Hello, everyone. My name is Javeria Kella. I'm a junior double major in International Relations and Geography. And today I'll be presenting "Beyond Textbook Theories: Peacebuilding in Post-Conflict Liberia." So just pre-internship questions for me going into this internship was first deciding whether I wanted to do an internship, sort of research think tank in the US or an international somewhere abroad in an NGO setting. 

I decided NGO setting could help [INAUDIBLE] internationally. McCulloch Center for Global Initiatives helped me in finding the internship. We had a Skype interview, and these are [INAUDIBLE]. 

So where exactly I work, I work at Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa in Monrovia, Liberia. This foundation was founded in 2011 by Nobel Peace Laureate Leyhmah Gbowee. So just a little bit about the project, Liberia went through a civil war 15 years ago. So it was women, and Leymah Gbowee was sort of the head of those women who brought peace about in the country. They did not stop there, and Leymah Gbowee went ahead and found this foundation. 

And the two things they focus on is education and community development. So first, they provide a lot of scholarships to domestic students, to high school and university level, to study in Libera, but also internationally. And they do a lot of community development to maintain and sustain the momentum of peace that these women built in the first place. 

So what did my average day look like? I woke up any time between 6:00 AM to 9:00 AM. I lived like five steps next door, so there was no commuting. People would come in and out of the house. It was a very casual community, family-oriented internship for me. This was my everyday view, the beach, the palm trees. So after 6:00 PM, when everything was done, this was what I would look and reflect on life. 

[LAUGHTER] 

At the [INAUDIBLE], there were these two things that I did-- office work and field work. Office work is usual mundane stuff, grant proposals, writing sort of stuff. But my favorite was field work. I was there exactly 60 days, and around 30 to 35 days, I was in the field, which is what I wanted out of the internship. 

So some of the things that we did was a lot of children retreats. So high school students, university students, we would bring them together and have a retreat. Field survey was like social work, where we'd go out in the field, talk to students around scholarship. Are you OK with what kind of education you are getting? How can the foundation help you more? So just that sort of work. 

But some of my favorite parts were this camp, Peace through Fair Play. Again, talking about Liberian civil war, this camp brought children from two different counties, who historically have presumed animosity, and sort of started the process of reconciliation from the very beginning. And sort of understanding that reconciliation is not just, as [INAUDIBLE] was saying, a top-down model. It's not what just the UN is. It starts from the bottom, and this what this camp did. 

These are all the volunteers and interns who helped with the camp. This is OAU, a monument. So you can see three countries who signed it in Liberia-- Guinea, Liberia, and Ghana. 

Another [INAUDIBLE] in this camp was, every day, towards the end, we would meet Leyhmah Gbowee, sort of have our moment, where we would discuss things we learned, things we didn't like, things we would change, and sort of reflecting on an everyday basis. But also interacting with a person who's worked so-- she is a peace activist, and she's worked in the field so often, so just to have that exposure for me at this level was amazing. 

Another was Her Story. Again, so after the civil war, these women were the ones who brought peace, and this was a reunion of like 20. Obviously, the ones who worked were hundreds and hundreds of them. But all of them came together and talked about the sisterhood that they had during the [INAUDIBLE]. 

So often in [INAUDIBLE], we talk about the sisterhood of building each other up. For me, to see that on a whole, grand, larger scale was absolutely amazing. And to see the things I aspire to, and the people and the friendship and the family and community I want in the future, sort of this is what represented it to me. 

I've met a lot of cool people. I met vice president of Liberia Joseph Boakai. He's also running for president right now. Elections just happened, and he will be in the second election for president. We will see. I saw the chief justice. 

This is one of the personalities I personally loved in meeting, was prominent human rights lawyer, Tiawan Saye Gongloe. He first shared personal anecdotes of [INAUDIBLE] Charles Taylor, who was a warlord during the war time, was being arrested, and how the whole thing turned out to be. So again, I want to be in human rights, or did, and interacting with someone who's done that and been in the field was amazing. 

Takeaways, personal and professional, independent living. Living in a different country, you have no connections. You don't know people, culture, language, just an idea. That was amazing. I learned cooking skills. This is something I made, [INAUDIBLE], rice and lentils [INAUDIBLE] Liberian [? apples. ?] It is absolutely amazing, if you ever go. 

But language, too, other than their standard English, they had [INAUDIBLE], their regular language. And learning inappropriate words and using them here and there, just sort of finding community through language was amazing. For me, cultural differences, but more than that, similarities. I'm from Pakistan, so just seeing how Pakistan is and how Liberia is. 

They have a game they call [INAUDIBLE], we call [INAUDIBLE]. And going back and forth, bickering with other volunteers and interns, like, my version is right, just those sort of things was really something that I gained out of it. Professionally, NGO setting was something I knew I wanted, to work in NGO in the future. So that's what I got out of it. 

An open perspective, again, going back to what [INAUDIBLE] initially mentioned, VCU development is a top-down model. But here, I saw that the peacekeeping, peacebuilding is not possible without an open perspective, without local women. UN, US can come in for all they want. But it is not possible unless you bring in these women, unless you bring in the local people in the conversation and make that happen. 

On networking, I know I can always go back to Liberia, and I will have a home, if not a lot of homes, there. There are people I still talk to. There are interns, and there are professionals, and there are mentors who are out there for me. 

Lastly, it just solidified my future aspirations. I realized I want to connect traveling in a specific region in peace conflict and women in the NGO setting. So I know the major components of it. I don't know how it will turn out, but this internship definitely helped. 

[CHEERING] 

One or two questions. 

I'm curious if you could talk a little bit about the process of return, and how you integrate a lot of what you experienced with being back here, and you have a year and a half [INAUDIBLE]. 

As a [INAUDIBLE] the process of return was probably the hardest. This was the easy part of it, just like meeting new people and doing all of that. It was almost like, for me, being a first year all over again. Like, coming from Pakistan, I was always like, why do people complain about personal problems here? And coming here from Liberia, I literally felt that all over again. 

So I think one thing I did, obviously, was talk to a lot of people. I talked to Kirk Lange, who helped me find the internship. I talked to you. I talked to [INAUDIBLE]. I went to a counselor, and I talked to every possible person I could. And I think literally every single person who I was talking [INAUDIBLE] was like, take your time in transition. 

It's almost like a curve, where you feel like you don't want to be here. And I did for two, three weeks, I really didn't want to be in this place. But I feel like just taking the time and space and like, OK, I went through this change, and constantly reflecting. Not [INAUDIBLE] your experience, but also sort of giving yourself some time and space to coming back in [INAUDIBLE]. 

What were some of the things that were [INAUDIBLE] in [INAUDIBLE] camp? 

So when I was [INAUDIBLE] about these techniques on reconciliation. How do you start that process? These are big words, but seeing that in play. So these kids from one county to another county, they were paired up together in the same group. You look back, and they were talking [INAUDIBLE]. Or when they had teams, they were mixed together. Other times, the process of reconciliation was that all these girls came together and started like, OK, what do you see yourself as, who you are? And then building the idea of identity from a very young age, and having that as normal, and not something like us versus them. It was all together. 

One short question. [INAUDIBLE] 

You mentioned during your presentation, at that point you did want to become a human rights lawyer? How did [INAUDIBLE] involved in the course of your [INAUDIBLE]? 

A part of me still really wants to be a human rights lawyer. But over the years, the two years here, I've realized that it is a very bureaucratic position to be in, and I don't want to go into that position without having the local perspective, being in the field for as long as I want. And I've talked to people from UNICEF and stuff. And they're like, as [INAUDIBLE] you're young, be in the field as much as possible. You can always get the bureaucratic job up there when you're old and wise. 

[LAUGHTER] 

But right now, you need to be in the field. I think I do want to be a human rights lawyer, but maybe just not right now. 

[CHEERING]