The children's village for the world

I think we were all nervous, waiting in that gym. The moment was here, we were about to meet the Serbians who had travelled hundreds of miles to have an exchange with us. None of us really knew what to expect, we had our assumptions about how they might be, but still no complete idea on how they would act around us. But once they walked into the gym, we all released our held breath. They were just normal teenagers. They were friendly, cooperative and quite inquisitive. They asked us lots of questions about Basel and our lives as teenagers living in Switzerland. It was very easy to become friends with them and the workshops we did in the week were very fun because of it. Over the week we learnt a lot about teamwork, discrimination and learning how to be ourselves in a group. It didn’t matter that we came from different countries, all of us spoke English and were able to communicate in some way or another. Our exchange wasn’t enclosed to the morning and afternoon workshops, sometimes the teenagers from our group would have to run back to our house because they’d stayed at the Serbian’s house until the curfew and didn’t want the teachers to notice their absence. Luckily they always made it on time, so no one had to do tedious chores. Friday was a sad day, we were saying good-bye to our new friends. A few people from both groups cried. It was all very overwhelming, it felt as though we had only just met them and we were already having to say good-bye. Some of the Serbians walked with us down to the train stop. Once the train arrived more tears were shed as both of the Basel classes got onto the train. Last hugs were exchanged and a few moments after the last Basel pupil had boarded the train, it started to pull away. We all crammed up against the windows so that we could get one last look at our new friends. The train journey was spent looking at photos and exchanging stories of the week. I think everyone enjoyed the week spent in the Pestalozzi Dorf with the Serbians and I only wish we could have stayed longer.

Stephanie Fletcher, 2E