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.