Lidewij Rouhof - UWC in Mostar
How did you find out about UWC and why did you apply?
One day my dad came home from his work and told me a story about a daughter of one of his colleagues: she went to an United World College. Totally enthusiastic about living two years abroad, all the activities she did and living with so many cultures, I decided to apply.
What are you first impressions of UWC?
If I have to think about UWC, the first things that comes to my mind are the beautiful city where I live in, together with my lovely friends.
Talking about the organization UWC, I can inform you that the organization is very dedicated to inform people about their goals and aims. This with help from a lot of alumni. This gives us a perfect opportunity to live into the UWC community even after my two years in Mostar. The organization of UWC is a community, where you are always welcome.
What do you enjoy most about life at UWC?
Can I say everything?
Drinking Bosnian coffee in the morning with my roommates, follow classes, sitting on the stage and have discussions for hours, spending lunchtime in the park and play little games, watching “dr House” with my best friends, hikes, refugee camp sessions, taking a random bus for a picnic, the Bosnian trains, cultural weeks, Dutch Dinners, random coffees, the mountains of Mostar, the opportunity to travel in the Balkans, the typical old Yugoslavian hairdressers that I pass every morning on my way to school, the dressing up parties, assemblies, our project week in a cabin in the middle of a National Park without water of electricity, secret tea sessions after check in on the balcony, living in a divided city, coffee with teachers, try to bring the Croatian and Bosnian side together, overcome personal challenges, the fact that there is no toilet paper in the toilets (yes after a year and a half you can laugh about this!), but most of all I enjoy being with so many lovely people who open my eyes on issues which I would never have expect.
What has been the most challenging aspect?
My most challenging aspect have been living away from my family for such a long time.
I was quite an independent girl but being here in Mostar I realized that being independent doesn’t make you miss your parents and brothers less. Realizing that my brothers could handle their live perfectly without their big sister was a shock. Letting the control go was the hardest thing I had to learn. Obviously the control at home but also living in a city were nothing is organized, living in a chaotic city. Something really different compared to The Netherlands!
What subjects are you taking?
On HL I have Psychology (which I enjoy so much!), History (with a teacher that really likes to talk a lot) and English. On SL I have math studies, biology and Dutch self-taught.
What CAS activities are you involved in?
The CAS activities at UWCiM are mainly focused on the fact that Bosnia and Herzegovina is a post-war country and still deals with the devastated effects of the war from fifteen years ago. Together with my friend from Finland we are leading refugee camp CAS. The refugee camp lays 45 minutes away from Mostar and every Saturday morning you can find us there. We play with the children, give support to the older people and besides these sessions we organize a lot of activities to fundraise money. With this money we invest in education and medicine for the people from the camp. At the moment we are busy with a clowning project. With a professional clown from Sarajevo we are making a show which we will perform for the children of Mostar, children from the Croatian ánd the Bosnian side. Also some children from the camp will be invited and with the money we raise we are trying to get a passport for Nicolai, a boy from Romania. Nicolai lives in the camp and has a serious illness. Without this passport he isn’t allowed to get any medication.
These Saturday morning are emotionally hard as you hear stories of the war and see the effect the war had on those people. Losing their houses and properties, their families and friends.Furthermore I am involved in World Today which gives presentations, workshops and organize discussions in school about different topics. This topics can go from homosexuality (as this is a difficult topic here in the Balkans), or talking about what Freedom means for you on the National World Freedom day. As my activity I do meditation which is very relaxing for me as life at UWC is very busy.
Also I am involved in astronomy CAS and sometimes I join the Roma camp sessions where we go to their camp. It is difficult and interesting at the same time to see how those people live and exclude themselves from society. The activities we do here is similar to the ones we do in the refugee camp. We maybe don’t make a change on a big scale but every time I enter the refugee camp and Zora walks into me and start me to hug, I know that I can mean something.
What advice would you give to students thinking about applying?
The UWC experience is for everyone a totally different experience and I think it is good to think what the experience can mean for you. What do you want to learn? What do you want to achieve?
Furthermore I would like to give the advise to take everything as it goes. Don’t be stressed about the selection (I know that this is easier to say than actually act like it..), but in the end it will be an advantage. At last I want to say that you have to be yourself, sounds cliché but it is true!
What are your ambitions after you leave UWC?
Something else I learnt here is that my ideas about the future changed a lot. I finally accepted that being an astronaut isn’t possible (as you can see with my subjects..) and that America isn’t the right place for me to study!My plan for the future is to be surrounded with people I love and to be happy with my job. What I want to study? Something with cultures, peace, people, conflicts, concessions, discussions and something that is challenging enough. Happily I still have time to think about this!
