Meredith and I met to discuss my final project after I chose to stay focused in on Semra. During this meeting, both of us were thinking outside of the box (maybe too far outside) about future projects. Meredith knows that I am interested in working with NGOs and non-profits and that I enjoy projects with community involvement and empowerment. We started brainstorming about ways to do this kind of work in Kosovo with the girls I’ve met at the Ideas Partnership. Although I’m not sure what, if anything, will happen with this, I am excited about the possibilities.
Author: Bridget Fetsko
Ups and Downs
This entire experience, but especially working on my final project, can only be described as a roller coaster. Things with my final have gone from super exciting to emotionally draining to hopeful to uncertain and all the way back again. There have been days that I’ve started out thinking I would have to change my topic that have ended in me smiling ear to ear planning the next day’s work. There have also been days where things have finally started to come together that end in me stressing out about what direction to go in.
At this point, my story is going to focus on Semra and her sisters. Semra is a girl from a Bosnian family living in Fushe Kosova. She and one of her sisters, Elsa, participate in the Girls’ Club program at the Ideas Partnership, in addition to attending public school. Her youngest sister, Xhevahire, is going to start school this year so Semra and Elsa are helping her prepare. I found this relationship to be really interesting and after speaking with Meredith, decided to focus the story on that.
Frustrations With My Final
To be good storytellers, we have to communicate well. Well working on my final project here in Kosovo, I have learned just how important this is.
Throughout this project, I have been at the mercy of my subjects and my connections to them. I have had quite a few contacts ignore me or give me unclear or inaccurate information. Although I do not believe this has been intentional, it has been extremely frustrating to deal with. I have learned to send all of the information to these contacts right from the start to avoid confusion as much as possible. It has also been important to contact people multiple times, probably more times than necessary, in order to make sure plans stick.
Unfortunately, I do not think my final will end up being anything close to what I had hoped for. Right now, the story is somewhere in the Girls Club Program. I think I will either be working to focus on of the girls or I will be working with the Little Teacher’s Program. I am hoping to be able to pull together something I am still proud of.
Kosovo 2.0
JULY 12
http://kosovotwopointzero.com/
Kosovo 2.0 is a really unique organization. I would call them a news organization, but they are certainly altering the definition of what a news organization can be. The way their website is organized provides space for long term projects, shorter news stories, outside blog posts, and more. They do a lot of “advocacy journalism” and work to create space for dialogues on major issues.
My first impression of Kosovo 2.0 was before we left for the trip. I was doing some research and found many of their stories on the recent election in Kosovo to be extremely helpful.
At the meeting with Cristina Mari (Program Manager) and Jack Butcher (Managing Editor), I became very interested in their work. I would honestly love to work at Kosovo 2.0, or another organization similar to it. I’m a huge fan of well-done advocacy journalism, although I think you have to be very very careful with it. However, our world as journalists is changing and I really admire that a group like Kosovo 2.0 is pushing the boundaries of what journalism can be.
Cristina talked a bit about how objectivity plays a role in their work. Obviously, this organization is pretty liberal. She said their goal is not to hide their biases but to make sure their reportage is comprehensive. They want to make sure they address all sides of a story or an argument, but they still acknowledge their own views. This way of looking at objectivity is intriguing. I would love to live in a world where journalism could function under this definition of objectivity. Unfortunately, I am not sure if this is possible right now, especially in the US. TALK MORE ABOUT THIS IDEA
Unfortunately, I am not sure if this is possible right now, especially in the US. Many people in the US will only read one news source, and they often choose the one that aligns most with their views. I do not mean to generalize. There are plenty of us who look at multiple news outlets daily, but there are too many that do not. I am hopeful that in the future, an organization like Kosovo 2.0 will be able to function and thrive in the US.
The one thing that was really difficult to deal with during the meeting at Kosovo 2.0 was their lack of emphasis on photography. They do have a visuals team, which is a great start, but they also use photos taken by their writers with smartphones. Yes, everyone has a camera now, but not everyone is a photographer. It is important that we as photojournalists continue to work to show the value of our work. The journalism world is changing and we do have to adapt to that. Everyone has to pick up new skills in order to have a career. However, this does not mean the skills of others in the journalism world should be discounted. Photographers have to learn to write and to work with audio, video, and more, but writers, videographers, editors, and others are still important. Photojournalists cannot be replaced with iPhones if news organizations expect to see the same level of work produced. That being said, I do really appreciate that Kosovo 2.0 even has its own visuals team.
Pressures on Peacekeeping Operations
Mike’s seminar on July 11 touched on a lot of important topics relating to personal sacrifices and mental health when working on Peace Keeping operations. Being gone a lot and being dedicated to your job can have negative effects on your personal life and distance you from family and friends. During peacekeeping operations, people often see horrific tragedies (200-300 children dying per day in Northern Iraq during Operation Provide Comfort). When these people go home, they often do not have access to the support networks and mental health services they need. Family and friends cannot relate and therefore seem unable to help or even disinterested. There is such a stigma around seeking psychological support services that many people returning from these situations feel ashamed to ask for help or fear consequences for the future of their careers. Mike has worked to make sure others do not have to deal with these issues.
In Meredith’s seminar on July 13, she said that members of the military, humanitarian aid workers, and photojournalists that work in conflict areas all have some similarities. I agree with this, although not completely. I definitely agree that many of these people are ‘adrenaline junkies.’ I also think that many of these people have a strong desire to help others. In addition, all of these people have to see some very tough things in their lives and have to find ways to deal with them.
The lesson that can be drawn from both of these seminars is that it is important to know what your intentions and motivations are before you do something like this, and more importantly, you have to be able to find the support you need when you return. This support can be from a mental health professional, or maybe even better, from someone who has dealt with the same things.
The Ideas Partnership
I have visited the Ideas Partnership twice now, on July 6th and July 8th, to get things set up for my final. On the initial visit, I met with Burhan, who was one of the Newborns subjects in order to make connections at the center. Burhan was able to introduce me to one of the managers and several volunteers. At this first meeting, I explained my project and my goals. I came out of this meeting feeling very optimistic as I found out about a “girls’ group” that takes place on Saturdays at the center. The girls are all from RAE communities and many of them are not enrolled in public schools.
For my second visit, I had planned on going to this Saturday program to photograph and also meet with some of the girls to try and find a subject. One of our Kosovar friends, Asllan, came with me to translate (THANK YOU). I had a few technical and logistical issues that prevented me from shooting a lot, but I accomplished my main goal: find subjects.
The program is split into two classrooms, one with younger girls and one with older girls. I spent time in both but chose to talk to the older girls more. Three of the girls, Mirjeta, Vlora, and Semra, were very eager to answer questions and had interesting things to share. I am especially interested in working with Semra, as she wants to be a teacher and has already started helping out with the younger kids at the Ideas Partnership.
Mitrovica — Round 2
JULY 4th
PART ONE — Written on the bus while waiting to leave Prishtina
I’ve learned to be very flexible yet very prepared when scheduling anything in Kosovo. Meetings get postponed, or you’ll unexpectedly make a contact and have to meet right then. Buses are never on time, but always in a rush when they arrive.
This morning, I planned on getting to the bus station in Prishtina by 7:45 to catch the 8:00 bus to Mitrovica. Nope. I arrived at 7:58. The 8:00 bus didn’t come, though. The next bus was scheduled for 8:15. Nope. I didn’t get on a bus to Mitrovica until 8:45.
When we went to Mitrovica three days earlier, the bus left immediately after we got on. On this trip, the bus sat outside the station until about 9:10, which was when I had planned on meeting up with Abide, our newborns subject, to start our day.
Luckily, Abide is both busy and understanding so we picked a new meeting time and place, and it all worked out.
PART TWO — Logistics
Photographing ‘A Day in the Life’ means photographing from the time a subject wakes up until the time they go to bed. Photographing ‘A Day in the Life’ in a village outside Mitrovica means photographing from the time you can get transportation out to the village until the time you can get back into the city. Getting out to Abide’s village is pretty difficult, so we met up with her at the IBCM campus at the start of the day and then took the village’s bus with her to get back to her house. That small bus makes a trip back to the bus station in Mitrovica around 6, so we were able to get back alone.
PART THREE — Welcome
Abide’s friends and family were so welcoming. After meeting up with Abide at her school, we went to coffee with her friends. They were such great people and they were very open to me photographing and asking them questions. Later in the day, when we were back at Abide’s house, her mother kept giving us food and asking us questions. In addition to shooting all day, I learned a lot just from talking to different people and seeing the area where Abide lives. I love that this work gives us so many opportunities to connect with new people and hear so many stories. Telling those stories is even more of a privilege.
PART FOUR — Reflections and Planning
The second day with Abide was spent photographing her daily life. It was very productive and I enjoyed my time there. I was able to get some good photographs but after looking through everything and working on the audio, Tereza and I have decided to go back and shoot more. We are going early this week to redo the interview and get some more information about the divide between North and South Mitrovica as well as the effect of the war on Abide’s family. As much planning and effort as it takes to get out to Mitrovica, I’m really excited to develop this story further and hopefully create something we can be really proud of.
Mitrovica — Round 1
On July 1, Tereza and I went to Mitrovica to meet our Newborns subject, Abide. Abide was so welcoming. She took us to one of her favorite cafes and showed us around the city a bit. After meeting with her and explaining our project, we went back to her village to interview her. The interview went well technically, although we will be going back to get some additional information about specific topics.
First week of classes
I am very excited about being in a poli. sci. class while I am here in Kosovo. In my first year at RIT, I was missing a lot of the debate that I got in my APs in high school. The Peace Keeping and Conflict Transformation course will allow me to gain a better understanding of peacekeeping operations, humanitarian aid, and the meaning of transformation. I can already tell this class will be extremely challenging, but I’m excited to learn something new. The work outside of class has been making sense to me and it is really thought-provoking. I hope the rest of this course continues to be as interesting. My reasoning for taking this course is to be able to be informed about these issues so that I could potentially document them in my future as a photojournalist.
Meetings and Bus Rides
The second section of our Balkan tour included visits to Sarajevo, Srebrenica, Belgrade, and Skopje. This part of the trip was also amazing in a different way. Most of our mornings were spent on the bus, our days were spent attending meetings with government officials or NGOs, and our evenings were spent exploring the different cities. This post only discusses a few of the meetings, but that is not to say other aspects of this portion of the trip were not meaningful.
In Sarajevo, we met with both the OHR and a women’s rights group. Although of these meeting were interesting, it often felt like we were only getting the kinds of answer a politician would give. The second meeting, however, did allow us to meet Jenni, the interpreter, and Alexis, an intern from Westpoint. The two of them showed us around Sarajevo and gave us some new perspectives on issues in Bosnia. It has been interesting to connect with so many different people during our travels.
I found both of our meetings in Belgrade to be much more informative than those in Sarajevo, partially because I could relate more to the people, and also because the organizations we met with in Belgrade seemed more willing to be candid with us. We met with the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights and the Youth Initiative for Human Rights. Perhaps, I could relate so easily to these groups because of my interests as well as the research I’ve done on this region. Each of these groups also focused on connecting young people within the region and trying to foster collaboration and understanding between other cultures, which I found very interesting. Sofija, my roommate, is from Serbia and works for YIHR in Belgrade, so it has been really nice to have her insight into different places we’ve been and topics we’ve discussed throughout the trip.