The winners of the 'Your World' competition

This July the Winners of the 2016- 17 'Your World' competition from Sudan and Colombia were flown to the UK to attend a week long Summer School at Radley College in Oxfordshire.

The students were very excited to arrive at Radley College and were astonished by the mix of cultures (more than 18 different nationalities) at the Summer School. They got to make many friends from different countries during their stay in the UK. All completed a full programme during the week which included theme based skills classes preparing students for university and beyond such as society, technology, global citizenship and social justice which helped them develop important communication/life skills and more! 

The winners were very busy preparing for these classes and they even developed their own presentations for a finale on stage. The Colombian students treated everyone to a self-choreographed salsa rendition, and the Sudanese students carried out a dance against a backdrop of landscape shots of their country.

Overall, they were thrilled to participate in the multitude of activities available, including fun classes such as art, drama, music, sports and British culture.

With full day excursions to Windsor, Oxford and London, the students were given a real taste of life in the UK. Yasmin Moussa, the British Council representative that accompanied the group, said ‘I felt that this trip was an amazing experience for the students as they got to meet students from different backgrounds where they communicated and expressed their feelings in English. In addition, they participated in different projects and activities which were exciting for them. It was clear that the students became more confident by the end of the week.’

Indeed, the company director for Discovery Summer, Jane Merrick, said ‘they integrated so well with all the others’.

The Colombian teacher Luis Florez said ‘This journey will always be a landmark in each of these young adults´ lives. Thank you on behalf of the young students in Colombia who appreciate the British Council´s role of building bridges of culture and knowledge that bring the peoples of the world closer’.

Below are some testimonials from the Sudanese students:

 ‘Thank you British Council for the great vision and support’.
(Mohammed Abdelgadir)

‘It was one the greatest challenges of my life to visit the UK.’
(Roba Ibrahim) 

‘It was as an amazing experience working with everyone and the reward was a great boost’. 
(Zainalabdeen Abdulh)

Watch the video diary of their experience (created by the Colombian students) and below, we interviewed some Sudanese Your World competition winners about the making of their video and their experiences in the UK:

Tell us about the video making experience

Mohamed: 'We got the idea from seeing the kids in the street watching them insideplay inside the school. We immediately got the impression that they wanted to play with us but they couldn’t.'  

Mahmoud: 'We really enjoyed learning how to use cameras and utilizing different techniques in the video making. Cwogo shot some of the scenes.'

Roba: 'The movie was enjoyable but it took us a long time.'

How did you feel when you won this competition?

Roba: 'We were surprised! We honestly didn’t expect to be the global winners. At first we thought it was a competition at a school level only. The prize was very rewarding.' 

Mahmoud: 'My mother woke me up and delivered the good news! We were very excited.'

Tell us about your UK experience

Cwogo: 'I met people from different countries and cultures which was very interesting.'

Roba: 'It exceeded my expectations! I got the chance to try new activities such as Frisbee, it was fun! This taught me to appreciate team work and working together.'

Mohamed: 'The best part was staying in a camp, we had a full programme that consisted of workshops, classes and activities. I acquired a great deal of skills from this journey, like Independence and managing my money.' 

Zain: 'The weather was cold. The food was very diverse and delicious. I have become more organised, especially when it came to packing my things on my own.'

 

 

What was your favourite thing about this trip?

Cwogo: 'Everyone we met was interested to know about Sudan, we got asked a lot of questions about it, I was very happy to tell people about my country.'

Roba: 'Everyone was very friendly and nice to us.'

Any final thoughts?

Zain: 'We would really like to thank the British Council for this life changing opportunity. I feel very lucky that I was part of the winning team, it was great working with everyone and the reward was a great boost.'

Mahmoud: 'I call this an experience of a life time, very thankful and grateful for British Council’s support.'

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