Omar Baiba Mohamed Salem, Grade 12
UWC Red Cross Nordic
‘The purpose of the Red Cross is to protect life and health and ensure respect for the human being. It is guided solely by the individual’s needs. It makes no distinction as to race, religious beliefs, class or political opinion’ -Red Cross Mission Statement-
‘UWC makes education a force to unite people, nations and cultures for peace and sustainable future’ -UWC Mission Statement-
One thing that made my UWC experience different from most UWC students was that I was part of The Foundation Year Program. The foundation year program was a unique experience for me, and very few people get to experience it. During that year, I got to live UWC up to it’s potential. I am glad that I got the chance to be as supportive as much as possible for my coo-years Chaat and Soledad. Our need to raise our English skills really brought us together to corporate and learn. I recall myself translating from Spanish to English and vice versa for my friend Soledad. And trying my best to work with Chaat and help him to improve, this was also done for me as well. Chaat with his memory he was always reminding of some words and verbs that I forget because of my fragile memory. Soledad from her part was also given some new words in Spanish that I had never heard before. It was those kinds of moments that I truly associated with the mission statement of UWC, to make education a “force” to unite people… It was those kinds of moments that have shown me that I was mistaken by not believing the mission itself. During that year, I was so active on and living the UWC values; instead, I was focusing on my English skills, which, at the moment, still need some reparation. In that year, I had a roommate called Raavi Asadar, which I describe as one of my best friends and brothers in UWC. I learned a lot about how to get into different mindsets, and at the end, I have learned from another Second Year at the time that people are quite similar but at the same time are different. These two basic facts were so mind-blowing for me because I couldn’t accept the differences that people have.
Before coming to UWC, I was not well educated about so many things, and I had a lot of misconceptions about the external world. That year gave me a chance to make big changes in my paradigm. Both UWC and the Red Cross helped me to rethink my ideas about the world and grow a tolerance with the differences I have with other people. Though I consider myself as not succeed in my studies for getting into a university of my choice, I still think that this experience was necessary for me to grow as a person.
I am glad that I got to make new friends while also getting exposed to their wide range of culture-wise. As a Saharawi student, I always have the mission to convey the Saharawi struggle against occupation from Morocco. My way of doing it is by being the best person I can be and try to raise awareness about the issue. Here at RCN, whenever I say that I from Western Sahara, like any UWC student -such a UWC moment-, the automatic response is: ‘is that a country?’, or: ‘yeah Sahara, that’s a very warm place’, that’s all. I feel that people still need to know more about Western Sahara and support the right of Saharawis to Self determination. By now, I hope that everyone I have talked to knows about the conflict.
The extracurricular activities I got involved in were really fun. I enjoyed playing football with some patients that are taken care of by the Red Cross, and I was delighted to see them enjoying the game since football is one of my favourite sports. I also enjoyed getting involved in Global Concerns, which are big events to make awareness about some big issues like humanity and the environment.
Taking these things into consideration, and reflecting back in my three years at RCN, I can say that my time in UWC made me a different person. It has changed my life forever. At the end many thanks to those helped me to reach where I am, and my best wishes to every single person of them.
UWC RCN turned my life from the worst to the best. Five years ago I was going to sacrifice all my studies and dedicate the rest of my life to help my dad in the finances of my family. I was working with him making breaks and sell breaks of clay for people to build houses with. One day the national committee phoned me and congratulated me for being selected to do a test on Mathematics and English. I was succeeding in this, which meant opening new doors.
‘UWC makes education a force to unite people, nations and cultures for peace and sustainable future’ -UWC Mission Statement-
One thing that made my UWC experience different from most UWC students was that I was part of The Foundation Year Program. The foundation year program was a unique experience for me, and very few people get to experience it. During that year, I got to live UWC up to it’s potential. I am glad that I got the chance to be as supportive as much as possible for my coo-years Chaat and Soledad. Our need to raise our English skills really brought us together to corporate and learn. I recall myself translating from Spanish to English and vice versa for my friend Soledad. And trying my best to work with Chaat and help him to improve, this was also done for me as well. Chaat with his memory he was always reminding of some words and verbs that I forget because of my fragile memory. Soledad from her part was also given some new words in Spanish that I had never heard before. It was those kinds of moments that I truly associated with the mission statement of UWC, to make education a “force” to unite people… It was those kinds of moments that have shown me that I was mistaken by not believing the mission itself. During that year, I was so active on and living the UWC values; instead, I was focusing on my English skills, which, at the moment, still need some reparation. In that year, I had a roommate called Raavi Asadar, which I describe as one of my best friends and brothers in UWC. I learned a lot about how to get into different mindsets, and at the end, I have learned from another Second Year at the time that people are quite similar but at the same time are different. These two basic facts were so mind-blowing for me because I couldn’t accept the differences that people have.
Before coming to UWC, I was not well educated about so many things, and I had a lot of misconceptions about the external world. That year gave me a chance to make big changes in my paradigm. Both UWC and the Red Cross helped me to rethink my ideas about the world and grow a tolerance with the differences I have with other people. Though I consider myself as not succeed in my studies for getting into a university of my choice, I still think that this experience was necessary for me to grow as a person.
I am glad that I got to make new friends while also getting exposed to their wide range of culture-wise. As a Saharawi student, I always have the mission to convey the Saharawi struggle against occupation from Morocco. My way of doing it is by being the best person I can be and try to raise awareness about the issue. Here at RCN, whenever I say that I from Western Sahara, like any UWC student -such a UWC moment-, the automatic response is: ‘is that a country?’, or: ‘yeah Sahara, that’s a very warm place’, that’s all. I feel that people still need to know more about Western Sahara and support the right of Saharawis to Self determination. By now, I hope that everyone I have talked to knows about the conflict.
The extracurricular activities I got involved in were really fun. I enjoyed playing football with some patients that are taken care of by the Red Cross, and I was delighted to see them enjoying the game since football is one of my favourite sports. I also enjoyed getting involved in Global Concerns, which are big events to make awareness about some big issues like humanity and the environment.
Taking these things into consideration, and reflecting back in my three years at RCN, I can say that my time in UWC made me a different person. It has changed my life forever. At the end many thanks to those helped me to reach where I am, and my best wishes to every single person of them.
UWC RCN turned my life from the worst to the best. Five years ago I was going to sacrifice all my studies and dedicate the rest of my life to help my dad in the finances of my family. I was working with him making breaks and sell breaks of clay for people to build houses with. One day the national committee phoned me and congratulated me for being selected to do a test on Mathematics and English. I was succeeding in this, which meant opening new doors.
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