CAMP BONDSTEEL, Kosovo - U.S. and Hungarian soldiers serving on NATO's Kosovo Force peace support mission joined local leaders and organizers to promote tolerance and equality during a Sept. 19 Violence Free Future youth event at the Diakonie Youth Center in Mitrovica, Kosovo.
The events were held a stone's throw away from a literal barricade to ethnic cooperation in the city: the Austerlitz Bridge and well-known "Peace Park" barrier.
The bridge, which is the north Kosovo city's main crossing over the Ibar River, stands as a controversial symbol of ethnic tension in the region. Blocked to prevent crossing between the city's divided populations, the "Peace Park" served as a counterpoint to the day's lessons of tolerance.
Several KFOR soldiers, who serve as an impartial third-response force in order to ensure safety, security and freedom of movement in Kosovo, attended the day's Violence Free Future and Play2Educate events as volunteers and mentors in order to demonstrate the importance of impartial, consistent values in building cooperation and respect within communities.
These events, sponsored by the U.S. Embassy and led by Rotary Club Pristina, promote pro-social behaviors for young men and women in Kosovo regardless of gender or ethnic background. Held in communities throughout Kosovo for students between 14 and 21 years old, the program aims to keep students positively engaged in school and their community.
"Part of the design of the program is to create a 'safe talking place' where teens and young adults can express themselves about negative behaviors they may face in their local environments," said Gena Sturgon, a coordinator for Violence Free Future and member of Rotary Club International.
"All the work put into organizing the programs and workshops for VFF are done on a volunteer basis," Sturgon said.
Volunteers and attendees kicked off the day's workshop with an open forum discussing tolerance and community connections. After the morning discussions, the students, volunteers, and KFOR soldiers came together for a series of Play2Educate sessions-interactive, high-energy events where small groups use communication and patience to solve problems. In doing so, the groups practice and discuss their abilities to overcome barriers to cooperation, such as ethnic or gender intolerance.
"The Play2Educate games are meant to be an alternative learning experience to get the kids interacting and moving," Sturgon said. "The games are meant to simulate certain life situations that deal with stereotypes, gender equality and forms of violence."
"Using sports as a way to teach tolerance to youth is good way to get them engaged and thinking differently," said Sturgon, who grew up playing inline and ice hockey.
The key is to get the students to recognize and discuss the way they felt during each game, and then relate those feelings to everyday situations. For example, students forced to sit out during a group soccer game discussed feeling left out or forgotten, while others who stayed involved described the guilt that came from watching their friends alone on the sidelines. In another game, students and leaders joined hands at random to form a human knot, then worked as a group to untangle themselves.
At the conclusion of the Play2Educate activities, the group leaders and students put the issues presented into perspective and see what they were able to learn from them, Sturgon said.
"Volunteering for this type of workshop in the community gives citizens of Kosovo a chance to see soldiers as people and not just a military force," said North Carolina National Guard Chief Warrant 2 Jason Boyd, a member of the 30th Armored Brigade Combat Team and Multinational Battle Group-East headquarters.
Boyd, who is also a level-two U.S. Army master resilience trainer, said that Play2Educate offers a unique way of teaching tolerance.
"The Diakonie Youth Center was a perfect location for this event, as it brought participants from all areas of Mitrovica," Boyd said. "It was an excellent opportunity to teach tolerance at the local level."
Throughout the event, the soldiers spoke with students and used their impartial perspective to relate the scenarios to situations within the community, said Staff Sgt. Danielle Cotton, an operations noncommissioned officer with the 30th ABCT.
"I was fortunate enough to hear from the youth who participated in Play2Educate as they spoke about their personal lives and their personal experiences and how they were ready for change," she said. "I gained the opportunity to look into the children's eyes as they continually spoke about the Peace Park bridge in the distance."
"I learned that our youth, regardless of what part of the world they are from, just want to live in peace," Cotton said.
Shkumbin Kelmendi, an 18-year-old University of Pristina student and Rotoract Club volunteer who participated in the workshops, said he enjoyed seeing the students interact with the multinational soldiers.
"There was such a positive vibe working with the soldiers and students in the group I was in," Kelmendi said. "We learned that we are all human beings, and at the end of the day, we are all the same."
"We are here working with the students from this area to teach them about tolerance and life," said Staff Sgt. Bradley Grace, another North Carolina National Guard Soldier and squad leader assigned to Alpha Company, 1st Combined Arms Battalion, 252nd Armor Regiment, out of Fayetteville, North Carolina.
Grace said that even though the students may see them as Soldiers, their positive interactions encourage them to work toward a brighter future.
MNBG-E, a U.S.-led element of the multinational KFOR mission, has maintained a regular informal relationship with Pristina's English-speaking Rotary Club through several rotations of forces, in order to build ties with community outreach organizations in Kosovo. MNBG-E's assigned area in Kosovo includes Pristina and Mitrovica, and works through KFOR and Kosovo's institutions to ensure safety, security, and freedom of movement in the region.
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