Jim’s Kosovo Travel Log

By: Jim Stevenson, President, CEO

When I first met Nadine Hennesey in the spring of 2015, I had no idea where Kosovo even was on a map. Now after six trips there I feel like I have found a second home...and a genuine mission.

 That mission is to help get the final phases of their campus funded and to recruit teachers for the school.

 Nadine is the founder and director of the Kosovo Leadership Academy and is a Cedarville University grad, but to stop there would be a profound understatement. Her amazing journey of faith, service and her personal quest to impact this small nation in the Balkans truly inspired me to learn more about how the International Center for Creativity could partner, support and multiply their efforts.

 Despite ambiguous COVID restrictions, I was feeling drawn to return to Kosovo in time for their spring graduation and provide a ministry of encouragement to the staff, teachers and students that I have come to know and love over my six visits and I am so glad that I did.

 It is an easy set of flights of normal circumstances, but having my vaccination card and having to wear a mask for the entire journey seemed like a small price to pay to still be able to travel. Columbus to Newark, Newark to Vienna, Austria (overnight), Vienna to Pristina (Kosovo's capital) and then a short, one-hour drive to Mitrovica, close to the disputed border with their neighbor nation to the north and a working-class town in need of service and support.

 The country is full of contradictions and random surprises, but mostly it is full of warm, welcoming and interesting people. Remnants of the war for independence are everywhere from ruins of buildings damaged by bombings, to political statements in graffiti, to repurposed military bases and active NATO peacekeeping troops and equipment.

 However, this is only a continuously shrinking backdrop to an emerging country of people embracing their hard-fought freedom and carving out new businesses, beautiful homes, schools, shops and restaurants.

 Another contradiction is that the food and service in many locations rival expensive restaurants in the states, with incredibly service, freshest breads and vegetables and very high-quality chicken and beef. But they all come at fast food prices! Wonderful steak dinners with vegetables, potatoes and fresh bread are 12 Euros, or about $14 US.

 And I would be remiss if I didn't mention the macchiatos! You can get a delicious, creamy, perfectly assembled macchiato just about anywhere, and I do mean anywhere.

 My days are spent as a guest in the various classrooms, talking about anything from entrepreneurialism to design thinking and marketing practices. These students are sponges and so many of them are fully aware of the exceptional education that they are receiving.

 This particular trip I had the privilege of speaking to the graduating class of 2021 and conducting a small, inaugural "Shark Tank" idea pitch session, including several hundred Euros of prizes! Their ideas never cease to amaze me and this year the winner is going to get a Zoom session with an apparel store entrepreneur to help guide his idea to a potential start up.

 The time always flies by, even with a few-day extension to my itinerary due to an ever-changing patchwork of travel restrictions. It was blessed time and I am already planning my next visit.