About the project
Humans of UPEACE was modeled after the famous Humans of New York photography project, designed to tell the stories of 10,000 New Yorkers on the street. At UPEACE, we believe our community – composed of current students, Alumni, Faculty, Visiting Professors, staff members, and partners – is our greatest asset and their stories worth sharing with the world. We invite you to dive into these stories and get to know the exceptional #UPEACERS that make the University for Peace a unique and diverse learning community, dedicated to training leaders for peace determined to reshape the world.
The beginning of the project
The project started with Lillie and Patric, students in the 2021-2022 cohort at UPEACE, who had been interviewing the community of students and staff to share their stories on this website.
This is their story:
In the first week at UPEACE, Professor Amr Abdalla described us as the ‘Comeback Class.’ After travel had ground to a halt in the isolating times of the Covid-19 pandemic, it felt like an extremely special privilege to be sitting in a room filled with so many different nationalities and passionate minds from all around the globe. The faces of those who were not able to make it on campus shone out of a large screen at the front of the classroom, a reminder that we have not departed from the virtual world of Zoom quite yet, but instead have entered into a new hybrid one. And so, with bright minds full of inspirational ideas of peace, justice, and sustainability, complemented by appetites hungry to learn, UPEACE had truly come back to life…
Interacting with so many diverse and interesting characters felt like too much of a privilege to keep to ourselves. As such, we dove a little deeper behind the CVs and careers of professors, ambassadors, diplomats, social workers, lawyers, and activists to share with you the humans behind these impressive job titles. Not only did we want to get to know our classmates, but also the professors and staff that make up the UPEACE campus and our local area of Ciudad Colon. Without them, there would be nowhere so green and toucan-filled for ideas of peace to come to fruition.
We asked our interviewees to tell us about journeys that they’ve been on that have shaped them, the reasons that brought them to UPEACE, and what hopes and fears they have for the future. We hope you enjoy opening the doors of the brilliant minds and compassionate hearts of the individuals of UPEACE 2021-2022…
-Lillie Toon & Patric Hansen
the project currently
The Humans of UPEACE project is now continuing under the leadership of the Communications Office at the University for Peace, sharing the voices of the people who make up our institution.
