Liz Mantush | staff writer

A visit to Ukraine, a country in the midst of a war, and Iraq, a country recovering from a war, is not everyone’s idea for a quiet summer internship, but for Duquesne senior Penny Lee, it was much more than that.

“I wanted to do something that was gonna be really impactful to my life and show what I could do or witness,” she said.

Lee spent the summer working as a media intern with Spirit of Soccer, a non-profit organization that teaches personal safety through soccer skills.

The training focuses on safety surrounding landmines, sexual violence and counter terrorism and uses soccer terminology to get the message across to kids in a way that they can understand.

The organization was founded by her father, Scotty Lee, in 1996 after he spent time in Bosnia during the Bosnian War. Lee said he had never seen anything like it.

“It was the first time he’d ever seen conflict with his own eyes. He saw displacement of families, youth struggles and community struggles,” she said

Once he got back, he started the Spirit of Soccer to assist those living in conflict and post-conflict areas.

Despite her father being with her the whole time, Lee’s friends worried for her safety.

“A lot of people feared for me. Whenever I was going over, there was a lot of ‘What are you doing?’ ‘Why are you doing that?’ ‘Why are you even considering this?’” she said.

Lee persevered and went through with the internship anyway, and credits her investigative reporting class as a motivator.

“I think part of what our class did was show people the power that journalism can have to tell these stories and even make changes in people’s lives … I think that she took a lot of those lessons to heart,” said Paula Reed Ward, the instructor of the class.

Lee began her journey at Erbil Airport in Iraq where remnants of American military bases still stand, before traveling to the Kurdistan Region in the northern part of the country.

From there, she began to meet and interact with the locals.

“They’re extremely giving. They want you to feel welcome. They want you to have a good time. They want you to have a good time, feel like you’re welcome and a part of their family,” Lee said.

Despite their warm personalities, the Kurdish people have dealt with hardship and suffering over the past three decades. While Iraq is not an active warzone, the shadows of the devastation experienced during the war are still prevalent, Lee said.

The conflicts left remnants of weapons and other dangerous explosives that kids can accidentally encounter.

At the Spirit of Soccer Project, volunteers educate children on these dangers by using a program called Explosive Ordinance Risk Education.

The kids are taught the dangers of mines by using a green, yellow and red card system like the one used for penalties in soccer. Green means safe, yellow means be careful and red means danger.

“It’s helping prevent further devastation from happening,” Lee said.

Lee spent four days in Iraq and travelled to six different places before leaving for Ukraine, the other country on her itinerary.

The same night they were driving into Ukraine, Zelensky attacked Russia.

“That for me, was a fearful moment, it doesn’t necessarily feel real until you’re there and you’re hearing it,” Lee said.

The intensity of a country in active war felt different, compared to Iraq.

Lee spoke to Ukrainians with family members dying on the front lines and people who have lost their homes. She said she felt an unfamiliar energy throughout her time there.

“Walking to Ukraine, and seeing how these people as a nation are coping with the fact that their country has been stripped of a lot of things, it was intense…” she said. “I don’t think I would have had the [expletive] to go into Ukraine if it wasn’t for my family also being with me.”

Lee’s internship coordinator, Michael Dillon was not surprised that she succeeded in the ways she did.

“I think it takes a little bit of chutzpah to go over where they’re fighting a war and do an internship,” he said.

Dillon and Lee both said they felt pride for the work that she did.

“This is real work and that’s something I’m proud to say, even if it was through someone I’m related to,” she said. “I’m happy I did that, because it’s something that I care about, something I generally have passion for.”

Paula Reed Ward is an advisor to the Duke.

Liz Mantush can be reached at mantushl@duq.edu