Bonding beyond borders An unbelievable story of how a Rotary Youth Exchange programme of 1991 has cemented bonds, built friendships, deepened international understanding and promoted trust between different religions, cultures, regions.

Imagine the magic that is created when 377 young men and women, barely 17 or 18, come together for a five-week tour across the United States! They hail from 37 countries; “none of us knew each other and we spent 5 magic weeks together on 8 buses and for all of us that was the best travel we had ever done,” gushes an excited Emma Naas, a schoolteacher from Sweden I interview over Skype.

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Very likely to join Rotary if somebody asks me; it’s not that we didn’t want to become Rotarians, but nobody asked us.
– Emma Naas, Sweden.

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If someone would have asked me, I would have been happy to join Rotary.
– Gunaar Braun, Germany.

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Probably yes. Although I can tell you I contacted the Rotaract president in my district some years after the trip, but got no good vibrations. Seemed they were not interested in me. So, of course, I did not push any harder.
– David Pla Santamaria, Spain.

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Like Gunnar said for Germany, in Belgium it is quite an elitist organisation quite difficult to get in. That is the reason I am not in, even though I would be very happy to be a host family for an exchange student.
– Valerie Nys, Belgium.

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I’ve picked up the very absorbing story of the reunion, after 25 years, of 100 of these Rotary Youth Exchange students from Emma’s blog piece on the RI website, and also speak to some of the others in the group such as Valerie Nys, Gunaar Braun, David Pla Santamaria.

Describing the 1991 trip, Emma recalls how Rotary had brought together these exchange students for a year, selected their hosts and “arranged for us to see places in the US such as the Niagara Falls, the Grand Canyon, etc for 5 weeks.”

Through the Skype screen, Emma’s excitement is palpable. So what did they enjoy the most about the trip, I ask her. “The friendship of course”, which was so strong that even after over 20 years, it could be rekindled. “For nearly five years now, many of us have come together again on social media on the basis of that friendship, which is nothing short of amazing.”

Five years ago, an FB group called The Rotary Tour of US, 1991, was started with barely 30 members. Now it has 278!

And that magic friendship happened for several reasons; “because we were all teenagers from different countries, different cultures, different religions… a big mix which made the impossible possible.” They were hosted by different Rotary families, and later “we were together on the buses talking, discussing, singing, dancing.”

But this “amazing network” of 377 citizens from all over the world quickly disintegrated because “at that time there was no Internet. We returned home and most of us were devastated, because it was like losing your family. When we tried explaining to people what the trip meant to us they did not understand. So we put the memories in our boxes and thought we’d never meet again… never be able to revisit this fantastic memory of our lifetime,” she says.

We put the memories in our boxes and thought we’d never meet again… never be able to revisit this fantastic memory of our lifetime.
– Emma Naas

The magic resurfaces

But about 5 years ago, an FB group called the Rotary Tour of US, 1991, was started with barely 30 members, “and it wasn’t active till I was contacted by Salvador from Spain… we’re great friends. He said, Emma, why don’t we do something. This is too good not to do something.”

Thus began a campaign to rope in as many members as possible, using platforms like FB, LinkedIn, Google, etc. They contacted Rotary clubs… anything that would help them get the members back. “Believe it or not, we started 5 years ago with 30 members and now we are 278!”

The gripping story of Valerie Nys, now a director in a health care company in Belgium, describes best how the 25 years melted away when 100 of them, from 24 countries, met at Benicassim in Spain from July 21–25.

She recalls that being “a kid of divorced parents with difficult relations”, the chance to be an exchange student in the US was “a way to escape the tension in the family. I wanted to travel as I was attracted by other cultures, but had no opportunity till then.” Initially, adaptation to the new culture was hard, but “with the help of my new mum who spent hours perfecting my English, I made new friends and discovered a whole new world. I became so mature that year… the caterpillar became a butterfly!”

Developing trust

Much more important, and this is the most crucial aspect of how the Rotary Youth Exchange programme contributes to world understanding and peace, is what both Valerie and Emma emphasise. Says the former: “I learned to trust others that I barely knew, to open my mind to other points of view, and to listen, to share and most of all, to trust myself.

I learned to trust others that I barely knew, to open my mind to other points of view and to listen, to share, and most of all, to trust myself.
– Valerie Nys

“The friendship we made at that time was deep, really deep. Because, we were all living this amazing experience which we could share, and we compensated each other for the “family love” we had left back home.”

Now, she wants to inject in both her kids a “virus” that will make them “citizens of the world, like me!”

Both Emma and Gunaar Braun also stress on the priceless gift Rotary gave them at a young age — the ability to trust strangers. For Braun, the most important part of his “summer of great freedom” or year abroad as a teenager “in this sheltered environment that the Rotary programme provides you, is that you learn to trust total strangers and believe in yourself at the same time.” The rotation to different families meant not only learning about different lifestyles but extending your own family. The result is an “extension of my German family… today I have five more brothers and six more parents abroad! That year taught me to be part of a global family,” he says.

Lively debates

Striking a serious note, Braun says “it still is a treasure for me today to know that the US society was not convinced at all of what their government did in attacking Iraq in 1991.” He was witness to “heavy debating” and many “lively discussions” on this topic. “Otherwise, one could remain distressed by the sheer global military power in the hands of one nation. So it was good to be witness to very rational discussions on political decisions.”

Adds Emma, “What is most important is that in this climate of war and conflict in the world where people are afraid of each other, we are totally opposite, because something happened on that tour. At 17 or 18, you are still very open-minded, you are ready to trust, ready to learn and understand, and Rotary gave us that fantastic opportunity. We grabbed it and made something beautiful of it, and when we left each other, we had nothing for 25, or rather 20 years.”

I now have an extension of my German family… five more brothers and six more parents abroad! That year taught to me to be part of a global family.
– Gunaar Braun

A contrary view

Interestingly, for David Pla Santamaria, the 1991 US experience was initially not a good one. Switching from the environment of a Spanish town to a little town in the US was really hard and he had “a horrible time”. For one, the alcohol drinking age in Spain was 16, but it was 21 in the US. “That meant that a high percentage of partying options I was used to at that time were not available,” he recalls.

And his host town barely had a population of 1,000; “boredom was my companion. No public transportation to travel to bigger cities or anywhere; and no driving was allowed. It was like an incarceration.”

Unlike Spain, the alcohol drinking age in US was 21, which meant that a high percentage of partying options I was used to at that time were not available.
– David Pla Santamaria

Next came the “racism of the deep Midwest America against Latin people”. But on the other hand, there were the positives. “An amazingly different culture so close to that in the movies! With no one speaking Spanish in many miles, my English improved fast!” Then there were the sports in school and an easier level of education compared to that in Spain. And then the grand finale — a 5-week Rotary tour along with the others; “that single experience was enough to compensate for the rest of the 11 months!”

Emma adds that with the FB group getting active, “now on our birthdays, we get messages from all over the world. When one woman’s daughter got cancer, people from all over the world sent gifts.” This support group, she adds, helped her immensely as an English language teacher. “I’ve now completely changed my way of teaching; instead of books, I base a lot of my teaching on Skype interviews and this tour group has been a base for my teaching. My students have travelled all over the world and for using this model of teaching I was recently awarded the European language prize! Thanks to what I got 25 years ago, I want to give back to my kids, my students.”

We are checking out on Atlanta and trying to tell RI that we would love to speak at a breakout session there as we think Rotary needs to hear our story.

A more peaceful world

Rotary’s gift to her through this programme is a confidence that “it doesn’t have to be a world with war and conflict. So much can be done when you trust each other. My son has gone to Spain, stayed with a family there; a member of our group from Australia posted that her daughter is touring Europe and could she stay with some of us. She stayed in my house for five days, and in the homes of our group members all over Europe. It’s a fantastic network not only for us but our children too. My dad met some group members while on a vacation.”

Valerie adds that way back in 1991 a special bond was formed, that time could not break… it was “a bond the young make when all you have in mind is sharing and loving and having fun, and when there are no other interests.”

Those five weeks they travelled across the US by buses “really changed my life. I am now 44 and I still consider that moment to be the most beautiful moment of my life, the richest moment in terms of sharing with others.” For some time, she adds, some of them kept in touch through letters, but as “time passed, the letters disappeared.”

The reunion was not about telling people what a good job you have, or how much money you make, or what religion, culture or region you belong to. It didn’t matter.

…then Emma happened!

Valerie adds that for some time after the FB page was formed, nothing much happened. “But then Emma, an amazing and enthusiastic person who can change the world with her smile, came along. She started by writing birthday wishes and then made a contest to find more exchange students.”

And then came the idea of meeting again. “When we chatted, it was not about your house, job, husband or kids, but more of ‘How happy are you? What is important for you? Let’s have fun together, let’s share something special.”

So along with Emma, a few of them got together to plan the trip which finally happened in Spain. “We could feel so much love flowing between us, a bunch of people, who had not even met for 25 years, caring for each other and exchanging glorious smiles for those four amazing days.”

Trust overcomes fear; we see a lot of fear in today’s world. Fear of other religions, refugees, fear of losing sovereignty to other nations. Even fear of accepting foreigners in one’s own country.

25 years melt away

For Santamaria the reunion in Spain “was a dream come true. It was like the day after we said bye in Philadelphia in 1991. To be able to say ‘Hi, what did you do last night’ again, after 25 years, was amazing. He adds that the US trip was the “best experience I had in my life and many of the others had the same feeling. Back in 1991 when saying bye we knew it was the last time we were going to see each other. But technology proved us wrong. That is magical!” He is a professor and researcher at the Technical University of Valencia in Spain, and specialises in saving and investment for retirement.

Of course before the grand reunion, smaller meetings took place between Emma and some others. “First I initiated a small group meet in Stockholm, which had a snowball effect and more people started to meet and we’ve been having mini reunions all over the world for the last four years,” beams Emma.

After almost four years of planning, 100 people from 24 countries — Australia, Philippines, India, Venezuela, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Japan and several European countries — met in Benicassim, north of Valencia in Spain. Gala dinners, a fun trip on a bus to the mountains, lots of laughter, fun, banter… four magical days in Spain actually happened.

In 1991 a special bond was made; a bond the young make when all you have in mind is sharing and loving and having fun, and when there are no other interests.
– Valerie Nys

The reunion, adds Emma, was not about “telling people what a good job you have, or how much money you make, or what religion, culture or region you belong to. It didn’t matter; what was important was he was Gunaar and I am Emma. If we can help each other in our business or work, we do but that is secondary.” She adds that their network is “very powerful. In this group Finland’s Deputy Head of Information, others are very senior executives, and there are some very senior and ambitious people here, but we have no money interest.”

In Spain, as the 25 years melted away, Valerie says she now feels much closer to the group. “I trust these people with my life and I know it is the same for them. And this is all due to the greatness of Rotary… I could never be thankful enough to Rotary for making my life so much better through this exchange programme,” smiles Valerie.

So how many of them would be interested in joining the Atlanta Convention next year as the Foundation celebrates its Centenary year?

“All of us. We are checking out on Atlanta and trying to tell RI that we would love to speak at a breakout session at Atlanta as we think Rotary needs to hear our story, so we’re trying to apply for a District Grant or something which will make it possible,” says Emma.