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How can there be peace without people understanding each other, and how can this be if they don’t know each other?

Lester B.Pearson

Early supporter of Pearson College, former Prime Minister of Canada, and Nobel Peace Laureate

The striking feature of the UWC is that they embrace the entire world. They are unique and they are conscious of their responsibilities.

Nelson Mandela

Late Honorary President of UWC, Former President of South Africa

We have realized our dream to create a dream school for you. Please go out and realize your dream and other’s dreams.

Wesley Chiu,

Member of UWC National Committee of China, board member of UWC Changshu China

The sense of idealism and a purposeful life really makes the UWC experience unique and its impact life-long.

Wang Yi

Co-Founder, Vice Chairman of Board and Executive Director of Harvard Centre Shanghai. Pearson 89-91

UWC was one of the ten members of the international schools association that created the International Baccalaureate Organization in Geneva in 1963 … today, they are taken in over 4,000 schools worldwide and have become the gold standard for university entrance.

Sir John Daniel

Chair of UWC International Board and International Council 

I regard it as the foremost task of education to ensure the survival of these qualities: an enterprising curiosity, an undefeatable spirit, tenacity in pursuit, readiness for sensible self-denial and above all, compassion.

Kurt Hahn

German Educator, Founder of United World Colleges

Understanding and Respect

Issue date:2017-12-11

To me, cultural diversity is one of the most interesting values that we share at UWC. I learned that some cultures are very different and some cultures are similar to mine. I also learned that people here at UWC share an understanding and appreciation of this diversity and that we have respect for our different cultures. Understanding and respect - these two words are simple, but so strong. These two magical words made it possible for me to experience cultures which were unfamiliar to me up to now.

I'm Darab Ali from Afghanistan. I'm a second year student. I would like to share with you what it means to me to be a student at UWCCSC.

For me, last year was the most challenging year in my educational background. Last year gave me the chance to learn how to accept and deal with challenges which seemed impossible in the beginning.

At the same time last year was an opportunity to experience cultural and religious diversity.

To me, cultural diversity is one of the most interesting values that we share at UWC. I learned that some cultures are very different and some cultures are similar to mine. I also learned that people here at UWC share an understanding and appreciation of this diversity and that we have respect for our different cultures. Understanding and respect - these two words are simple, but so strong. These two magical words made it possible for me to experience cultures which were unfamiliar to me up to now.

Back in my country, I lived my whole life in a community where people taught me to be as conservative as i could be. I've always been taught to stay within my religious circle and never step outside. Always being in that circle has made me feel trapped and close minded. I never had the opportunity to learn about other communities, cultures and religions outside my community. But coming here, I saw so much diversity and different cultures that I became more and more encouraged and excited to experience and learn about other people and their traditions.

Last year during Christmas I was staying with Wesley who is a UWC China national community board member. Staying with Wesley was the time when I took the biggest step to move towards experiencing a different religion from mine. The time was a perfect opportunity to learn about Christianity and people.

On Christmas day, my host family invited me to join them to see how Christians celebrate Christmas.

I remember that it was quite a struggle for me to join this celebration. I had to think about my society back in my country and what they would say if they knew I went to a Christian celebration. I talked to my family and I was really happy to find that they were very supportive and open minded. They encouraged me to experience and learn new things.

So we went to the Christmas celebration, a Christian mass. My host family is without religion and I am a Muslim – so I suppose we were not the most typical audience in that mass! We entered the mass with the curiosity to learn about a different religion. After the Christmas celebration, I stepped outside the mass with a smile on my face and I was happy. I felt that I had accomplished my task of learning about Christianity and it was less difficult than I had assumed.

After I returned home, I researched about Christianity and their belief. I found that Islam and Christianity are not that different from each other. People just interpret it in different ways. We both worship the same person who we call "Allah" and Christians call "God". Yes, there is a difference between us for example in the way we pray, even though we worship the same God or Allah and we both want help from the same God.  My community has always told me to stay away from other religions and only stay in the circle of my own religion. Maybe this is because my community has not lived with other religions, and they haven’t had the chance to bond with people from other religions.

Our school mission says that "UWC makes education a force to unit people, nations and cultures for peace and sustainable future”. I know that we have heard this statement many times, but at Christmas I felt that I was actually experiencing the meaning these words. I would like to thank Wesley for the opportunity to have this experience. It has taught me that I can bond with people from other religions and that it is so valuable to learn about other religions because that knowledge can help me to put things into a right perspective. I was able to overcome the strong belief of my community that everything which is different is not good.

And I want to thank everyone here for building a community that is so rich in diversity of culture, tradition, religion, language and everything else. We stand hand in hand, to bring peace. YOU, HE, SHE and I are the ones who are keeping this community to be open minded and to help people like myself to have the opportunity of experiencing and appreciating this diversity.

Thank you

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