Inspiration – Youth Exchange

INSPIRATION

Youth Exchange

Youth Exchange has been one of Rotary’s most successful and popular programs and is stronger today than at any time in its history. But the Youth Exchange journey should be told through the words of each individual participant. It begins with the exciting news that a young person has been accepted into the program and matched with a host family in another country. Letters are exchanged and the culture and language studied. Then, the day arrives when the youth bids farewell to his or her parents and hours later greets a host at an airport halfway around the world.

The cultural adjustments are often difficult, but there is always the host Rotary club to guide them as their “adopted” guest. By the time the visit is over, tears often mark their departure, for this teenager has genuinely become a part of the host family.

It is impossible to calculate the contribution to world peace and understanding that these leaders of tomorrow will make by being exposed to another culture at such an important stage in their development. “Thanks to Rotary, my heart has grown older and bigger every day,” admitted Lilia Hernandez from Via Hermosa, Mexico, after her exchange visit to Ontario, Canada. “My experiences have touched the lives of all I have come to know and call my friends,” said Christian Otto, a German exchange student who lived with a U.S. host family. “Now multiply that by thousands of exchanges all over the planet, and you will realize that through Rotary, this world is coming together – one friendship, one exchange at a time.”

Rotary has organized Youth Exchange visits since 1927, when the Rotary Club of Copenhagen, Denmark, arranged to host several American boys. A year later, the program grew to 61 youth Exchanges. In 1927, the Rotary Club of Nice, France, initiated Youth Exchanges with other European clubs. And in 1928, some 300 American boys spent five weeks visiting families in Scandinavia as “youthful Pilgrims of World Peace.” Today, Rotary annually places about 7,000 students ages 15 to 19 with Rotarian families in another country for periods ranging from a few weeks to a year. This has been an excellent starting point for teaching them crosscultural sensitivity at an age when they are just becoming truly aware of the world beyond their home communities.

It is easy to see why Rotary has made such a commitment to youth for most of its first 100 years. It reaches out to care for children who are sick, disabled, hungry, or forgotten. It provides encouragement through mentoring and scholarships to tens of thousands of teenagers and young adults. And it walks hand in hand along the pathway of service with youth in Interact and Youth Exchange and young adults in Rotaract. Rotarians have lived out their slogan of more than 50 years: Every Rotarian a Example to Youth. They have demonstrated that the best investment of their time and resources is in the generation that will lead the world tomorrow.

Source: Forward, David S. A Century of Service. Copyright 2003, Rotary International. Page 176.