Kosovo

Kosovo’s Hope: Stories Of Renewal And Despair In An Independent Nation

In March 2008, our students spent eight days crisscrossing Kosovo and Pristina, meeting people, finding stories and doing lots of journalism. The stories of the people of Kosovo pulled at our hearts and twisted our minds as we tried to comprehend the stress, the tragedy and the heartbreak of the country. What we found were people with friendly smiles, heartwarming souls and welcoming hospitality; they became friends we will have for a lifetime.

We have stories to tell and share and enlighten about Kosovo, a land of contrasts and conflicts. But we also came away with something less visible but more lasting. The lives of our students have forever been changed for the better—by what they saw, by what they accomplished as journalists and by what they felt in their hearts—in Kosovo, our destination.

- BRUCE THORSON, associate professor
  College of Journalism and Mass Communications
  University of Nebraska–Lincoln

South Africa

Displaced: Stories of Struggle in South Africa

In June 2008, a group from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln — two advisers, seven student photographers, two student reporters and one student videographer — traveled to South Africa for 18 days. Their project, which had been in the making for the previous six months, focused on documenting immigration issues in South Africa.

The group arrived in South Africa amidst the aftermath of xenophobic violence that tore through the country in the several weeks leading up to the trip. What these student journalists found were stories of extreme suffering like none of them had ever known or witnessed. This project offers just a glimpse of the countless heartbreaking and inspiring stories the group discovered in South Africa.