The 19th World Festival of Youth and Students held in Sochi, Russia in 2017 was a unique experience for Ms. Pamela Karungi from Uganda
Read how she describes her feelings and impressions of Russia.
It was around the beginning of the year 2016, when a friend rumored to me about the possibility of a youth gathering in Russia and so I anxiously waited for the official call on applications. In April, I stabled onto an advert on applications to the 19th world festival for youth and students that was to happen in October on social media face book to be particular.
It took me about one week and a half to finally submit in my application since they were many applicants and I had to meet the exact standards of the competition. I longingly desired to get the opportunity to firstly be part of the largest youth gathering in the world, secondly to visit Russia which I had longed for since childhood but also to finally set foot into an aero plane!
The anxiety that set in after the submission is indescribable especially after learning that we were more than one hundred applicants in Uganda alone and over two thousand worldwide. For the next weeks I consistently checked my email (it had never been visited as much). Finally, the long awaited email came, there is no better written word like Congratulations but to summarize it all, the excitement that sprang within me is one that was observed by everyone especially knowing that out of the a hundred, I was among the twenty-nine delegates selected fr om Uganda.
I will not get to the detail of my travel, it’s another booklet of mixed emotions fr om the excitement of “welcome aboard” (only had I seen this in movies) to the language barrier and meeting a few issues at the different international airports. Anyway, having arrived at the crack of dawn, I was quite frightened that I might find myself lost in another region but the organizers of the WYFS (World Festival for Youth and Students) were no jest! There were guides or as we called them, volunteers at every point which made me feel less tensed up. With smiles and placards written on welcome I was guided and transported to my place of residence, the great ruskidom! As we were being driven away obviously my eyes wondered about into the strangely neat, bedecked and empty streets of Sochi which made me wonder where everyone else was.
I would like to think I was among the first ten participants to arrive which would explain the overwhelming attention from the bus stop to the place of stay. It was on this day that I learned that Russians are friendly unlike the stereotypical illusion that they are aloof. It’s true that they will not just stop and engage you in conversation as noted at the airport like most of our societies in Uganda, but they are very loving and generous at least from my experience that day.
I never met my attaché (Russian in charge of the Ugandan delegation) for two days but I found my way around out of the kindness of all the volunteers specifically one whose name is Svet She never left me even for a minute, guided me to the accreditation point, helped me in registration, media center, stadium and to the different conference centers, she shared with me her personal snacks, introduced me to pick her friends that by the time of the official opening ceremony, I looked like a Sochi inhabitant. In the evening, I was acquainted with the black sea and its captivating sunset, immaculate shores and serene surrounding all of which build up a sense of calm in ones’ mind. It became my go to space until the last day of the festival.
I was unable to attend the opening ceremony since a limited number was meant to represent but from what I heard, it must have been astounding especially the mysterious presence of President Vladmir Putin and all the performances. It was now time to engage with the world!
The following morning me and my fellow countrymen were gathered by our attaches who ushered us to our breakfast point. I am tempted to cut down this whole experience but to save your eyes, it was a whole banquette of delicacies. After which we would be led to the buses that would head us to media center wh ere different activities wh ere on going. These buses decorated every part of Sochi with the famous slogan “Together with the Whole World” one of my colleagues once joked that these were robotic made specially for the festival.
Outside the conference rooms were different exhibition points not forgetting the exceptional songs, dances and dress code presentation by the different regions. So I started by exploring around and I must say I was fascinated by the entire set up as if the whole of Russia was teleported in one place and effortlessly put together for all to see. My first sojourn was at the robotics center, I made a robotic friend who was “gifted” at speaking different languages we had a chat for about one minute, he even requested for selfie, pretty cool!
Devastated as I was for having not been able to get a slot in the regional program especially in St. Petersburg and the great museum with its rich historical artifacts since it had always been a dream, I was able to visit it through the virtual technology! Even though I had read about this great hermitage, I further more appreciated the detailed version of its evolution from 1764 by Empress Catherine up to date. I also got to visit other regions and their distinct values although I fell in love with Kazan which is extremely religious and has a unique sense of togetherness and Novosibirsk city of Serberia whose inhabitants can only be confused as Jabanese or Chinese, trust me I was amused.
Being a student of Gender, I was delighted that there was one of these lectures with passionate facilitators and so, it was the first program I attended. Interestingly, I was acquainted with their line of argument although with different story experiences. I much loved the heated conversations that always followed due to the dissimilarities in opinions especially about LGBTIs.
For the next discussion, I was thrilled to see the panelist Mr.Sergey Lavrov the Minister for Foreign Affairs who I had earlier learned about his reputation on the transformation of the Russian Foreign policy. He gave us an insight on Russian relations across the globe
Although my skill must have rusted off by now, am very grateful for having participated in the art exhibition, learning from scratch was a beautiful experience. My most electrifying time was at the Sochi park, it was the real definition of adventure while entering, one would be welcomed with wild screams of scare and the joyous chanting of us who were excited to face our fears backed by artifacts good enough for our pictures.
Beyond having interacted with youths from other countries and noticing our differences in cultures, Russian culture is oddly different from my culture, the way they dance (which is almost at any opportune time given), their language which is a national heritage and pride for all. Whenever I said anything in the few Russian words I had crammed, I would feel their hearts literally warming up to me. Also from an observant point of view, I noticed that most Russians beyond being fond of beer, they are readers and are mostly aware of whatever is going on.
Then the local food is not even closely related to anything I have eaten at home.I remember being introduced to Borscht a typically local soup reciped with vegetables and meat by a very kind restauranteur in Sochi town who after knowing that we were visitors and wanted to try out Russian food made it specifically for us! Also, I was especially intrigued at how bread seemed to be a sort of stable food from breakfast, snack, lunch and dinner. Bread was literally accompanied with any meal while in Uganda, bread can only be seen at breakfast.
Russians remind me of a Ugandan tribe called the Bakiga from the tone in Language and general way of expression. The Bakiga are renown to be both rude and what others call blunt but is actually honesty. The few Russians that I interacted with like the bakiga came out as brutally honest. I remember this one evening when our attaché made an appointment to meet all of us for a communication at 9pm sharp but as is common among Ugandans, most of us came in a few minutes late. She was displeased and it didn’t matter whether we were guests, she expressed her disappointment which is quite a rare gesture because she had never met most of team.
My experience at the world youth festival goes beyond what is written and I could go on about the astoundingly cool closing ceremony which emphasized togetherness, to the mountain climbing, endless trips to the black sea and the undoubtedly beautifully lit orthodox cathedral opposite the park.
