(Photos of exchange students who have been in Weyburn in recent years include, in order, Liza Biard of France; Giovanna Palhares of Brazil; Hugo Levillayer of France; Vivian Huang of Taiwan; and Kat Weinhold of Sweden)
The international youth exchange program has been a key feature for Rotary Clubs, including the Weyburn Rotary Club, which has been heavily involved up until the COVID-19 pandemic forced a pause in the program since a year ago.
Weyburn Rotary members Doug Loden and Bob King were part of a North American Youth Exchange conference held via Zoom, with representatives from Rotary clubs in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, and from other countries around the world.
“One of the main speakers said one of the best parts of Rotary is the youth exchange program, because for many of the students it’s a life-changing experience,” said Loden, who has served as a counsellor for many past exchange students to Weyburn.
He shared the story of one student who was in on the Zoom call, a former exchange student from a small town near Edmonton who went on an exchange to Denmark.
“She learned three languages and visited 30 countries, and is now on a Rotary scholarship in Dublin at a grad school studying conflict and conflict resolution, so they’re funding her studies there,” said Loden.
“She loved her host families. Returning home was the hardest part of that experience, but after returning home she went back to Paris and attended the American university in Paris. At first, she didn’t know any French, but she learned French, and decided that language is power. If you speak the language, you can talk to people and experience so much better,” he said, noting one particular conflict she has been studying is the conflict in Myanmar (formerly Burma).
“She was in an extremely challenging situation in Burma, and is now researching the situation there. She spoke of the youth exchange as being life-transforming, as it took that country girl from a very small community and is now living and working in different languages around the world,” he said. “It seems her life goal is working on researching conflicts and bringing peace. An amazing and inspiring story.”
King noted this North American conference is normally held once a year with around 500 people attending, with international representatives telling club reps why their country would be good one for an exchange student. This year’s conference was supposed to be held in Washington, D.C., but the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted that as it has the exchange program itself.
With the Zoom meeting, club representatives were able to drop into chat rooms with the international representatives, and ask questions relating to student exchanges.
“It’s a place where people from our district making contact with other countries,” said King. “We learned that Rotary is working their hearts out to not lose the momentum of the youth exchange program for this one year.”
He said a main committee for Rotary International will be deciding by April 15 about whether exchange programs will be proceeding this year or not. Meantime, there is discussion about having some virtual exchanges, or perhaps more short-term ones, which Weyburn hasn’t done up to this point. Most years, the Weyburn club has hosted a student for the entire school year, and usually sends out a student for a similar exchange overseas. The Weyburn club had their first exchange student come in 1974.
“It was interesting to hear other Rotarians and hear their enthusiasm for the program and to try to keep it going, with some modifications, and really try to promote short-term exchanges,” said King.
One proposal was to do a student program similar to the friendship exchange for adults that a number of Weyburn couples have been on over the years. In this program, they could have anywhere from one to eight students go for two or three months on an exchange to another country, and possibly work in a factory or hospital, or in something related to the vocation they would like to pursue after their education.
“It was an inspiring kind of conference, to see the eagerness to get the program back as soon as it’s safe to do so,” said Loden.
Exchange students to Weyburn have often expressed how much the program has meant to them.
A former exchange student, Giovanna Palhares from Sao Paulo, Brazil, said recently of the youth exchange program, “To be an exchange student means having your heart in two countries, and wanting to be in both at the same time.”
Another past student, Vivian Wong from Taiwan, commented, “It’s not a year in a life, it’s a life happened in a year.”
