From Foreign Service at sea to RCN

having had the chance to be a part of its formation. My family and I take great pleasure in the swimming pool- which we still often visit – as well as many events at the school.

Driftsleiar Vidar Jensen

Who molded the ‘child’ once the architects had handed it over? Among others Vidar Jensen, who was the Operational Manager at the Haugland Center at the beginning of 1992 and was later given the responsibility for both facilities at Haugland and eventually the specifc task at RCN.

Frå utanriksteneste på sjøen, til RKN – I have never had a boring day at work. But there were days when I wished I did not have to be there, says Jensen with a little smile. In the beginning he bore the responsibility for all twenty buildings and the entire outdoor area of the school, alone. All maintenance, security and safety, fire protection and cleaning were his responsibility. – I have always been fond of the students that I have had to deal with. But at that age they often leave a mess after

The Mentor House for Iceland House - nearly completed.

But there were days when I wished I did not have to be there

themselves. So, we had two hundred messy adolescents and only two people to clear up after them, laughs Jensen.

– This was definitely not routine work. I never knew what I would encounter when I started. It always remained exciting. My idea was to be a kind of invisible caretaker. So, I did not interact much with the students. They would see something had been put back in order and fixed, but never saw who had done it or when. At some point I got the impulse to change this. I was, amongst other things, able to get involved in Project week and brought students up the mountains to fish and spend the night in a cabin.

– Do you too have a history as an outdoorsman?

– Yes indeed, I came straight to Haugland after 15 years working at sea in foreign countries. I got children whom I wanted to see more regularly, and then I heard that the Red Cross was going to create a camp at Haugland. So, I applied for the job as Operational Manager and was lucky to get it.

Secrets Vidar Jensen is well acquainted with the buildings.

– The houses are pretty to look at from the outside, and it is a treat walking around here. But on a technical and practical level, I believe things could have been done differently.

– For example, everything here was ready for the heating of houses using energy from the fjords. But then it was suddenly too expensive, and electricity was used instead. That proved to be less cost-efficient in the long run.

– What is your favorite house in the area?

– It must be the barn; I mean that maintenance house with its workshop and room for cleaners. I had wished for it for a long while. I made drawings and was finally given a workshop and a room for the equipment.

– What did they do before the barn was built?

– Back then there was no storage space, no workshop of our own, and no cleaning central. The cleaning personnel stored their equipment in an old handicap

1. Johnny Lidal has made food for many generation.

2. Mostak Rahman together with friends of the College, Zoya Taylor and Harald Møller during “An Evening With Meaning”, Aker Brygge 2019.

3. My name is - and I chrome from… but now I live in Iceland House.

toilet. My tools were spread all over. It was an impossible situation. But on the bright side, we always find a solution when we are under pressure.

Sure, one often finds solutions. But a more lasting headache was caused by bed bugs. The problem was mainly confined to Finland House. But in that house, it proved to be an especially burdensome situation to overcome. What did Jensen do to fight the pests? – The interior of many rooms was knocked out. The pine alcoves have now been replaced by an arrangement that makes maintenance easier. After many a year with battles, it seems like the school has eradicated that plague.

One of the prettiest places on planet earth So, Jensen had traveled around the world by boat and seen a great deal of this planet. Nonetheless he likes

It would not be wrong to say that Tom Gresvig was more known for his high spirits than his guitar skills. Vidar Jensen receives a medal for long and faithful service.

to call RKN one of the prettiest places on earth.

– I get excited every day when I go out for a walk and look around. The Fjord, the mountains…

– So, you do return now and then?

– I thought that when my kids turned eighteen, I would let go of them. But that is where I was wrong, you see. I feel the same way about RCN. This entire, area which we now may say is 25 years old, is still slowly but surely developing. The parkland especially has a lot of good things going for it. And I enjoy coming here just to see what is happening. The group that set out from the administration building has now reached the very top of the island in the fjord. We now turn back, crossing the island and the bridge over to the boathouse. An old ship stands there like a little room in the landscape by the pier. This is where Thor Heyerdahl stood to give his speech on the opening day of school. The day after there was a big article in the local paper Firda, quoting Heyerdahl: Our civilization is now on the way towards unknown heights. For the first time we talk about a global culture. But if it crumbles, there will be no culture in reserve that can take over, after us. UWC works by the principle that peace is best assured by building bridges between countries, not by building walls between them. If we are to build bridges, we must respect the peculiarity of the individual. But even poetic things like bridges and residential schools for teenagers need something as prosaic as money. And how did one finally gather enough funds to complete RKN towards the very end of the project? With magic?