Welcome to the website for Rotary Youth Exchange in the Heart of England.
Amanda's first snow!
Our Long Term Youth Exchange student, Amanda Amaral, is from the southern part of Brazil and was looking forward to seeing snow for the first time. The sudden fall on the 28th October meant that she was able to enjoy the experience a little earlier than we expected!
After a few minutes walking around Jephson Gardens in Leamington, Amanda said that she could no longer feel her nose and fingers. This had obviously changed by the time she got home though, as she spent a while trying to explain the experience to her friends back in Brazil - where it was 40 degrees celsius!
She also received a mention in the local press. You can read all about it via the Leamington Courier website.
Rotary Youth Exchange covers a set of four programmes that are designed to achieve one of Rotary's core objectives - that of promoting world peace and international understanding.
The four programmes fit into two categories - Long Term Exchange, and Short Term Exchange (Family to Family, New Generations Exchange and Camps & Tours) - and allow young people (generally 15 to 25 years old) to spend varying amounts of time living in another country, enabling them to experience another culture directly. One of the fundamental principles here is to get them to appreciate that "different" is not "wrong" and that people of different countries and different backgrounds have alternative ways of looking at the world which are all equally valid.
If you would like to find out something about the experiences of our students, why not visit our blog at http://blog.rye1060.org.uk.
If your club would like to host an exchange student for a year, or help facilitate a short term exchange or camp / tour, just get in touch via the email link below, or via the contact information for the Youth Exchange Committee listed in the District Directory.
Many young people are queuing up to come to the UK on these programmes and most will be disappointed due to the lack of places here. Could you help to give someone the experience of a lifetime and fulfil one of Rotary's most basic principles of promoting world peace and understanding? Why not start by having one of the current students along to your meeting as a speaker? The rewards are immense - and not just for the student!
If you would like to know more about the Rotary Youth Exchange programmes in "The Heart of England", please use our contact form to send an email to us.
