The values of Youth Exchange are experienced not only by
the high school-age students involved but also by the host families,
sponsoring clubs, receiving high schools and the entire community. Youth
Exchange participants usually provide their fellow students in their host
schools with excellent opportunities to learn about customs, languages,
traditions and family life in another country.
Youth Exchange offers young people interesting
opportunities and rich experiences to see another part of the world.
Students usually spend a full academic year abroad, although some Rotary
clubs and districts sponsor short-term exchanges of several weeks or months.
YE Chair Onanong Siripornmanut in her emotion packed talk on the strong
bind between parents and their children.
The youth exchange program is also very popular in
Thailand and every year hundreds of children compete to be selected to
represent their clubs and districts as a student exchange ambassador.
In Rotary District 3340, which covers the northeast and
eastern regions of Thailand, 48 boys and girls aged 16-18 who were selected
for the 2009-10 program attended the final outbound orientation held at the
Pinnacle Grand Jomtien Resort & Spa June 11-13.
Dr. Prawit Kamolsiripichaiporn from the Rotary Club of
Chantaburi advises the children on proper health care and personal hygiene.
The seminar was officiated by District Governor Elect
Thongchai ‘Tony’ Lortrakanon and Past Assistant Governor Onanong
Siripornmanut, co-chair of the District Youth Exchange program.
The selected students spent the weekend familiarizing
themselves with the customs and cultures of the countries that they would be
travelling to, which include the United States, Canada, Germany, Mexico,
Brazil, Taiwan, Japan, and South Africa.
YE Chairperson Onanong Siripornmanut said, “Exposure to
different cultures ranks as one of the most powerful ways to promote
international understanding and peace. The Rotary Youth Exchange program
provides thousands of young students with the opportunity to meet people
from other countries and to experience new cultures, planting the seeds for
a lifetime of international understanding. Thai students will study in high
schools in foreign countries for a year where they will act as cultural
ambassadors for promoting Thailand’s culture and traditions to their foreign
hosts.”
During the sacred candle lit closing ceremony, Onanong
touched the heartstrings of all present with her emotional talk of the
undying love that parents have for their offspring and asked the children to
honor and respect their parents and be thankful for all that they have
sacrificed so that they could go on this trip of a lifetime.
District YE program co-chair, Past District Governor Pratheep S. Malhotra
gives the children his blessings and wishes them Bon Voyage.
The kids pose for a final photograph before their
departure home and
beyond to fulfil their destinies.
It was an emotional moment for parents and their children
during
the candle lit ceremonies to sanctify the lifelong union of loved
ones.
