Vidar Jensen & Arne Ophaug (’95 – ’17)

2018-10-16T09:32:04+01:00June 9th, 2017|

This summer sees the retirement of Arne Ophaug (Head of Services) and Vidar Jensen (Head of Maintenance) at UWC Red Cross Nordic. Both have served the College for 22 years since it was opened back in 1995 – with Vidar in fact working at Haugland for the past 30 years, from the times before the College and the Rehabilitation Centre were opened. Both have made an extraordinary contribution to the development of our College – and, as recognition of their unstinting commitment, we asked them to represent the College at a gala event in September 2016 in the gardens of the Royal Palace in Oslo with a special invitation from our patron, HM Queen Sonja.

In the last College Meeting of this term, the students and staff gave them both a standing ovation as an expression of thanks for all that they have given and on Friday a special barbecue was put on in their honour.

Vidar has kindly offered to be the project manager for the construction of the new baking house, next to the Silent House – and we look forward to welcoming both him and Arne back to the campus in the years to come.

Reidun Bergstrøm (’95 – ’17)

2017-06-07T07:12:36+01:00June 7th, 2017|

I first met Reidun in April 2007 during the art exhibition in the Høegh. Her energy, creative influence and her firm yet gentle handling of the students made an immediate impact. Fast forward to August 2008 . I was a member of Reidun’s advisor team as Finland house mentor. As the Senior House Mentor, Reidun was welcoming, helpful, friendly, organized, and an excellent leader. She was firm and fair in her dealings with everyone.

The house-mentor meetings in her house were conducted in an informal but with business-like efficiency. The interest and welfare of the students were ever paramount in her mind. Yet, at the same time, she never gave in to any unreasonable requests or demands of anyone.

Reidun, you have been making the world a better place throughout your career – the words of wisdom that you conveyed to the young people from around the world, the kindness that you bestowed on them and the frowned face that you put on before them have all gone in to making them into better informed, more compassionate, and highly responsive global citizens.

Of course, you have bigger and better things to focus on from here onwards. Your grandkids are lucky as they get a greater share of your quality time, love, affection, and care.

Even though you’re leaving us, we know you’ll have a great time. Congratulations on your retirement. Your experience, knowledge, dedication, and presence will be sorely missed. Best of luck in your brand-new adventure!

Go well!

Ashok Pratap Singh
Director of Residential Life

Group 4 Project – 2017

2018-10-16T09:32:05+01:00June 7th, 2017|

The topic of the recently held Group 4 Project was ‘A Study of Rocks in and around Haugland & Flekkefjord’.

The programme had three distinct components. Early in the morning students moved in groups to do an actual site survey of the local area to study the rocks and collect samples.

In the second phase, eleven interesting and probing questions were suggested by the students following which students divided themselves into teams comprising physicists, chemists, biologists to join one of the question groups. The idea was to conduct investigations, experiments and find plausible answers to the question assigned to each team. On completion, they had to organize their findings in the form of a presentation.

In the final round, each time displayed their exhibits and made presentations.

The outcome of the day was salutary as it lead to a better awareness of our immediate surroundings, an appreciation of rocks and the science inherent in the formation, properties, weathering, and their many uses in the journey of civilizations.

Presenting the findings

The opportunity to work in mixed teams developed an insight of working in teams to develop a project report. The importance of collaboration, delegation, information gathering, synthesizing, analysing and presenting a report effectively was also learnt in an effective way during the day long activity.

All in all – a great success!

På Flukt – On the Run

2018-10-16T09:32:05+01:00June 4th, 2017|

The Red Cross refugee simulation På Flukt (on the run) has been held on the RCN campus many times over the years, and prompts students to reflect on the extreme challenges that refugees face through implementing a ‘heart-to-heart’ approach – i.e. – the students undergo a series of activities which simulate to a much lesser degree those which might be experienced by a refugee fleeing their country – with the aim to produce empathy and a deeper understanding.

It is understood that a 24-hour simulation, regardless of its intensity, cannot possibly replicate the real experience of running from your country in fear of your lives, encountering obstacles of many kinds throughout the journey to your final destination, only to be told you are not welcome, but through the different stages of the exercise many students passed through moments of hunger, exhaustion, fear, hopelessness, frustration, anger, and uncertainty, and these tiny tastes of discomfort may have prompted reflection on what it is like to be an asylum seeker. In order to enhance this awareness, each student belonged to a family and had time to create a personal and shared history within that grouping before the simulation began, in order to gain a deeper insight into some of the real reasons why a person might be forced to flee their home.

We wanted to focus this year on enabling the students to have a deeper level of political, cultural and emotional knowledge on the topic before they began the simulation, to enable them to create deeper reflections during the activity itself. Pre-simulation workshops helped to initiate thinking about some of the challenges of losing people and material possessions that are important to us in the desperate search for safety and the possibility of a future. Red Cross Youth Instructors assumed numerous roles in the role play, while RCN staff became guides for the duration. Once the role play was over, the Red Cross leader, Maren Helland carried out a debrief with the students to encourage them to connect their experiences with some real life stories.

Over the course of the next few days there were further opportunities to listen, reflect, and express feelings and thoughts about the På Flukt experience, including a thoughtful programme put together by those students exempted from På Flukt. In addition, we welcomed 4 guests who are currently living at Førde Mottak, a reception centre for asylum seekers who are awaiting responses to their applications for permission to stay in Norway. Our visitors shared the story of their difficult journey from Syria to Norway, then responded to many questions from the audience. We were very grateful to have been offered real-life stories to counter impressions too often portrayed by the media. The powerful narrative gave us much to think about, not only in relation to the recent På Flukt experience, but also our ongoing commitment to engaging with mottak residents as part of our programme. When asked what we could do to help, the main speaker replied, “You can visit us more.”

A great deal of feedback from all participants has been collected and will be considered in order to improve the way that we focus on this significant topic for next year’ students. The active participation of both the students involved and the students who helped to create the evaluation material should be commended, as should the excellent commitment offered from a strong team of RCN staff.

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