'm enjoying
from the year in Costa Rica are enormous though. Apart from improved
language and writing skills aforesaid cultural insights are crucial when
negotiating contracts with potential clients from other countries. De-escalation
techniques as studied at UPEACE are a major asset when helping to prevent
disputes from escalating, thus saving money and protecting long-standing
vendor-customer relationships from being irreversibly damaged by a legal
battle.
The systematic concept of BATNA is - although instinctively used by most
negotiation partners - an advantage when systematically pre-screening an
imminent negotiation and the partners participating in it.
But also the spirit of UPEACE can turn out to be of use in the business agora,
even if it doesn't seem so at a first glance. The understanding and the ability to
transport this understanding that a balanced contract and a conciliatory
approach is likely to better work out for both parties - other than an unbalanced
one which will always be subject to bypassing attempts by the inferior party helps prevent the occurrence of endemic hiccups during the course of a project
and helps to focus on the task at hand.
Constantin
Schoehl von
Norman
Last but not least, studying at UPEACE provided for fantastic memories, having
had lots of fun with different and inspiring people.
International Law and
Settlement of Disputes,
2006
Germany/Brazil
Country of Residence:
Austria
1
Journeys of being a Peace Builder
University for Peace has given me wonderful experiences to learn and understand what
are the meanings of peace and inner peace, how can we help others who need our
skills to build up mutual understanding amongst those who live in multicultural societies
and how we should work to create a culture of peace in the world. My critical
experiences learning Peace Studies at the University for Peace of Costa Rica and later
at Innsbruck University of Austria have given me great opportunities to build my
confidence to be a peace builder who works for peace and sharing my skills to help
others who suffer due to conflicts.
From my side, as a peace builder, I can say that peace itself is not simply the absence
of violence, but rather a dynamic state of self-inquiry, relationship-building and
mindfulness. Hence, I am thinking of how to bring awareness to many people,
participate actively in a process of conflict transformation and build a culture of peace
through the arts that builds on the cultures of communities themselves.
My interest in the issue of children in conflict zone has led me to get involved in the
process of conflict transformation in Southern Thailand, which has an ongoing conflict
between the Malay-Muslims and the Thai-Buddhists ethnics. I have been working in that
zone since 2008 by applying both conflict management and conflict transformation
approaches. The latest one I have been using is working with arts that stick to the idea
of elicitive conflict transformation through practicing Gestalt Child Therapy.
Work with Children in Southern Thailand: Creating a Culture of Peace
through Gestalt Therapy
I believe that to promote a sustainable peace, we must begin at the bottom, and I
starting my work with children in the hope of building a future generation that is less
inclined towards violence.
From my field experience during my time in Southern Thailand, I can see that children
are victims of conflict; they have been among the victims of bombings, unlawful killing
and other violent attacks by armed groups. The experience of these wars has been
horrific. Children have seen killings and destruction and lived in fear. They are victims of
it, whether they were killed or injured or even if they survive. Even if they survive without
a scratch, they will be part of the next generation that causes conflict because all they
know is hatred, prejudice and social distrust, with only a few who will think about
peace.
As a peace builder, I have been thinking of how best to respond to the needs of children
in such a distressed ambiance as in Southern Thailand. I notice that using Gestalt
Therapy through the power of story-telling may be helpful in teaching children to cope
with theirtraumatic experiences. Furthermore, this method also fits the idea of elicitive
conflict transformation that can be used to heal the personal and interpersonal hurt in a
culturally sensitive way. This assumption built on the idea that culture stipulates the way
in which emotions are exposed, which emotions are shown and when this happens.
2
Erna Anjarwati
International Peace
Studies, 2008
Indonesia
Current Country of
Residence: Thailand
Healing is always creative, and transformation often turns on the creation of empathy
for one another. Gestalt child therapy through story-telling deals with the whole
aspect of transforming negative feelings about the self into loving and nurturing
feelings toward the self, which could be very helpful in the process of re-shaping
self-awareness and human dignity of children in Southern Thailand. The willingness
to be an empathic listener for the other is key in story-telling, even if this other has
caused the group suffering in the past, it can open the door for the possibility of
social reconciliation.
Central to this healing method is to use their own culture to help children and
communities feel safe, confident and provide them with a sense of hope beyond the
violence or destructions they have experienced. Instead, they listen deeply to each
others’ stories, they have greater respect and empathy for all who are traumatized
due to the ongoing conflict in that zone.
In this sense, I can consider my work as part of the arts work that has clearly served
as a vehicle which symbolically re-connected individual experiences and stories to
others’ and to the collective history of its community. This illustrates an additional key
role arts may play in constructing narratives of the Malay-Muslims. Oppression and
political violence that have been happening in Southern Thailand directly attack
what makes the individuals relate to each other, including trust, believes and spaces
where people can be together.
Hence, ritual and symbol, such as the use of story-telling for the Malay-Muslim
children in Southern Thailand in this therapeutic process is a good model that
attached to their own culture because it works to create the space and means for
healing to occur and later to transform their negative feelings into a positive way.
This is the way to communicate and response to each others' gestures, whether in
the form of threats, loving gestures, or sometimes in ways that open up new avenues
of discovery to find the inner peace without any judgment over the other.
Yet, story-telling may not be enough to help Southern Thailand At least, the practice
of story-telling may be helpful to let them just exchange their feelings with others, and
it is also the way to extend their friendship and examine the meaning of mutual
understanding about the other to create a culture of peace.
I am thinking about getting involved more deeply in building up the culture of peace,
especially when it deals with the issue of children by teaching children about
resolving conflicts in a constructive way through nonviolent manner. I believe that
teaching this subject is important and crucially needed in this globalized world to
minimize various acts of violence and create mutual understanding amongst children
in a culturally sensitive way in multicultural settings in order to reduce the possibility
of intractable conflict, especially ethno-religious conflicts in many parts of the world,
such as the one that has been happening recently in Southern Thailand.
3
Re-defining the World
I went to UPEACE, eager to engage with peers from around the world; I left
transformed. UPEACE did not amount only to an academic experience, but a
psychological, emotional and sociological one. Many stereotypes identified, I
left with a lasting impression of the similarities of global issues, amid the reality
of myriad versions of “truth,” “fact” and most of all, “values.” No longer do I see
(or want to see) a unified truth/fact but to consciously engage in a mental
exercise of finding an alternative, whether or not there be a need for one.
UPEACE taught me to embrace and not fear difference, to appreciate the
kaleidoscope of colors, traditions and cultures that make up the world and to
trust, as an educator, that a little shift in mental framing is a major step in
conflict prevention.
I am currently part of a team that is working towards the establishment, in ten
East African universities, of Master of Arts degrees in peace and conflict related
subjects in the Great Lakes Region of Africa. It is an incredibly lifting and
simultaneously humbling experience to work with partners from institutions with
unique peace and conflict challenges, needs, capacities, histories and
aspirations. My work would not have been the same without the theories and
practical skills developed in my Peace Education classes at UPEACE, in
facilitation, dialogue, conflict prevention and transformation skills, and,most
importantly, curriculum development with collaborative and participatory
methodologies.
This is the UPEACE legacy in my daily and professional life; it was worth every
minute and every dime.
4
Golda Keng
Peace Education,
2008
Cameroon
Current Country of
Residence: Ethiopia
Arshan: a brave little man
He is himself a representation of what ‘blend of cultures’ means.
Mom teaches him Spanish, dad teaches him Farsi, at the crèche he learns Dutch.
At his early age, Arshan already learn about the uniqueness of language of peace
and he does not dare to have ‘his say’…
Once, while walking in the street he got aware of a clash between two adults
then blowing softly in their face but with a big determination got them to stop
by saying ‘amigos’ (be friends)
because he is brave little man, a truly advocate of culture of peace.
Catherine Garcia
Gender and Peace
Building, 2005
Peru
Current Country of
Residence: The
Netherlands
Catherine Garcia is based in The Netherlands and is currently working as
doctoral researcher at Erasmus School of Law. Her research deals with the
intersection of gender and class in the use of high cost credit.
5
Looking at the Internet
Through a Peacebuilder’s Eyes :
UPEACE’s legacy in my research on rights and
governance on the Internet
Ever since I graduated from the International Law and the Settlement of Disputes
programme at the University for Peace in July 2008, something has happened
regularly on the occasions of my first interaction with new people. A few
minutes into our conversations, I would see one or more pairs of eyes opening
wide in front of mine, obviously wondering how crazy one must be to go and
spend a year in the wonder of nature that UPEACE headquarters are, in the
middle of nowhere with no-one but colourful birds and a hundred-and-fifty
students hailing from fifty-three different nations.
I cannot blame them. In fact, I have been asking myself the same question quite
often during my Costa-Rican year, and afterwards. Yet, I am deeply aware that
my personal and academic experiences at UPEACE constitute a richness I have
been carrying with me ever since, and still inform my life and work in a way
often too subtle to explicitly single out. I welcome the opportunity to try and do
so in these thousand words.
I describe myself as a restless and curious Italian-born citizen of the world, now
twenty-six years old. I am currently a researcher and Ph.D. candidate in
socio-economics of innovation at Mines ParisTech, a historical engineering
school in the heart of Paris, France. In the first years of my life, I had been
travelling to and within some European countries with my mother and father,
because of his work as a researcher in chemistry. I spent several months in
England and more than a year in France… and in retrospective, I think those
early experiences gave me the traveller’s bug. I have hardly been in my
hometown of Padova in the past five years, spending time in California, New
York and Boston, USA, and in Costa Rica, before moving back to Europe and
France.
I hint at my recent experiences abroad to suggest that UPEACE has coincided
with the blooming of my natural tendency to personal and academic
nomadism. And what I have learned there, in terms of a perspective on life
much more than of notion learning, stayed with me in these last two years,
during which I have been conducting research at the convergence of right(s)
and new technologies, the Internet first and foremost. Looking at the Internet
through a peacebuilder’s eyes helps you uncover many different topics that are
of vital importance to the everyday life of people – as users, consumers and
citizens. And UPEACE has taught me to ask myself, and others, the crucial kinds
of questions needed to uncover such issues.
6
Francesca Musiani
the Settlement of
Disputes, 2008
Italy
Current Country of
Residence: France
Most people don't really think of conflict resolution when they surf the web; but
my interest in new technologies, coupled with the training in dispute settlement
procedures and mechanisms I received at UPEACE, helped me realize the
importance of this intersection of governance and the Internet. The focus of my
final paper, then, came almost naturally to me: I would investigate the extent to
which the Internet can speed up, and make more efficient, conflict resolution
processes in a variety of fields, among which commercial transactions stand
out. Many countries in which the slowness and inefficiency of adjudicatory
proceedings is the plague of judicial systems, Italy first and foremost – indeed,
the length of formal judicial proceedings in Italian national courts has even
been recognized as a “systematic violation” of the Italian people's right to
justice by the European Court of Human Rights – should try and use to their full
potential the opportunities offered by online dispute resolution (ODR).
Something is moving in the field of alternative and online dispute resolution in
Italy, but it still is quite an alien concept, and very remotely connected to the
everyday lives of citizens. During my Ph.D. here in Paris, I am keeping my eyes
open to possible ways in which ODR could be further promoted and more
widely used, not only by working on public awareness but by developing
concrete projects for my municipality and region to give potential users different
possibilities. I think a possible step in the good direction would be the
establishment of ODR practitioners as a professional order – not only for the
acknowledgment of a “category” as such, but also a “marketing campaign”
vis-à-vis Italian citizens.
A specific concern and attention for rights and principles on the Internet, in a
broader sense, has definitely informed my doctoral work in Paris for the past
two years. In my dissertation, I aim at a better understanding of what
information and indications can be drawn from the observation of peer-to-peer
“alternative” uses vis-à-vis the current evolution of a field which now seems to be
the prerogative of a few “giants,” where storing and sharing contents appear to
be increasingly removed from users’ machines: that of Internet-based services.
At the same time, I am interested in and write about other topics at the
crossroads of rights, law and technology, such as the Internet Bill of Rights
project, a civil society-promoted initiative that aims at developing an instrument
that takes inspiration from existing documents for the protection of human rights,
but updates it appropriately according to the challenges posed by
globalisation(s) and widespread use of new technologies.
UPEACE is and will remain a part of me, as a person and a scholar, while I try
to provide my small contribution in order to make this world spin the right way.
I wish the University many more anniversaries to come.
7
Ode to the Fools on Hill
The fools on the hill sat on the benches of dreams,
They where taught that imagination will heal the world one day.
The fools on the hill danced together and sang songs of respect,
They learnt that their friendship will make the world stronger.
The fools on the hill spoke honestly of love, laughter and pain,
They discovered that being able to be vulnerable was an act of bravery.
In a world constantly preparing for war,
The fools had climbed up a hill to prepare for peace.
In a world ridden by crisis of consciousness,
The fools climbed the hill to create an alternative.
In a world laden with cynicism and malice,
The fools climbed the hill to dare to hope.
Each year their song grows stronger and faith is doubled.
The hill is caressed by more who believe in a road less traveled.
Each year they question anew and add to their understanding.
The hill erupts with ideas and synergies of peace building.
Each year they grow scatter and cross new boundaries.
The hill is filled with optimism and new energies.
In my heart I will for ever belong
To the hill its people who have taught me so much
Never can I wish to be normal again
A fool from that hill I shall always remain.
The mention of a Masters in Peace Education is often met with smirks, sarcastic
comments and puzzled expression. Some dismissed it as a soft fluffy topic
which the rich have the privilege to engage in and others just did not
understand what such a subject would contain or the practical importance of it,
especially for region like Asia which has so many “real” problems to grapple
with. Mostly people dismissed it as a fashionable thing to do. This cynicism of
the people and the world view where talking and studying problems and
creating an unequal paradigm is more respectable than building paths and
capacity for society to move from a culture of violence, which creates the
problems, towards a culture of peace is indicative of the naturalization of
violence which has taken place over the years. However I am glad the
University for Peace had the courage to challenge this cynicism and offer a
degree which is much needed in the world today.
8
Shreya Jani
Peace Education,
2006
India
Current Country of
Residence: India
What have I learnt from and at UPEACE? An attempt to answer this question is
impossible, for everyday I discover something new I learnt on top of that hill. To
quantify the learning thus is next to impossible. One thing which is clear after 4
years of this degree is that I would do it again in a heartbeat. Every interaction,
reading and person has been a source of inspiration and fueled my
imagination and work since.
Today I am the managing trustee of an organization called STEP (Standing
Together to Enable Peace) which works in India and South Asia to promote
peace education, especially amidst teachers and young people. STEP is also
responsible for the annual Peace Festival Jash-e-Aman in city of Delhi which
takes place from the 21st September to 2nd October every year. It is a
celebration and attempt to bring the learning of UPEACE to as many people as
possible. The program of STEP had already started germinating while I was at
UPEACE, and in the past year many of the ideas have been discussed and
strengthened by my interactions with my classmates over emails and getting
feed back from them. The network that UPEACE offers enabled me to take the
leap of faith and jump into action, knowing that I will never be alone in my
work.
I have also had the privilege of being part of a team of exemplary educators,
together with whom I have written a national curriculum resource book for
Indian teacher training called Ways to Peace. This book in effect has been a
synthesis of my learning at UPEACE, and, though not perfect, it is a step towards
gaining legitimacy from the government of India of young and evolving field,
that UPEACE had the courage of offering a Master’s degree in.
I have also been able to use the tools and lens of peace education to create
school programs for Earth Democracy for Dr. Vandana Shiva’s organization,
Navdanya, and evaluate the Tibetan Education in Exile and propose areas of
improvement for a paper written for the Foundation of Universal Responsibility
of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
Apart from that, due to the efforts of Professor Alicia Cabezedo, I had a unique
opportunity to be part of the youth team which put together the Civil Society
Report on the Decade of Culture of Peace under the guidance of Professor
David Adams. It is a document currently being used to discuss the strengthening
and renewal of the Decade of Culture of Peace in UN General Assembly. One
hopes that the document is strengthened over the years and acts as repository
of knowledge and a means of assessing the impact of the decade of culture of
peace.
I read somewhere that it’s not the realist who changes the world, but the
idealists who are foolish enough to dream they do. In this world, which is
married to realism and rationality, I am proud to be an UPeacer and to embrace
a road less traveled and a path lit by the courage of the fools on the Hill.
9
The Positive Impact of UPEACE on My Life
If there would be a piece of paper on which I can write some good things about
a place which has changed my life for better, the place I would prefer to write
some good things on that paper would be UPEACE. Or if there are good words
which I can use to describe a place which has contributed to the success of my
life and my profession, I would definitely use these words to describe the
positive impact of UPEACE on my life. Why do I open this essay with these kinds
of remarks? I do this because the memory of UPEACE becomes refreshment for
my daily literary and professional activities, and the memory of UPEACE
becomes an inspiration for my future literary and professionally expectations.
As UPEACE has given me these refreshments and inspirations for the present
promises I hold, it is therefore a living legacy for me to say these kinds of
trustworthy words for the United Nations Mandated University for Peace
(UPEACE)……Francis Wajo Wani.
The United Nations Mandated University for Peace (UPEACE) has done some
remarkable and unforgettable things which have caused some profound impact
both on my social, academic and professional life. There are numerous and
countless positive impacts of the University for Peace on my life. But out of the
bulk of these experiences, there are five important ones which I feel proud to
share with the universal community of peace lovers around the globe.
The first positive impact of UPEACE in my life is the change of my academic
perception from teacher-centered to student-centered learning process. During
my entire educational history, I was made to understand that it is only the
teacher who is more important in the learning process than the students. This
has given me the impression that much involvement of the students in the
learning process is of no practical value. Although there were some kinds of
limited student participation in class discussion, everything always went
according to the directives of the teachers. This limited freedom in my academic
life has done little to develop my academic potentials. And it is only in UPEACE
that my full academic potential was released and my full academic
independent was realized. Now I am fully involving students in the learning
process because of my UPEACE experience.
The second positive impact of UPEACE in my life is the change of my social life.
I was brought up in a close environment in such a way that I was not given the
chance to interact with my colleagues during my early youth. Because of this
closeness in my early life, I grew a quiet and solitary person in such a way that
friendship becomes difficult. It was in UPEACE that this habit of aloofness and
solitary was broken. And because of this change in my social life, now I am a
social and friendly person in every situation and in every place I happen to go
to and in any group of people I come across.
10
Francis Wajo
Wani
Media, Conflict and
Peace Studies, 2009
Sudan
Current Country of
Residence: Sudan
The third positive impact of UPEACE in my life was the elimination of
misperception and misconception about other nationalities from my mind.
During these years of fighting in the Sudan, I was made to believe by my
various governments that all the suffering of the Africans people in Sudan is
because of the work of the whites. But when I arrived in UPEACE I discovered
that some of the things leveled against the whites are not true although there
may be some irregularities of the whites to the Africans in regard to colonial
era. The decision of my colleagues who composed mostly of whites to nominate
me to represent the department on the commencement day changed my
misconception and misperceptions about the whites forever. Today I become
sure of who is responsible for my sufferings in the Sudan.
The fourth positive impact of UPEACE in my life is my professional freedom.
During my entire education process I was made to understand that employment
is only got from the government or from those who have established some kind
of organizations for employing people. Someone tried to frustrate me by
denying me a job they promised to give me after my return from the UPEACE.
But because I am already a liberated professor, I was able to establish a school
for peace where I can exercise my academic and professional potentials.
Despite the fact that I am not employed by the organization that sent to UPEACE
because of fear that I may take their opportunities, it has not affected my life
because I am able to establish a school for practicing what I learnt from
UPEACE.
The fifth positive impact of UPEACE in my life is my literary freedom. Before I
went to UPEACE I did not have a desire for studying. What I was only interest
in was the reading of newspapers with a specific purpose of getting information
about the possibility of finding some information about the end of the war in
South Sudan. There was no interest in my mind and in my heart of reading
things for academic or for creativity. But after my return from UPEACE I become
the busiest person in terms of reading, and I read literature for both academic
and professional development. Now I am able to educate myself on various
issues confronting me, my community and my country as well. This becomes
possible because of the experience I got from UPEACE.
All in all, UPEACE has done some commendable things in my life some of them
are those that have been mentioned above. UPEACE has liberated me from
social, academic, cultural and professional prison. It has made me to know and
learn some values of modernity where freedom of expression and the
international values, norms become the base of my daily life once and for all.
11
Viewing UPEACE souls – I will only represent my
soul, not my objective professional approach!
Prior to UPEACE I had decided to dedicate the rest of my life improving peace
and security – that was the reason why I sought education at UPEACE in the first
place. I was born with enormous sense for equality and justice, and studying at
UPEACE enlightened that fire into a big flame!
Through my experience at UPEACE I learned that my country of origin is not the
center of the earth – big discovery. Post- UPEACE experience and my natural
curiosity brought my soul into the core of social- and financial insecurity; a field
I only knew from books. I learned, by hard times, that social- and financial
security is vital for quality of life – it left some scars in my soul, but made me
more qualified to work on equality and justice. By then, I thought my life was
over. Today I am glad I went through it, but I pray today that I will not
experience it again – and in the wealthy world we live in today, no one should.
It gives pain above bearable level.
Studying at University for Peace opened many doors for me, not only in terms
of employment and physical opportunities. It opened doors to my own heart
and soul in terms of sensitivity and responsibility for international peace and
security. Living for one year in a small community at UPEACE and being taught
by professors with various backgrounds and experiences gave me an insight to
a new world. Living with students from all over the world, among others, from
low-income countries and conflict zones, gave me new insight to myself; it
taught me more about life than any lecture or media documenter could do. They
gave me a touch of real inequality and injustice. Getting physical experience
through physical beings changed my view and the path to my future.
A year after graduation I was hired as a project manager for refugee
resettlement in my country. The experience at UPEACE, of daily interactions with
students with various cultural backgrounds, helped me at my work to consult
complicated issues in regards to cultural differences and trauma. The education
at UPEACE taught me about the background behind the enforcement of
resettlement of refugee families. I could not, however, imagine how it REALLY is,
having to flee the country and leave the love ones and the post life for good. I
could only make my best effort to understand, provide appropriate assistance
and hope the future would heal. Through my work with the refugees, I
occasionally sought professional advice through staff at UPEACE, who became
good friends to me and whom I trusted. There was always someone there to
guide. It felt good to have access.
12
Linda Bjork
Gudrunardottir
Settlement of Disputes,
2007
Icelandic
Current Country of
Residence: Guatemala
After returning to my country I felt lucky to live and raise my children in one of
the safest country in the world – we don’t have serious crimes. When my fellow
students from the developing countries and conflict zones asked me about my
country, this was what I would say after hearing stories of their lives. They found
my country fascinating and so did I, especially after learning about the
insecurity and threat some of them lived within their countries on a daily basis.
It never occurred to me that one day I too would be afraid to walk on the streets
in my own country because of imminent threat. I had developed skills in
detecting trauma symptoms. When my job contract was about to finish, I
discovered, through a victim, that organized crime flourished in my country. I
noticed her trauma, as we worked together, side by side for some time. When
I learned about her slavery and trapped situation I decided to help her out. I left
my job and brought the woman out of the country, for a therapy in Central
America. For the last 7 months I have been consulting her and today I am
working on a book about the process of helping her out. My book is based on
interviews with her and a diary I have written since the day I discovered her
trauma.
My present and my education at UPEACE has contributed to open all these
doors for me, and today I experience a meaning of life that is beyond my own
physical existence, and beyond everything I learned through my education at
UPEACE. Life is so simple, but for some reason we do big efforts to make it
complicated. I don´t understand why. If we just listened to our souls we could
achieve peace that is beyond physical possibilities or experiences – inner
peace filled with beauty!
I wrote this poem below after experiencing a moment with one of the refugee
women. She was 28 years old and had three young children. She told me that
the reason she came to Iceland was to give her children a chance of future. She
had no life, it was finished, and she saw no future for herself. There was
enormous sadness and hopelessness in her eyes!
A Moment in a War-Torn Soul
I am no one
I have no rights
I deserve nothing
I am a ghost of myself
The silent hurts
The quiet gives pain
Peace scares me
What am I doing here?
Tell me what to do
Tell me who I am
I am lost in a world
Lost without you
13
Give me a reason
A reason to believe
I‘m not living in a dream
That my dream is real
So quiet
So painful
Security hurts
I cannot any more
Help me
Please catch me
I‘m falling deep down
Does anyone care?
I look around
I‘m lost, so lost
I‘m lonely
Why do I feel so sad?
Love is gone
Live is hard
I‘m breathless
Why me, why me?
An identity of a refugee woman – identity created by warfare
14
A Voice to Those Who Have None
When I think of my time as a student at University for Peace (UPEACE), I think about
the deeper understanding I gained about the challenges in our global society. In the
fall of 2003, I became a student at UPEACE, in the International Peace Studies
program. Since then, my eyes have been opened to new realities of the world in
which we live. It was through this program that I started to comprehend the outcomes
of our societal inequalities of power in a global context. Being a sociologist, I always
find myself analyzing the power struggles, disparities and dichotomies of our society,
whether it is local or global. Yet, when studying at UPEACE, my understanding of the
inequalities of the world’s socioeconomic and political power really deepened. I
was at UPEACE where I learned new perspectives to view the world in a global
context.
Arduizur Carli
Richie-Zavaleta
International Peace
Studies, 2004
Mexico.
Current Country of
Residence: USA
It was through the lectures, discussions, and mostly through those whom I had met
and whom later befriended me that I discovered the poignant realities of
Modern-Day Slavery. These new realities have influenced my very being to this
present moment. Without these lessons, my life would not have been the same. It
was my life as a student at UPEACE that allowed me to begin this new journey of
understanding how another human being can dehumanize another. This journey
began when my friend Joanna Gaughan loaned me Disposable People: New
Slavery in the Global Economy by Kevin Bales (1999). In this book, the author
exposes the truths of Modern Day Slavery, commonly known as Human Trafficking.
It took me a while to go through the book, given the graphic description of the lives
of these individuals oppressed by the greediness and corruption of others and partly
our global system. It was at this moment that I realized it was not a coincidence that
I was at UPEACE.
My journey did not end at graduation. As I returned to San Diego, California, I was
given the opportunity to teach university students for four years. It was during this
time that I continued to delve into the issues of Modern-Day Slavery. Those teaching
years allowed me to study more and more issues of the global economy,
Modern-Day Slavery and the inequalities of our world as I prepared for my
teaching. In addition, one of the greatest benefits of being a teacher is that you
always have an audience. Thus, I took advantage of this fact and made sure that
every single group of students who took my classes learned about the subject of
Modern-Day Slavery. I know that not every student cared about the issue, but I know
some did, and their eyes were open just as mine were back at UPEACE. This was
what mattered most to me.
15
As I continued to engage in research and presenting at different conference, I
discovered that I am located at one of the largest border-entries through which
children, women and men are trafficked. Although it is difficult to know the
exact number of victims, one of the directors of a local/transnational
not-for-profit organization who focuses its efforts on freeing children in both
sides of the border, believes that between San Diego and Los Angeles,
California there are about 10,000 enslaved children who have been forced
into sex slavery. Sex slavery, however, is not the only type of slavery these
victims fall prey to; domestic and indebted slavery are also common, but harder
to identify.
In the last couple of years, I have been given the gift of motherhood. Seeing the
smiles of my children and their fragility, I cannot stop thinking about these
beautiful lives that everyday are being violated by the depravation of our
society. How could this be? I ask myself. At times I cannot contain my tears. At
times, I want to give up and try to forget; especially when I hear abolitionists
describe the horrors of this sexual abuse done to enslaved children, even
babies. Yet, the lessons learned at UPEACE, the mentors I have met throughout
this journey and my faith are the components that keep me going.
I want to believe that we can transform our society. Maybe we cannot eradicate
all the evils of the world. Maybe we cannot completely bring equality for all, but
we can definitely better our society to the point of having no slavery, especially
of innocent lives. I am fortunate to have found a group of like-minded
abolitionists to begin exploring possibilities of advocacy. One thing is clear in
our search for solutions and that is we can all use our strengths and talents to
bridge the gaps where there is need. We can fight for justice and advocate for
those who are suffering and being oppressed. I believe we can be the voice of
those who do not have a voice in society: The voice of the little girl who is being
abused daily by multiple men, the voice of the woman who is a domestic slave
who has no hope or future, the voice of the innocent enslaved child in India who
works day and night endlessly in a brick factory, the voice of the child, woman
or man who is forced to beg on the streets to fulfill the endless greediness of his
or her master. We can be the voice of the child soldier who has lost all integrity
because he or she has been forced to rob, kill and rape over and over again. I
believe not just in the power of knowledge, but in the power of unity; the unity
that we could potentially tap into not just as part of UPEACE alumni, but as part
of a group of individuals who have chosen to devote themselves to social justice.
This is what my experience at UPEACE has placed in front of me – knowledge,
hope and a challenge to be the voice for those who have none.
16
borderless
white
black
red
yellow
brown-upeace is not
a rainbow though
it’s a spectrum
illuminating
our existence:
one humanity
that continues to search
for more enlightenment
justice
harmony
compassion
security
peace within & out
we do have our differences
yet manage to transcend-afternoon games, brown bags, open mics
las fiestas, abrazos y besos muchos, pura vida
Salud Mora
Carriedo
Peace Education,
2007
Philippines
borderless nationalities,
that’s what we are indeed-able to cross and demolish
cultural boundaries and
respect ideological & religious diversity
the outside world may not
observe and believe in this
yet we prove that it’s possible,
not mere idealism
@ upeace
17
Is it better to have loved and lost?
– The musings of a UPEACE alumnus.
My year at the University for Peace was the most formative period of my life so
far. I cannot think of another segment that has changed my perspective and my
being as much as my time at UPEACE.
Now, before we get carried away, I don’t want to romanticise my experience. It
was not a perfect year, there were good moments, and bad moments, great
times, and traumatic times and, of course, there were instants of boredom. I am
not going to pretend that I lived a utopian year of blissful smiles and sunshine
but what is true to say is that I became free for the first time in my life. I lived a
dynamic type of free; a continual evolution that gave me the opportunity to
develop and investigate what it means to be me. I was lucky enough to
experience an environment that allowed me to live this investigation,
surrounded by people who gave me the space to be, challenging me and
supporting me in equal measure. I became hopeful and positive, and, even in
my darkest moments, I was still able to feel the true love of those around me.
Since returning to the UK in August 2009 I was taken out of this supportive and
comforting zone of peace and placed in London, a city of over 7 million
people; an urban mass living their lives simultaneously with no care for
connection and no desire to truly understand those with whom they share the air
they breathe. It has been a hard transition to make and one which eleven
months later I am still trying to get my head around.
The first few months were the hardest; I felt a deep emptiness, a longing to
return to the warmth of peace school life. The cold winter climate, the stony
uninviting physicality of the city, and the disinterest on the faces of people that
I met, I craved the belonging of true community that was my UPEACE bubble. I
felt a need for people to understand who I had become, as if the only way to
keep my experience real and present was through the eyes of others. I had been
taken out of a place where I was a unique individual, a constituent part of the
collective and returned to London where I am just a number, an expendable
part of an urban mass, one of a plethora of faces making their way through the
city. I could not, and, in many ways, I still cannot, see how true understanding
can take place in such a populous swarm.
I began to think; maybe it would have been better if I had never gone to
UPEACE in the first place. Maybe it wasn’t better to have loved and lost - maybe
it was better to have never loved at all.
18
Patricia Rich
International Peace
Studies, 2009
British
Current Country of
Residence: England
But these moments of feeling lost and confused, my desire for gratification from
those around me, allow me to reflect in a very real way on my time at UPEACE,
and ask what can I do to recapture the freedom and love that I felt? At these
times I look back on the final sentences of my thesis:
It [my thesis] is a commitment to continue to attempt to really live in my
present and connect with my holonic existence, as intrinsically
interconnected to the wider universe ... To live in my relations the ‘me’
that I wish to be, to break the feedback loops which perpetuate the
oppositional construction of identity: I declare that I shall always
endeavour to live in the truth of my moment, aware of myself as a
constituent part of the wider whole. But more than anything this thesis is
a commitment to keep engaging with these ideas, never seeing my
journey as complete.
I am reminded that as hard as life gets, as physically far away from my UPEACE
community as I may be, the love of UPEACE has not and can never be lost
because it is now a part of who I am. Through this realisation I gain strength, I
know that it is only me who I can be responsible for, and that my responsibility
is to live peace wherever I may be. Moreover, in my moments of despair, I feel
hope from remembering that there are many of us all over the world keeping
peace alive in our hearts, minds and interactions.
Words with their superfluous meanings, left redundant by all the times you’ve
used them before, rendered banal, and you wish you had saved them.
Used time after time after time they are unable to capture the unique beauty of
the moment, of the feeling.
When the reality that you could once touch, and feel is now only memory. This
world that you lived, snatched away from tangibility, cannot be described.
All the words you can use have been used countless times before; have been
used to describe something else.
To feel true love cannot be put on paper, cannot be told to someone.
To feel true love can only be lived.
To remember true love, one recaptures the feeling. So the love lives on.
To feel true freedom cannot be put on paper, cannot be told to someone.
To feel true freedom can only be lived.
To remember true freedom, one recaptures the feeling. So the freedom lives on.
By living a reality you learn its possibilities. By living a reality you thought
impossible you learn to believe in possibilities.
I lived to the core of being and now I know that it is possible.
Our every action and interaction however brief is a moment of possibility, it
down to us to live peace, freedom and love in each and every one.
19
Mitakuape, Cante' waste' nape' ciuzapi
Mitakuape, Cante' waste' nape' ciuzapi. (Mee talk oo yah pee chahn tay wahsh
tay nah pay chee you zah pee) “My relatives, with my whole heart I greet you.”
As I reflect back and examine the ways that the UPEACE experience has effected
and impacted me as a person, I quickly realize that it is quite difficult to
recognize and acknowledge all of the ways in which the experience continues
to impact, shape, and direct my daily decisions, life experiences, opportunities,
etc. I could reflect and share a laundry list of examples, such as: utilizing
HeartMath techniques while I was a first responder to a grand mal seizer and
how those techniques positively contributed to the situation until paramedics
arrived; of learning how to compost effectively as one of many additional efforts
to reduce my environmental impacts; of my UPEACE capstone research project
and exhibit being showcased in the United Nations headquarters within
Geneva, Switzerland and what it was like for established and prestigious UN
officials to express to me that the contributions of my research were essential,
meaningful, and fascinating; or of the ways in which I employ concepts of
grassroots organizing, nonviolent resistance and demonstrations as tools to
address systemic and institutional structures of privilege and oppression.
However, what I have found is that the collection of all of these brief snippets and
summaries insufficiently capture all the ways in which the experienced, beautiful,
imperfect, complicated, curious, humorous staff, faculty, and fellow students
(especially the students) challenged, supported, listened, validated, and
changed my journey as a lifelong edu-learner trying to figure out and implement
my small (but important and essential) contributions of positive and creative
change.
I am currently in an interim executive director position within a small nonprofit
and presently spending much of my time pondering the lifelong question of
“what do I want to do when I grow up?” and where my own personal journey
will lead me. Even though much, if not everything, in my future endeavors is
unknown and concretely solidified, I am constantly and consistently reminded of
all of the powerful ways that the UPEACE experience has impacted and help
shape my journey, especially as I continue to experience mutual mentorship and
ongoing support.
Anpetu Washte' Canku Ognawamanielo pilamiya. (Ahn pet oo wahshtay,
chahnk oo Ohgnah wah mah Nee yay loh Pi lah mee yah) “Today, thank you
for this road that we walk.”
Wopila tanka (Woh pee lah Tahn kah) “Many thanks…” Mitakuye oyasin (Mee
tahk oo yah sen) “…we are All related.”
*Credits go to Prairie Rose Seminole with the mentorship and assistance with learning the
Lakota translations and cultural expressions.
20
Morea Steinhauer
Gender and
Peacebuilding, 2009
USA
Current Country of
Residence: USA
rich and pivotal experience in my life
My studies at UPEACE in 2005-2006 as part of the first group of Environmental
Security and Peace students have substantially influenced my current work. The ESP
program represents a real turning point in my career. It launched me into
environmental and sustainability work, first as International Youth Coordinator with
Earth Charter in Sweden and Costa Rica, then as Network Coordinator for the
Sustainability Institute and Living Planet Network in the United States. In these roles,
I have facilitated workshops on environment and peace, climate justice,
sustainability assessment, and intergenerational partnership at conferences
organized by UNEP, CSD, UNICEF, IUCN, CIVICUS, etc. I am grateful for the
opportunities that I have had to travel far and wide, meet inspiring people, and
engage in meaningful projects.
Dominic Stucker
Environmental Security
and Peace, 2006,
Germany/USA,
Current Country of
Residence: USA
My work has focused both on the international and deeply personal levels, bringing
together change agents from all around the world to engage in leadership
development: visioning, systems thinking, reflective conversation, and engaging
across difference. Though I did not anticipate it upon graduating, I have embraced
and grown into the role of connector, convener, and catalyzer, convinced that there
is a sustainability revolution afoot and that the global challenges we face are best
addressed by diverse teams of informed, visionary, and committed individuals.
Furthermore, my course work and thesis research on rural livelihoods in Tajikistan
has provided me with an academic platform to publish with MIT Press in 2009 and
to participate in the Brown International Advanced Research Institute on climate
change in 2010. I hope to continue with the above research, with a focus on the
nexus of climate, water governance, and livelihoods. I am grateful to the faculty of
the ESP Department for being a source of guidance and encouragement throughout
my research and career.
21
My experience at UPEACE has also had profound personal impacts. One
concrete example is that I have been a devout vegetarian since learning about
the inefficiencies and environmental impacts of the meat and fishing industries
on land and water resources. I endeavor to connect learning with policy and
action whenever possible, recognizing that theories of change at the
international and personal levels are interconnected. A second example is that
my wife (Abigail Stucker, Gender and Peacebuilding, 2005-2006) gave birth
to our twin boys, Maddox and Tiegen soon after graduating from UPEACE. As
a father, I am inspired by many UPEACE friends to cultivate a collaborative and
stimulating home environment and to explore and learn about the world and its
peoples as a family, intent on making it a better place for generations to come.
I have never been in a setting as diverse and stimulating as UPEACE, both in
terms of natural beauty and people. Second only to the growth of our family,
the most enduring impact of my experience in Costa Rica is the invaluable
network of colleagues I joined, diverse and inspiring scholars and practitioners
from all around the world with whom I remain closely connected. It is to them
that I am grateful for making UPEACE such a rich and pivotal experience in my
life.
22
thankful and greatful
When I enrolled at UPEACE, I dreamed of expanding my worldview through the
perspectives of my classmates and through greater knowledge of Peace Education.
I also dreamed of finding a career that would align with my personal goal of
promoting peace in the world. I chose to pursue Peace Education because I believed
that people could learn to live peacefully, and that Peace Education was the way to
empower people to create peaceful change. My current career has surpassed my
dreams in terms of what I believed was possible, and my path here was through
UPEACE.
While studying in the UPEACE Peace Education Program, I pursued a part-time
internship with Teachers Without Borders (TWB). The internship involved developing
content for an emerging teacher professional development program on Peace
Education. While this was something that I engaged in outside of my studies, my
studies at UPEACE prepared me for this project and gave me a solid theoretical
foundation and skills that helped me in landing the internship and designing the
program. The internship was an ideal way to synthesize my studies and to put them
into practice, which is the intended goal of peace education.
Over a period of a few months, the unpaid, volunteer internship evolved to a stipend
position after graduation, then to a full-time staff position as the Peace Education
Program Coordinator. As the Coordinator, I have the opportunity to expand this
course into a comprehensive program for TWB. Ultimately, TWB hopes to make
Peace Education an integral part of its mission, and I will have the opportunity to
figure out how to do that.
Stephanie Knox
Cubbon
Peace Education,
2010
USA
Current Country of
Residence: USA
In the meanwhile, I get to focus all of my energies on promoting peace through
education. Part of why I wanted to study Peace Education was that I wanted greater
integrity between my personal and work lives. In the past, my jobs and my personal
life always felt somewhat separate. While I truly believe each of us has the power to
promote peace in everything we do - whether it’s as a peace educator or a waitress,
student, lawyer, or parent – I really yearned for a career that aligned with my
personal goal of spreading peace in the world. With my position at TWB, I have the
opportunity to do just that, and there is seemingly no longer a separation between
my personal and work life. It is simply life, and I have the chance to focus all of my
intentions, thoughts and energies on promoting peace. It has even helped me to
strengthen my personal peace practices, as I know that when I take care of myself
and devote time to cultivating personal peace, that it will be reflected in my work and
daily life. It is a gift, for which I am so thankful, and I am sure I would not have had
this opportunity had I not studied at UPEACE.
23
In the Peace Education program at UPEACE, I was so impressed with the
knowledge of our instructors, their experience in the field, and the care and
attention they gave us. Each one went beyond their role as professor and also
served as mentors, coaches, and friends. I have never felt so much support in
an academic community. Not only did they equip us with knowledge, but they
opened their hearts and homes to us, and even after graduation make
themselves available to alumni to support and encourage our development as
peace educators. I continue to be in close contact with them, and am working
on collaborating with them on my current work.
While I am grateful from the knowledge I gained from my professors, I learned
perhaps even more from my classmates, a tightly knit, diverse group of
educators devoting their lives for peace. We were a small group – just ten of us
– but even in that small group there was a variety of perspectives, and each
individual brought a unique viewpoint to the group and contributed in his or her
way to the dialogue. As a group, we navigated what it means to be a peace
educator, and strove and struggled to apply the principles to our interactions in
class and in the UPEACE community. I chose UPEACE because I wanted to take
advantage of the unique opportunity to learn in a truly international community,
and it was through my classmates that perhaps my greatest learning occurred.
My overall experience at UPEACE helped to heighten my awareness about my
own cultural biases and how our culture affects our daily lives. UPEACE
provides the unique opportunity to live and study in an incredibly diverse
community. Through the Peace Education program, I was given the chance to
reflect on my own cultural biases and ethnocentricities, and to be more aware
when these arise in my daily life. The unique environment coupled with these
exceptional instructors and courses which included self-reflective elements really
helped me to widen my worldview, which is really what I was looking for in
choosing UPEACE as my learning environment.
I am thankful to have had the opportunity to study at UPEACE, and I am grateful
for the opportunities that have resulted from my studies.
24
A Litany for Peace
Introduction: I wrote this piece at the end of my studies at UPEACE in 2007. Inspired
by the Zapatista spirit of “walking and questioning,” this litany reflects the journey we
all began in Costa Rica and on which we all continue.
***
Blessed are the Peace Educators. We walk a long road.
Eroding the predetermined acceptance of war, we walk.
Negotiating space to express and manifest our common identity, we walk
With justice, compassion, humility and forgiveness, we walk
With Earth, our community and not our commodity, we walk
Responsibly, mindfully, consciously we walk
ALL: Together, we walk
Suspending assumptions.
Managing biases.
Humanizing “others”. Transcending conflicts.
Contextualizing
privileges.
Balancing power. Deconstructing systems. Constructing futures. Shifting paradigms.
Transforming society.
Jennifer Lynn
Ribachonek
Peace Education,
2007
USA
Current Country of
Residence: South
Korea
As Reflective Practitioners, we walk. Thinking naked, we walk. LOVING,
Questioning and challenging, we walk. Reflecting and acting, we walk. Educating,
we walk.
Today and always, we are moving forward. We are Lifelong learners and Peace
Educators. We are Human Rights educators, Gender Peacebuilders, Anti-racism
educators. We are Sustainable development educators, Dialogue trainers, Global
educators. We educate for Peace and health, we educate for democracy. We are
Curriculum transformers, Social entrepreneurs and Culture of Peace builders!
Together we GO and GO and GO! We honor the knowledge that we have
constructed together. We commit to our journey. Ubuntu! I am because we are.
ALL: Ubuntu! I am because we are.
25
My life at the University for Peace, my destiny!
As I reflect on my life experience at the University for Peace, I constantly think
about what John Dewey said: “Education is not preparation for life; education is
life itself.” In November 2005, I was making the final editing on my statement of
purpose which contained a million dreams for Rwanda and Africa! What would
have happened had I not been admitted to UPEACE? Probably a heart attack!
When two immigration officers at the Brussels Airport asked me, “Where are
you going?” “To Costa Rica,” I said. “Why?” they asked. “Do you mean, ‘why
am I going to do a master’s degree in international peace studies’ or why I chose
Costa Rica?” They said, “Both.” “Well, I chose to do a master’s degree in
international peace studies to get the competences I need to contribute to solving
my country’s problems.” “Why Costa Rica?” they asked. “I read about Costa
Rica and I liked that country; it’s a peaceful and demilitarized country, I want to
learn Spanish and UPEACE is a culturally diverse school,” I answered
UPEACE’s social and academic life met my expectations. My class consisted of
more than twenty students from more than ten countries, and the teachers’
pedagogical approach, teacher-student interactions and knowledge of the
subject matter were remarkable. Despite my life experiences as a victim of wars,
conflicts, hatred, and poverty in Rwanda, I had always been a believer in life
and liberty since my childhood. I thought that UPEACE would equip me with
competences and thoughts required to teach Rwandans that it was still possible
to believe in life and liberty. I have found such beliefs to be easily
comprehensible in the classroom setting than on terrain. Upon my return to
Rwanda, I was shocked to find out that almost every citizen I chatted with in my
village and neighborhoods was telling me about jail and death. Those two
concepts have been nailed in their subconscious so deeply that they instinctively
invoke jail and death more than twice in a five minutes conversation.
26
David
Nshimiyimana
International Peace
Studies, 2007
Rwanda
Current Country of
Residence: Rwanda
One day I had a discussion with a Rwandan who had lost hope in his country,
and he argued that a hero is someone who could die for the country. I asked
him a question: “How would you name someone who goes to war, wins a war,
and comes home alive to find everyone else alive?” He seemed very shocked
but replied, “That is a Superhero.” I proceeded, “Would you like to be a hero
or a superhero?” He chose the latter. I told him and others I met afterwards that
Rwanda needs superheroes to bring about positive peace without offering a
sacrifice.
Before coming to UPEACE and after the commencement, little did I know that I
would any time in my life be involved in politics. My father was a primary
school teacher and my mother an ‘on-job trained’ assistant nurse. But politics,
as dirty as it can be, politics is a calling, there is nowhere to hide from it. The
question I asked was: “What do you do when politics comes your way?” That’s
how I got the courage to make the most difficult decision in my life: run for the
President of Rwanda! I was taken to jail and reminded that I constitutionally
needed to be 35. I said, “But my intention was to help you guys make Rwanda
a country that guarantees life, liberty and security of the person all the time.”
Most Rwandans are prisoners of the past and believe it is impossible to make
this dream come true in Rwanda.
Currently I am unemployed, and I have not yet got an opportunity to
meaningfully put in practice what I learnt at UPEACE. The University for Peace
reoriented my fate. UPEACE might not have made me the man I wanted to be
upon graduation, but it helped me to understand who I am today.
27
Ser una Upeacer
Spanish version:
Ser una Upeacer es más de lo que siempre imaginé. Al llegar a la Universidad
para la Paz encontré un espacio abierto lleno de posibilidades para compartir
vivencias con estudiantes de una gran diversidad cultural. Encontré en cada
estudiante un líder de paz que desde múltiples perspectivas compartían mi
mismo sueño; trabajar por la paz. De repente todo aquello invisible y casi que
inalcanzable como la educación basada en valores y derechos humanos como
el respeto a la vida y la diversidad se volvieron tangibles en mi esfuerzo por
contribuir significativamente como educadora para la paz. Hoy, con los pies
sobre la tierra y siendo consciente de las dificultades de la violencia estructural
existente en el mundo entero entiendo que no hay esfuerzo en vano y que todo
cambio por pequeño que sea es un gran avance hacia el cambio de actitud y
comportamiento que los seres humanos tanto necesitamos.
Me siento llena de gratitud por haber elegido la Universidad para la Paz como
el lugar primordial de mi inicio en la Educación para la Paz porque un Upeacer
es un ser en constante transformación que le abre las puertas al cambio y que
afronta retos por más grandes que estos parezcan.
La Universidad para la Paz causó un gran impacto no solamente en mi vida sino
en la de quienes estuvieron a mí alrededor. El año académico no fue solamente
estudio, fue también una lección de convivencia y un proceso de transformación
que fui transmitiendo a mis familiares, amigos, vecinos, compañeros de trabajo,
etc. Dejé parte de mi individualismo atrás para pensar más de manera colectiva
y al pasar del tiempo, me convertí en una extensión ambulante de la
universidad porque sentía, y aun hoy, siento que a donde quiera que voy llevo
la identidad, conocimiento y curiosidad que caracterizan a un Upeacer.
28
Diana Flórez Melo
Peace Education,
2010
Colombia
Current Country of
Residence: Costa Rica
English version:
Being a Upeacer is more than what I ever imagined. Upon arriving to the
United Nations mandated University for Peace (UPEACE), I found an open
space, full of possibilities to share experiences with students from diverse
cultures. I found a leader of peace in each student that shared my dream of
working for peace from different perspectives. Suddenly all what seemed to be
invisible and unachievable, such as education based on values and human
rights like respect for life and diversity, turned to be tangible in my effort to
contribute meaningfully as a peace educator. Today, with my feet on the ground
and while being conscious of the difficulties triggered by the entire world
structural violence, I understand that small efforts are not in vain and that every
small change is making progress towards a change of attitude and behavior
that all human beings need so much.
I feel full of gratitude for having chosen the UPEACE as the fundamental place
to start my career on Peace Education, because a Upeacer is a human being in
constant transformation that opens her or his doors to changes and faces
challenges regardless of how big they seemed to be.
UPEACE caused a tremendous impact not only in my life but in the people’s
lives around me. The academic year was not only about studying. It was also a
lesson of coexistence and a process of transformation that I transmitted to my
relatives, friends, neighbors, coworkers, etc. I left part of my individualism
behind to think on a collective way. After the time passed by, I turned into an
itinerant extension of the University because I felt, as I feel now that everywhere
I go I carry with me the identity, knowledge and curiosity that characterizes a
Upeacer.
29
making this world a better place to live in
There is no doubt that my time at the University for Peace positively impacted
my personal and my professional life. Being part of the UPEACE community not
only gave me the opportunity to meet, interact and learn from people from all
over the world, but helped me to understand that it didn´t matter from which
country we came, to what ethnicity we belonged, what religion we professed,
or which language we spoke, because we were honored to spend an entire
year of our lives with people that shared the same dream of “making this world
a better place to live in.”
I particularly remember how the class “HIV and Human Rights” taught and led
by our Professor Hassan El Menyawi, and the field visit to a shelter of men living
with HIV, marked my life and helped me realize that I wanted to be part of an
organization that promotes community service.
After finishing my studies at the UPEACE, I came back to Ecuador with the
determination to work in the development arena while serving my country and
my people. Since then, I joined the Peace Corps as the Program Manager of
its Youth and Families Development project, an assignment that everyday gives
me the opportunity to continue not only with my journey of service but keeping
alive our same dream and commitment shared my me and my fellow UPEACE
colleagues of “making this world a better place to live in.”
30
Cristina Rojas
Proaño
Human Rights, 2005
Ecuador
Current Country of
Residence: Ecuador
Dinamika Supra-akademis UPEACE
Saya mendapat dua kabar gembira karena diterima satu universitas di UK dan
Upeace (University for Peace). Namun keputusan saya waktu itu adalah
memilih Upeace sebagai tempat untuk belajar tentang hal yang saya cintai,
yaitu perdamaian. Pertimbangan utama keputusan tersebut telah mengalahkan
cita-cita saya sejak awal pergi ke universitas di UK di mana beberapa teman
sudah menunggu di sana. Mereka kecewa dengan keputusan saya pada waktu
itu. Namun saya merasa yakin dan bahagia. Pada awal maret 2007 saya
berangkat ke Manila sebagai tahap awal studi perdamaian di Upeace
sebelum berangkat ke Costa Rica pada bulan Agustus.
Saya adalah seorang akademisi ilmu sosial di bidang konflik dan perdamaian,
yang bekerja sebagai staff pengajar di Departemen Sosiologi FISIP Universitas
Airlangga. Karakter yang terpateri pada diri saya adalah mencari,
menemukan, dan memperkaya pengetahuan melalui pengayaan wacana.
Saya mengolahnya menjadi ilmu sosial yang bermanfaat secara akademis.
Harapan saya di Upeace, akan ada diskusi akademis, diskusi literatur, dan
filsafat-filsafat perdamaian. Saat pertama mengikuti kuliah-kuliah awal di
Upeace pada awal September 2007 saya dikagetkan oleh pendekatan kelas
yang di luar harapan. Kelas selalu penuh dengan simulasi mikro mengenai
kasus-kasus konflik, kekerasan, dan perdamaian dunia. Setiap simulai
kemudian didiskusikan secara terbuka di depan kelas. Para mahasiswa yang
datang dari lima benua, mungkin lebih dari 50 negara, memberi makna yang
berbeda-beda mengenai satu hal. Perdebatan sering terjadi tidak hanya di
level pemikiran namun perasaan.
Novri Susan
International Peace
Studies, 2008
Indonesia
Current Country of
Residence: Japan
Satu bulan pertama saya terseret deras dalam dinamika tak lazim, saya
menyebutnya dinamika supra-akademis, yang mengombang-ambingkan
pikiran dan perasaan. Saya marah pada satu teman dari satu negara, dan
saya mencintai begitu dalam pada satu negara. Hal ini dikarenakan pada satu
kasus tertentu pendapat kami bisa saling berseberangan atau saling
mendukung. Pada dimensi perdebatan pemikiran semata, mungkin dinamika
tidak akan melibatkan seluruh potensi manusia dalam bentuk pikiran dan
perasaan. Pada kondisi awal belajar di Upeace, saya seperti individu yang
tengah meradang pada berbagai perbedaan paham, identitas, dan cita-cita
politis. Saya pernah berteriak-teriak marah pada salah seorang teman dalam
satu simulasi yang menguras perasaan. Pada waktu itu kelas menjadi sepi,
yang tersisa adalah degup jantung meradang saya.
31
Saya baru mulai mengalami pemindahan track kesadaran terhadap apa yang
sedang terjadi di Upeace. Saya mulai mempraktikkan apa yang secara teori
sudah saya pelajari sebelum belajar di Upeace, seperti toleransi, empati pada
cara hidup individu lain, berdialog tanpa kekerasan, dan selalu berproses
mencari suatu common virtue. Setiap pulang ke kamar apartemen, saya sering
melakukan perenungan terhadap proses-proses di Upeace. Proses yang di
dalamnya dinamika pemikiran dan perasaan bergumul menciptakan pusaran
energi konstruktif. Energi yang membuka mata hati, meningkatkan kematangan
cara berfikir, dan kemampuan melakukan toleransi. Saya menyadari bahwa
Upeace tengah membawa miniatur dunia dengan segala dinamikanya ke
ruang kuliah.
Setelah menyelesaikan kuliah di Upeace saya kembali Universitas Airlangga
dan mengajar mata kuliah Pengelolaan Konflik. Pada kelas inilah saya
memformulasi dinamika supra-akademis di bidang konflik dan perdamaian
untuk para mahasiswa. Menurut beberapa mahasiswa, mereka seperti
mendapat energi luar biasa yang belum pernah diperoleh selama belajar di
universitas. Saya tahu, yang mereka rasakan adalah sama seperti yang saya
rasakan ketika belajar di Upeace. Saat ini saya melanjutkan program PHD
pada program Global Studies di Universitas Doshisha, Jepang. Tradisi
supra-akademis Upeace begitu kuat dan membantu saya membangun visi-visi
perdamaian di Indonesia dan masyarakat internasional.
Upeace Dynamic of Supra-academics
I got two good news since I was accepted by two universities at the same time,
by a British university and UPEACE (University for Peace). However at that time
I decided to choose UPEACE as my university to learn about things that I love,
namely peace. My decision in studying peace had beat my goals earlier to go
to university in the UK where some friends already were waiting for me. They
were disappointed with my decision at that time. But I felt confident and happy
with my decision. In early March 2007 I went to Manila as the early stages of
peace studies at UPEACE before heading off to Costa Rica in August.
I am a social scientist in the field of conflict and peace studies, who works as a
lecturer at Sociology Department, Airlangga University in Surabaya Indonesia.
Hence my original characters are looking for, finding, and enriching knowledge
through a discourse dynamic. I formulate the knowledge as a useful social
science product. My expectation from UPEACE was that there would be thought,
literature, and philosophies of peace discussion academically. At the first time
in following the first semester lectures at UPEACE, I was shocked by the
approach of the classes. The classes were always filled with micro simulations
about the cases of conflict, violence and world peace. Then each simulation is
discussed openly in front of the class. Students who come from five continents,
perhaps more than 50 countries, gave different meanings about one thing in
the simulation. The debate often occurs not only at the level of thought but also
of feeling.
32
In my first month I was dragged in an unusual dynamic of thinking, I name it as
the “dynamics of supra-academic” that wandered my thoughts and feelings. I
had many conflicting feelings, because I often was angry towards a friend from
one country I loved so deeply and to another friend from another country. This
was because in one particular simulation case there was a strong opposing
opinion to each other, at the same time we could support to each other. If the
debate was only held in the dimensions of academics, it probably would not
involve the entire dynamics of human potential in the form of thoughts and
feelings. At the initial conditions of my study in UPEACE, I was like an individual
who was inflamed by the differences of belief, identity, and political notions. I
once shouted angrily to one friend during a simulation that waved my feeling.
At that time, the class became quiet, what remained was my heart beat.
At the fifth month of my study, I just started to experience moving into a new
awareness track to what is happening at UPEACE. I began to practice what I
had learned in theoretically before studying at UPEACE, such as tolerance,
empathy to a different way of life, a dialogue without violence, and always
create any effort to find a common virtue. I often do contemplation about my
dynamic of lives in UPEACE. The dynamics in which thoughts and feelings are
struggling to create a constructive energy for human being. The energy that can
open eyes of the heart, mature the way of thinking, and enhance an ability to
perform multicultural tolerance. I realize that UPEACE is bringing the world
miniature with all its dynamics into the classroom
After finishing my study I came back to Airlangga University to teach the course
of Conflict Management. In this class I formulate the dynamics of
supra-academic in the field of conflict and peace for the students. According to
some students, they are like getting an incredible energy that they have never
obtained during their study in the university. I understand that what they feel is
just the same as I felt during my study in UPEACE. Now I continue my study at
Ph.D. Global Studies program, Doshisha University, Japan. Supra- academic
tradition of UPEACE is still strongly embedded in my individual concept, and it
helps me to build my visions in building peace in Indonesia and in the
international community.
33
The UPEACE-Syndrome
Special Report to the WHO by Dr. K. Bitzker
Geneva, Switzerland 16.7.2010
Ladies and Gentlemen,
As was requested by you (Special Participant Observation Mission No.
910812/AZ) I went on a special undercover mission to the UN-mandated
University for Peace in Costa Rica from August 2008 until July 2009. In my
function as a medical doctor, pretending to be interested in the emerging field
of Peace Studies, my objective was to investigate a mysterious disease which I
shall address as “The UPEACE Syndrome” (TUPS) for the time being.
Unfortunately / Fortunately (depends on the perspective you take) I have
developed a severe case of TUPS myself and am no longer willing nor able to
report on the symptoms, diagnostics, pathogenesis or therapy options of TUPS.
(Pauses and smiles) You should really come and see this truly magical place,
these amazing people with your own eyes. You will…
(Shouting from the audience) “well, at least tell us something, …anything…we
have been waiting for this report for over a year! Is it safe to go there? I heard
the UPEACE alumni are extremely resistant to Nelibra (neoliberal brainwash), is
that true? And that they are even critical of the WHO, with all this nonsense,
what’s it called again… structural and cultural violence? And that some of them
believe that nonviolent conflict is actually a good thing? What a preposterous
idea!” (Murmuring)
It is difficult for me to answer in the scientific format that you expect. (Hesitates)
All I can offer you is a poem.
(Another person shouting from the audience) “This is outrageous! We financed
this project and you come up with a POEM! We want scientific facts for our
money, not some poetry crap. You are fired!”
(Out of 100 people about 80 leave the room immediately. The remaining ones
look perplexed and remain silent)
34
Katharina Bitzker
International Peace
Studies, 2009
Germany
Welcome to UPEACE
This is the place
Where you can dance with your inspirers
This is the place
Where you can bow to your adversaries
Growing friendship, love
like the sweet mangos
We share every day
Drip, drip, this juice is for you
You have been away from
Your heart family
For too long
Lovers and fighters
Here you get two in one
We fight hard and then we
Paint the walls, scribble
“Fighting for peace
is like fucking for virginity”
You bet we want to provoke you
See how far we can take you
And then we lie still on the green campus
Work silently in the garden
Meditate
Gender questions on the loo
Why do we need separate toilets
Why is there so much
Fear
Between men and women
We dissect conflicts
We are poets of conflicts
You name the level
We give the analysis
Essay fatigue included
We thrive on
mental guerrilla gardening
Throwing ideas at each other
vacant mind lots
bombarded with seeds of peace
35
Obsessed with transformation
Hey baby, we are past
Managing and solving
Now go out and
Feed your demons
Names, countries, sparkling eyes
Here you might find
A cure
What is ailing you?
I have brought
Homemade heartache
Disillusion
Yearning
And tons of tea
With Janis and Anatol in Cahuita
Caribbean waves remind me,
Give shelter, draw me in
Happiness lies in the strong undercurrent
a heart cracked open
can be touched by beauty
Fully
The maracuya garden, Tania’s gentle face
My warrior and fragile soul
Delicious candy, Mexican
She hugs my son as if he were
Her own
High up on El Mirador
Volcano energy explodes
Las Brujas de la Paz I am silenced by your beauty
I am bathing in your love
36
And then it gets dark and cold
Not exactly a soft landing
Welcome back to Europe
Are you ill?, they stare, I freeze
It’s TUPS, for sure
Candles, water, wind
I wander and wonder and wander
I think of you, I dream of you
The names roll through my mind
Like refreshing waves
I used to call
Love, Peace & Happiness
The elusive trio
but with you
I could embody the elusive
This year, this place
has touched the
deepest recess
of my soul
This is the place
Where you can dance with your inspirers
This is the place
Where you can bow to your adversaries
This is the place
You will carry in your heart
Epilogue:
We hereby announce that Dr. Katharina Bitzker had to be removed as Head of
Mission (Special Participant Observation Mission No. 910812/AZ) due to a
severe illness (TUPS).
Dr. Bitzker is incorrigibly convinced that science and poetry can and should be
re-united and that the beauty of UPEACE is hard to describe in a formal essay
of about 1000 words. She failed to deliver her usually excellent academic
performance concerning this scientific mission. We can only conclude that her
observation mission posed a serious threat and damage to her neural network
and altered it in a way we cannot fully grasp at the present moment. Her
obsession with the elusive trio of love, peace and happiness must be viewed as
an unhappy collateral damage of this whole endeavour. We apologize to her
future friends, lovers and colleagues for any inconvenience this will cause in a
consumerist society.
Signed
Prof. Dr. Vernunft, Germany
37
A journey within a journey
Home alone, she was passing time knitting socks for her grandkids. She had
just put a kettle on the stove to boil water for some tea. Outside was snowing,
the wind was whistling at the windows, but inside was warm with the creaking
wood burning in the fireplace. When she ran out of red wool, she got up to get
some more from the closet where she normally deposited leftovers and old stuff.
Dusty boxes, old packs and folders were piled altogether. She stretched her arm
to the upper shelf to get to the box where she knew she had some wool, which
she hoped had not been damaged by the moths. Her trembling hand could not
grab it well and all the other boxes underneath fell off making a whole mess.
She tried to put them back together but then she suddenly saw an old picture,
long forgotten. She took it and went back to the living room to look at it, for the
light in the closet was dim. She put on her glasses to see it closely. She had to
wipe the dust off with the back of her palm to see it more clearly. Her eyes grew
bigger when she recognized the photo and a wry smile came slowly on her
face. She tilted her head, in a sign of nostalgia and melancholy. She had to sit
for fear she might lose her balance at the feeling that her feet were melting. The
memory of the picture shook her. She kept holding it tight, but her hand was
trembling. She brought it then to her chest, very close, as if the heart had to see
it, too. She closed her eyes to remember, when and where it was taken.
2007, Costa Rica. A shiver down the spine when counting how many decades
passed ever since. It seemed like a lifetime. Back then she was in her 20s. It was
that adventurous year when she decided out of the blue to go to Central
America when her friends said she must be crazy to go to a country of snakes,
monkeys, lizards and poorer than her native one. But for her it meant a journey
to discover a new continent, non-European, and a new life, the Ticos’. It turned
out she was wrong. She discovered much more than that and her journey was
wider and richer that she had expected, for, besides the Costa Rican lifestyle
that she experienced, she made also an academic journey into the field of
peace and conflict, looking at media and the role in peacebuilding and
peacemaking, doing a journey to various representative countries in this
respect, like Bosnia, Rwanda, Sudan, Israel, etc. At its turn this journey opened
up paths for new journeys with the friends she made from different parts around
the world about which she got to know more during class discussions and social
outings.
38
Raluca Bătănoiu
Media Peace and
Conflict Studies, 2008
Romania
Current Country of
Residence: Germany
She started swinging again on her squeaky chair and lifted the photo to her
eyes to see the faces of those friends who were in the picture, once more
remembering how they had been and wondering about how and where they
were now. But rather not! She refused to come back to the present day, and
closed back her eyes to return to the memory of the Ticos, always happy and
cheerful, in spite of their poor life but with strong faith in God… so different from
the European secularism. The wonderful nature there with which people live so
close… laughing at her when she was scared off by a huge iguana, as if it was
a mere pet coming out of the house, when for her it was like a crocodile
escaping from the zoo. And then the University for Peace, the institution that
gave her this tremendous opportunity… Its location, she remembers now so
well, was on top of a mountain after a long winding road through the coffee
plantations. She always rode the bus, never jogging the way many fellow
students were doing, some to do sports, others afraid of the wobbly narrow
wooden bridge that the bus had to cross every day on its way to the university.
Keeping her eyes closed she gradually repainted in her mind the whole
landscape, the wonderful view from the canteen’s terrace, the park around the
campus, the orange and the avocado trees there. And then she forgot the smell
of burning wood in the house and her nostrils could feel again the scent of fruit,
fresh fruit, ripe and newly picked from the trees, like bananas and mangos.
How lavish this seemed for a European like her. And then the image grew
clearer remembering new details in her mental picture of Costa Rica: Che Pizza,
where her MPCS ’08 class had the habit of meeting every Friday; the rickety
bus that would take her to Multiplaza on the way to San Jose; those tropical
rains where she finally understood the meaning of pouring down and never
after that felt the need to have an umbrella on in Europe. She smiled
unconsciously when she remembered then the Costa Rican sense of orientation
in a land with no street names but only directions from various landmarks,
where north was standing for going upwards, east for turning right and each
hundred meter meant one block away.
The whistling kettle on the stove made her startle. In one second she was back
to the present day. The chair was still swinging when she left off to the kitchen.
The snow was still falling outside and the wood, burning in the fireplace. The
hot tea was ready. She forgot about the red wool. Back on the chair, she closed
her eyes sighing and sought to find back her journey into the sunny past, into
her memories from long ago, when she was young, frolicking on the Caribbean
beach in Costa Rica.
39
Acknowledgment
The creation of this book would not be possible without the cooperation and
contribution from a number of dedicated and talented people. In particular, I
would like to acknowledge the valuable input from the following people:
Oscar Morera Herrera, Chief, Multimedia Services/ Webmaster Audiovisual
and Multimedia Services Unit at the University for Peace. Mr. Morera
coordinated the Costa Rica efforts in the final production of the book. He also
served as designer for the book.
Gerardo Romero, Cameraman and Video Editor, Audiovisual and Multimedia
Services Unit, Development and Communications and Alexander Rivera, Junior
Graphic Designer, Audiovisual and Multimedia Services Unit, Development and
Communications for the pictures used on this book.
Petra Van der Ham, Foundation Alliance for the University for Peace. Ms. Van
der Ham was instrumental in the coordination of the book.
Catherine Garcia, Gender and Peacebuilding alumnus. Ms. Garcia inspired
all those involved to move forward with the project.
Finally, I would like to thank the dozens of alumni who submitted their reflections
to be included into this book.
Eliana Carvalho, Editor

Untitled

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