When Enemies Make Peace

The EFRJ invited two young activists to its 2024 conference in Tallinn, Adelina Tërshani and Elina Khachatryan, to be a part of a plenary discussion together with other young people engaged in peace-building initiatives. Adelina is from Kosovo and Elina is from Armenia, two countries affected by war. They both represented Rondine Cittadella della Pace, an Italian organisation, which involves university students from opposite sides of conflict-zones to live and study together in a two-year programme. As we, at the Secretariat, got to know more and more about Rondine during the preparations for the conference, met virtually the coordinator of the their World House programme, Valentina Pierucci, and finally listened to the powerful testimonies of Adelina and Elina in Tallinn, we grew more and more intrigued by the work of the organisation. When the opportunity of paying a visit to Rondine emerged, we were all enthusiastic. On a cloudy October day, the EFRJ staff alongside a couple of Board members were delighted to be hosted and guided through the scenic dwelling of Rondine by Adelina, Elina, Valentina and other members of this peace-building community.

This article presents Rondine based on what we learned from them before and during the conference, as well as through meeting them at the home of their initiative.

In her opening remarks at the conference in Tallinn, Elina explained her traumatic experience of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and especially of the war in 2020, in which her brother was enlisted in the army causing their family incessant anxiety about what may happen to him. She recalled how she felt alone with her wonders about the experiences of the people on the other side of the conflict and whether they also suffered from what was going on. According to her, ‘it takes a lot of courage to turn off the phone, the television, to distance oneself from the news and from hatred.’ She remarked that she had a million questions. These stayed with her, even after the 44 days long war ended, until she met someone from the other side of the conflict for the first time. This happened in Rondine, after her enrolment into the programme. In the moment of meeting her fellow student from Azerbaijan, she said she forgot all her questions, because ‘he was just a person,’ and she realised they were ‘on the same page, […] gone through hell together’. Her story is one of several others’ who came to Rondine to encounter, share time and space with someone representing the other side of a violent conflict between their communities.

On the day of our team’s visit, we arrived in Rondine with a delay due to complications with the car rental process. We knew the locals were waiting for us with lunch and that they had tried to make sure we had as many experiences as possible fitting in the tight schedule available for our visit. So time was precious. When we finally arrived and parked our cars outside the village, we saw their reception delegation a couple of hundred meters from us waiting patiently for our arrival. They greeted us with smiles. It was heart-warming to be welcomed by Adelina and Elina as friends from Tallinn, to meet Valentina in person, and other members of the community who hosted us on the tour. Adelina and Elina took the lead in showing us around.

The visit allowed us to both get a feel for the practical aspects of everyday life there and to hear about the principles behind the Rondine method. The houses of an originally medieval hamlet in Tuscany make up Rondine today. Similar to other small settlements in the region, its population left gradually in the decades that followed the Second World War. The association was set up in the deserted hamlet later, and it adopted its original name, which means swallow in Italian, completing it with ‘citadella della pace,’ which means ‘town of peace’ or ‘citadel of peace.’ Its yellow stone and brick houses host the infrastructure of the organisation, the housing of the students, community spaces, the dining hall, the offices. The distinct location gives a retreat-style character to the place. Yet, as the name World House implies, it is an open and inclusive environment, and participants regularly commute to the campuses of the neighbouring cities (Siena, Florence), where they are enrolled thanks to the opportunity that Rondine creates for them.

During our tour we stopped at a terrace, and looked down into the valley of the Arno river at the foot of the village. Elina explained about her first experience of spending time with her ‘enemy.’ Curiously, both the students and also the coordinators consistently kept referring to the fellow students representing the opposite side of their conflicts as ‘enemies,’ even when they expressed affection, respect, or referred to the recognition of their shared humanity. Even the official website of Rondine uses the term: World House of Rondine. The application of this word in such a way expresses the difficult complexity of realities they are part of. Even if they develop a respectful and peaceful relation during their years in Rondine, the reality of their original context is animosity, which keeps assigning them the role of being each other’s adversaries. Until the conflict or its memory is alive, special efforts are necessary to leave this role and to overwrite the relation it confers on them. If they grow friendship that is despite their background, and not thanks to it.

It also occurred to me that their gentle and playful use of the term, often mentioned in a possessive form, like ‘my enemy,’ turns the concept into a more relatable association between humans, something that can be addressed, accepted and dealt with in the realm of non-violent normality.

As Valentina explained, sometimes, students arrive in Rondine having never met their enemies before, similar to the experience of Elina. They can be afraid, and perhaps have prejudice about their fellow students. They may find it difficult to talk at the start. But through attending Rondine’s training programme, and through the cohabitation they can find out that the other person who is considered as their enemy, and who could mean a danger for them or at least cause them difficulties in other circumstances, may be actually similar to them.

Rondine’s World House programme and the association was born in the aftermath of a specific war, the first war between Russia and Chechnya (1994–1996). After being involved in several peace initiatives, Rondine’s founder Franco Vaccari was part of a delegation that aimed to achieve a ceasefire during the war. This experience and their acquaintance led the rector of the University of Grozny (in Chechnya) to contact Vaccari again after the war. The rector asked him support two young Chechen students in continuing their studies in Italy, as their own university and town was in ruins. The invitation started Rondine’s path. Vaccari responded positively to the request on the condition that the students could come if they accept to live together with counterparts, other fellow students from Russia. Since then Rondine has run its programme for international students coming from conflict zones.

Photo: flags in Rondine representing the communities of the participating students. 

Students enrol on Rondine’s intense, two years long, programme which has four key pillars. One of these is daily life, which refers to the experience of sharing the physical space over an extended period of time, working together on household chores, attending training together and being in each other’s company even during free time activities.

On another stop of our visit we paused at the laundry room of the community, and Adelina shared the story of the washing machine from the early years of the programme. Some students back then who otherwise embraced the principles of the programme, allegedly refused to wash their underwear in the same (the only) washing machine that was provided for them, and demanded a second machine. Vaccari refused to fulfil their request and told them that it is an important element of the programme to be on board with sharing even the use of the washing machine. This led some of the concerned students to leave. Yet, the principle remained the same, and many other participants overcame this and other challenges the cohabitation confronts them with.

A second pillar of the programme is the training organised in Rondine, which contributes to creating a reflective awareness of the programme’s principles, and develops skills supporting participants’ emotional intelligence, ability to work with conflicts and communication and leadership competencies.

Viewing conflicts in a new light, and working with conflicts on different levels are crucial in the eyes of Rondine’s coordinators. They stimulate students to address inner conflicts of a person, interpersonal conflicts, and only after these focus on international conflicts. They never suggest conflicts need to be solved, because that would imply conflicts are negative. Conflict is a neutral word in their eyes. One can always find conflicts in their life, in themselves, with their partner, with the people they live with. If one starts to manage these kinds of conflicts, then s/he may become ready to deal with larger conflicts.

Participants’ civic engagement is the third pillar of the programme. Rondine asks its students to share their experiences through testimonies, talking to the press and training other trainers. They become ambassadors of the association, and its mission, peace. This is how Adelina and Elina came to Tallinn on behalf of Rondine.

In the second year of the programme participants design a social impact project that they can implement when they leave Rondine. The most favourable is if they can do it in their country of origin; yet this is not always possible. In any case they should bring something back to the community where they come from and adapt the Rondine method to their community. Former students also have their independent association, the Rondine Autonomous Peace Lab, through which they can engage in collaborative projects together, such as advocacy campaigns for example.

Rondine’s team most importantly does not regard their enrolled participants primarily as people seeking protection and asylum, rather as visitors in the programme who will hopefully later become leaders.

Finally, the programme’s fourth pillar is participants’ engagement in formal education. Students choose a Masters programme matching their engagement at Rondine offered by one of the universities in the area. This is considered a key element that supports their future path in working for social change.

In addition to its core activity, Rondine also offers another programme for Italian secondary school students to complete the fourth year of their studies (Quarto Anno) in Rondine’s school and to learn alongside the international community of the World House programme. In the last part of our visit we entered into the recently renovated school building and joined a shared workshop of the secondary schools students and the participants of the World House programme. We were spontaneously asked to present ourselves and the mission of the European Forum for Restorative Justice. Without much preparation, the meeting quickly turned into a vivid exchange about restorative justice, its potential and challenges, as well as how it relates to the values and principles that Rondine stands for.

The above shows that there are several important similarities between restorative justice and the principles that guide Rondine’s work. From the transformative approach to conflicts that aims to build on their potential instead of suppressing them, through the idea of stimulating ownership, initiative-taking and responsibility-taking, to the idea of connecting people involved in different sides of a conflict and enabling them to engage in dialogue with each other, there are many elements in it that restorative justice professionals will also identify with.

Yet, there are a couple of significant differences as well.

First of all, Rondine does not work with offenders, or people directly responsible for harm. Participants are victims of the wars and conflicts affecting their communities.

Secondly, as an educational initiative, in contrast with restorative justice, it is not-oriented towards a specific meeting, and participants are typically not focusing on one specific incident that was caused by them; rather it invites participants affected by conflict to spend time together and discover each other’s humanities.

Finally, while restorative justice is often a confidential process and participants often do not share publicly their experiences (and they are not required to), in Rondine participants are stimulated to engage in public activities using their personal experiences in the programme to advocate for peace.

Photo: Meeting between the EFRJ delegation and students at Rondine

Our visit to Rondine left us with strong memories that we returned to from time-to-time. It is a space where abstract ideals of dialogue and peace gain an exciting and very tangible form. Rondine’s unique approach to peace-building through education and cohabitation of affected people offers a clear and powerful model for addressing the sharp divisions that exist in conflict-affected societies. By bringing together young people from opposite sides of conflicts, Rondine creates an environment where former ‘enemies’ can encounter each other as humans, the pains they share, and work on establishing a common path that brings them forward, towards peace. The power of the World House programme lies not only in its ability to transform the attitudes of individual participants but also in its potential to generate ripple effects in the communities its ambassadors go to.

Bálint Juhász is the Training and Communication Officer at the European Forum for Restorative Justice. 
Contact: balint.juhasz@euforumrj.org

Published on 31st December 2024.