From 21st to 25th October 2025, four students of Class XI – Riturah Sengupta, Divisha Agarwal, Udita Mallick and Dhriti Banerjee – travelled to Sri Lanka to participate in a Youth Camp titled ‘Inseln der Vielfalt’ (Islands of Diversity), organised by the Goethe-Institut. The camp brought together young participants to celebrate diversity, foster intercultural exchange and build connections through shared experiences. There were students from India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka at the camp. The camp was extremely immersive and gave the students a lot of exposure to other cultures and environments. An interactive ice-breaking session was conducted on the first day, where the students introduced themselves through various fun activities. The second day included workshops on youth slang in South Asian and German-speaking countries with discussions about cultural diversity in German-speaking nations in context to food. There were also group discussions and skits presented about stereotypes, prejudices and judging people based on appearances, and how to overcome such thought processes. An immersive cultural night was organised in the evening, where the students presented the cultural heritage of their respective regions. The third day had 2 workshops, discussing cultural trends in Europe and South Asia, and the contrast between them, followed by a fun activity where students identified the diversity in the kinds of families one could have. They then watched a video on morals and how important it was to maintain one’s morality in life. For the last activity that day, students watched a German movie titled ‘Mission Ulja Funk’. The movie revolved around a 12-year old girl, Ulja, with a keen interest in astronomy, who travelled across Eastern Europe to Weißrussland, or Belarus, to watch the impact of an asteroid with her best friend, and a stolen car. The final day started with a trip to the Gampaha Botanical Garden, where they participated in a treasure hunt to find various flowers, ferns and leaves, and learnt about the flora native to Sri Lanka. On returning to the hotel, the students engaged in a fun competition – ”Germatiks”. 6 groups of 6 answered mathematical questions in German, where one small error could lead to elimination. The winning team received prizes. The last workshop was about the cultural diversity in festivals, discussing the similarities and differences in the festivals celebrated by people around the world. At the end, the students were asked to create their ‘ideal festival’ incorporating traditions and practices from existing ones. To end the camp, the Goethe Institute organised a disco party for the students, with the DJ playing songs from all South Asian countries. Overall, the Youth Camp was an exciting and informative experience. The students learnt that while from the outside, South Asia may seem to have a uniform culture, there is actually plenty of diversity within the region. Most importantly, they learnt that this diversity is a strength, and that they must embrace it and engage with people, regardless of the differences between them.
Udita Mallick XI A – Riturah Sengupta XI E
