Social Service

All United World Colleges share the belief that the experience of offering assistance to those in need is at the heart of their philosophy.
This is even more so at the Adriatic College: located in a small village near the city of Trieste, the United World College of the Adriatic is fully integrated into the local community and serves a larger area at the same time.
Social Service is one of the special things that distinguish the College from most other schools. Its most important aim is to give something of ourselves to others. Each of our teachers and students dedicate one afternoon a week to service. It is through their Community Service that College Students apply their ideals to everyday life; it is a chance for them to show their commitment to “making the world a better place”, and to offer their help to others regardless of differences. For students to make the most of this challenging experience, the College provides them with a wide variety of opportunities. Most of our services deal with people, which means that we are undertaking a big responsibility. None of this is easy, but the rewards are profound!

We have many friends with mental or physical disabilities. We visit them at home or in different institutions where we dance, sing and have fun together. Sometimes they come to visit us at the College and they attend different shows and events. Some services offer everyday assistance to disabled people; for example we help two disabled children with their physiotherapy every afternoon.

The aim of these services is to collect information about the situation of immigrants in the surrounding area and to develop appropriate responses. At the moment students are writing a guide of services and leisure opportunities for immigrant associations and
working as volunteers in the local Red Cross Ambulance service, after having taken a first aid course.

This service gives conflict transformation skills to students and young people from the surrounding community applying peer education techniques. College students facilitate workshops and conflict transformation sessions with Italian and Slovene students from minority communities including “future labs” with Italian and Immigrant students in Monfalcone.

The Amnesty International group aims to help those imprisoned for their political ideas and to raise awareness of the importance of promoting human rights worldwide. We participate in the Amnesty letter writing campaigns and organize conferences and events outside the College.
The project of cooperation with Robidire Refugee Camp in Northern Uganda, was initiated by an UWCAD graduate, Hakim Idris (2000-2002). The project, supported by Regional funds and student fundraising activities, aims to raise revenue for a group of Sudanese refugee women who produce handcrafted articles which are sold both in Italy and in Uganda. In addition, students support 83 children by raising funds to pay their school fees. A new project involving Ugandan secondary school students from the area surrounding the refugee camp will also start in 2006. We hope that soon it will be possible for UWCAD students to go to Robidire Refugee camp for expeditions and volunteer work.