I would like to tell you something about my experiences here at the Travelling Folk High School. Life here at Lindersvold is, to say the least, interesting! We have students from many different countries and this inevitably leads to problems from time to time. To say that there is a clash of cultures would be putting it mildly. The first lesson we have to learn is to have tolerance and respect for one another. Behavior which to one person may seem perfectly normal may be totally unacceptable to another. Communication is, therefore, vital if we are to come to understand one another and work together. We spend six months at the school before going to Africa so we simply just have to get long with one another.

The rules of the school are simple. You can’t drink alcohol and you can’t take drugs and these rules apply to our time in Africa also. Obviously daily life is structured but the extent to which you adhere to the structure is up to the individual. We have no paid help at the school. The students do all the cooking, cleaning, gardening and general maintenance.

Our studies take many forms but they can be basically split into two areas - academic studies and experiences. The academic studies, as one might expect, involve learning as much as possible about Africa - history, geography, politics, culture, diseases and the problems encountered in every day life. A foreign language is often necessary too. The opportunities exists to extend ones learning much wider. Our computers contain a wealth of information about many subjects and each person can choose what to study.

The experiences are more difficult to summarize. Every day here is an experience! However, the Lindersvold calendar contains regular events in which we all take part. If I were to list them here you might wonder of what possible use these experiences will be to us in Africa but you would be surprised. I will mention only one and hope that I can convey to you just how much I learned from it.

Every summer the school produces a play which is performed at a theatre competition. We have only two weeks in which to produce the play from start to finish. To begin with I thought the whole venture ridiculous. How could we learn all the lines, rehearse, assemble props and costumes, create scenery and produce something to an acceptable standard in such a short time? I thought it was impossible and the first few days served only to reinforce this view. However, slowly (very slowly at first!) the play began to take shape. An actors day consisted of rehearsals interspersed with private time for memorizing lines.

The stage management team were required to know the script inside out so that no details was overlooked. They spent hours in the phone and traveling around begging and borrowing props and costumes from a variety of sources. Never, in so short time have I experienced so many emotions - frustration, exasperation, disappointment, satisfaction and joy. And how we laughed! People who until that time had merely been fellow students became friends, real friends. We worked day and night and we worked together. When the curtains finally opened we performed to much acclaim.

And what did I learn? I learned that within all of us lie great untapped resources and that with hard work, determination and a sense of humor the impossible can become achievable. In Africa we will, no doubt, be faced with many apparently impossible situations but I now feel better equipped to face them.