One World

 

 

See also:  Norway

                   Tvind colleges

Also known as  The Travelling High School, Lillehammer and Den Reisende Hgskole, this 'hotel' high up in the Norwegian Alps, half an hour by bus from the nearest town -  The One World Volunteer Institute  -  is Tvind's isolated northern outpost.   Volunteers from all over the place 'train' here, spending much of their time selling postcards on the streets of Oslo and Stockholm.  This is also the venue for Tvind skiing contests and 'winter Olympics'.

We have lots of reports of people who have had unhappy experiences here.  Many have asked questions about what happened to the money they raised   -   not all were satisfied with the replies

One World Volunteer Institute,
Hornsj, 2636 yer
NORWAY

Headmaster: Gert Magnar Olsen

Owners: Felleseie

 

See:  the stories

Jostein's story      Jostein Alvestad is a Norwegian, now living in the USA, who joined the Teachers Group and became close to the centre of power in Tvind.    'It took me two years to be able to write this.  I haven't been able to deal with all the emotions since I drove off the hill at IICD, Williamstown in the summer of 1998.   I just did not want to talk about it or think about it.....I denied I had been in a cult or had in any form been "brainwashed".  I know better now - after a little time and distance,' he wrote

Joo's story.  'Resisting brainwashing'.   Joao, from Portugal,  joined Humana as a student in Norway and later a volunteer in Zambia.  He describes his experiences (in English)

Kine's story     The story of a 24 year old man from Norway sent to a Tvind school in Denmark

Hanne's story      Hanne Marit Otterbech, 23, of Stavanger, Norway, is another unhappy ex-student.    In 1992, she went to a Norwegian Court after having been with the Tvind school at Hornsjo near Lillehammer, claiming the stay had caused her serious damage to her health.   Some 20 other ex-students backed Hanne Marit in court, testifying that the schools broke down students psychologically.   She lost the case, but because of great doubt the school was ordered to pay all expenses.   This is a very rare ruling in Norwegian courts.                                                           [Source:  Leiv Gunnar Lie]

Jodie's story  IICD Michigan & One World Institute, 2000

 

 

   UFF lost Norwegian government funding as early as 1981.....Norwegian authorities cut its 2 million NKr (200,000) yearly grant to the Travelling High School at Hornsjo near Lillehammer in 1983.... the Norwegian government has banned them from running major courses at their hotel near Lillehammer                                                                                          [Source:  Leiv Gunnar Lie]

    Similar bans [on UFF clothes collection boxes]  are In force In the Norwegian cities of Oslo and Bergen and the Norwegian government has stopped funding the Travelling High School, a branch of the Tvind movement.                                                                        [Source: The Guardian, 1993]

Flere Visne blomster - en kritisk antologi om Tvind   (More Dying Flowers -   A Critical Anthology About Tvind)   by 21 former Tvind teachers (1980, 285pp)  (in Norwegian)

 

Tvind's One World Volunteer Institute should not to be confused with:



OneWorld International   (oneworld.org and oneworld.net), a UK-based environmental and development charity.

Tvind websites have frequently included links to OneWorld International in a way that could suggest a close connection; their Internet addresses are similar.  The genuine One World Partnership has expelled Tvind's 'One World Institute' from its partnership of websites, and asked it to remove the claims.

 

 

The Norwegian Department of Education (KUD) withdrew the Travelling High School's license in 1982-3. Jens Oen of KUD told Danish television there were several reasons why: "The teaching was not good enough and the security - both physically, when travelling, and economic security - was not good enough." In the course of two years, Norwegian embassies had reported 62 incidents of Tvind students travelling abroad, needing some kind of help.                                              [Source:  Leiv Gunnar Lie]