Welcome to the website for Rotary Youth Exchange in the Heart of England.
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 live within Rotary District 1060 (generally the West Midlands and Warwickshire, with parts of Staffordshire and Worcestershire - see our District Map) please use our Contact Form to find out what may be available to you. Otherwise, please use the Club Locator to find your nearest Rotary Club.
Rotary District 1060 Youth Exchange Student Protection Policy
For the protection of both the students we select to send overseas and the students we host, Rotary District 1060 has a fully documented policy that is available for download here.
Welcome to the Rotaract Club of Klaipeda!
April 2010 will see a first for our District as we undertake a Group New Generations Exchange. On Easter Saturday, the 3rd April, we will welcome Dagne, Rima, Kristina, Gintautas, Neringa and Sandra from Klaipeda, Lithuania. All of them are members of the Rotaract Club of Klaipeda and they will be in the UK until the 27th April on a programme that will include some vocational activities, home hosting with local Rotarians, visits to local attractions, a six day tour of Scotland and a visit to Bournemouth for the RIBI Conference.
We know that the team are very excited about coming and the whole experience should be very memorable for all those taking part.
A Cross Cultural Christmas!
Rotary District 1060 arranged a truely "Cross Cultural Christmas" for three young women from very different countries and backgrounds. Amanda Amaral from Brazil was joined by Hana Lešánková and Niki Kutilová from the Czech Republic for a little over two weeks from the 19th December 2008 to the 4th January 2009. This was in connection with our Rotary Youth Exchange Programme, which attempts to break down barriers between cultures and promote international understanding by assisting young people to spend time experiencing each others cultures first hand. In this case, all three girls were able to experience an English Christmas and New Year.
The girls began their time together with three nights living in a Victorian Railway Station at Alton - restored by the Landmark Trust, from which they visited Chatsworth, Bakewell, Alton itself and the Gladestone Pottery Museum in Stoke. The rest of the time was spent in Warwickshire, where they were able to experience some traditional Christmas activities, including a pantomime - which left them all a little confused - and visits to Warwick Castle and Stratford. Several Clubs were involved in the scheme and the girls enjoyed spending time with members of the Rotary Clubs of Coventry Phoenix, Leamington Spa Regency, Kenilworth, Warwick Avon and Rugby Saturday Breakfast and meeting people from Taiwan, Columbia, Australia, Austria and the USA.
Niki and Hana travelled to the UK with the assistance of "Nejsi Sám", a charity based in Prague to support young people living in children's homes in the Czech Republic. The girls were also able to act as couriers to extend another Rotary project - Dictionaries4Life - to one of the children's homes by taking 24 illustrated dictionaries to be used in an English training course there.
All three girls became like sisters during their time together in England - another small extension to the Rotary family.
Amanda's first snow!
Long Term Youth Exchange student, Amanda Amaral, was from the southern part of Brazil and she was looking forward to seeing snow for the first time. The sudden fall on the 28th October 2008 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.
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.
