This article was originally published in the Up with People Swiss Alumni Association Magazine, Inside, in November 2018.
“Jetzt oder nie” with Sira Oesze (18A)
In January 2018, Sira Oesze joined Cast A 2018 to travel the world and to show her dancing talent on stage. Swiss Television (SRF) accompanied Sira on her journey to Mexico, Germany, Denmark, Belgium and Kosovo. The show, «Jetzt oder nie – Lebe deinen Traum», aired in September and you can still watch it online.
Three weeks of holidays abroad, that was the longest time until now that Sira Oesze (19) was away from home. This changed when she joined Cast A 2018 beginning of this year. After graduating from high school and before studying it was the ideal time for the young woman from Kilchberg ZH to start an adventure.
SRF visited Sira regularly on her six-month journey. In the show you see Sira at home before leaving to Denver, in rehearsal on the first days in the US and on stage at dress rehearsal. You can also follow her planting trees in Kosovo or sharing a small room at a host family’s house. Finally the show followed her on the last day with her Cast – tears guaranteed!
We highly recommend to watch the show and hope you see your own journey in it. The show aired in September on SRF1. You can still watch it online. You can find the link on our UWPSAA-Website.
Interview with Sira Oesze
Congratulations on a great job in front of the camera. And thank you for letting us be part of your journey. How was it like to see the show on TV?
Thank you so much. I watched the documentation live at my grandmother’s house since my family doesn’t own a television. It was a cozy evening after a good home-cooked meal and interesting conversation. My first reaction to seeing myself on SRF was astonishment about how I look when I talk, since you never see yourself while talking. More important was seeing my UWP friends, places I’ve been to and people I met during my journey. The pictures triggered many feelings. Being able to enjoy memorable key moments a second time made me both really happy and sad at the same time. I miss being on tour and experiencing new adventures together with people who got really close during the 5 months. While seeing a few short parts of my adventure again, I remembered moments throughout the tour, that I never thought about anymore. It was wonderful to relive experiences, conversations and emotions that accompanied me.
How were the reactions of your family and friends?
My family and friends loved to see what I experienced while traveling the world, since I couldn’t keep in touch with many of them on tour. It was hard to live in the moment and not missing out on anything of this amazing opportunity and talking to all the people at home. Therefore, this was a good way to show everyone around me, what I did and how I felt while being away. A lot of friends were astonished and excited to see it and the review overall was really positive. On Sunday morning, the day after the documentary was broadcasted, it took me an hour to get to the bakery and back, because everyone I met on my way, wanted to talk to me about UWP and my experiences. I was surprised, how many neighbours and acquaintance of mine saw the show on TV. I was especially touched by a few people who saw the documentary and were so inspired by UWP’s mission, that they contacted me about joining UWP themselves. This documentary on SRF was a great opportunity for UWP and me, to show Switzerland what can be accomplished, if young people from all around the world inspire youth to change.
What are you doing now and how did UWP inspire you for what comes?
Currently I’m studying biology at the University of Zurich. Since I was a little girl, my future dream job was working in biological research. UWP inspired and motivated me to follow this dream. But not only in my work life I want to thrive to be a better person every day and this starts with the little things: let’s compliment the people around us, recycle our plastic bottles, stay brave for change and shine our light.
Pictures Copyright: SRF/zVg