Student Profile: Fiorella Jaramillo

From Canada to Bosnia to Geneva and many places in between, Fiorella Jaramillo is no stranger to world travel. A current student in the Masters of Peace and Conflict Studies program, Fiorella began her education at the University of Toronto studying Philosophy and Classical Civilization with a plan of entering into a Masters of Philosophy. It was when Fiorella travelled to Bosnia for an interim position that she learned about the MPACS program, and the rest is history!

Fiorella is now finishing up her last semester, and has spent her time in the program seizing every opportunity that comes her way. This past summer Fiorella travelled to Peru doing analysis of social conflict in the area. Throughout her time in the MPACS program Fiorella has truly found her interest in studying international armed conflict, and working directly with NGOs in those areas to understand these conflicts. After finishing her time in Peru, Fiorella was on Canadian soil for one day before flying to Geneva to spend three weeks studying in a course on international law.

This international law course was then followed by a 10-day course in Kosovo on negotiation and conflict. A learning experience that involved ministers, military leaders, and actors in conflict now and during times of war. But ’s time spent there was hardly confined to the classroom, she travelled to Bosnia and Serbia in her free time, wanting to see as much of the world as she could and experience it all through a PACS lens.

She explains “I stayed in a hostel that was a block away from a refugee sanctuary in a park. And between Serbia and Hungary there is 200 metres of no-mans-land, and that space is filled with refugees who have been sent out of Hungary while they were trying to get to central Europe”. Fiorella paints a picture for those hearing her story of what this experience was really like, and what it meant for her,

As the completion of the MPACS program becomes more and more of a reality for Fiorella, she remains excited and passionate about the future, “Through my experience I have become very interested in the Syria refugee crisis, being involved in that kind of work would be great”. Between the experience she has under her belt, her education through the MPACS program, and her desire to travel and learn, it’s safe to say that this will not be the last we hear of the incredible work done by Fiorella.