The Rotary Club of Mudgee and the Mudgee Sunrise Clubs both sponsor the Youth Exchange Programme. We each support a local student each year to an international location for 12 months and then also each bring in an international student to the Mudgee region for the same 12 months.
Rotary Youth Exchange is a fantastic experience for the student going overseas as well as for the incoming students and for the host families. The student becomes part of a local family for three months. They adapt to your family routine and do what you do. It’s not hard – you just need a spare bedroom. Young children to teenagers benefit from having an exchange student in their home. Years later, they still remain part of your family. Your children will always have a family they can call brothers or sisters who live overseas.
Mudgee families have loved the experience of an exchange student living with them – they have hosted young people from Denmark France, Spain, Poland and USA and some young Mudgee people have had the experience of exchanging with an overseas country – Finland, France and Spain.
If you would like to share the experience, this is an amazing opportunity for a local family.
If you and your family are interested, these questions and answers might help you decide if you would like to join the group of host families in Mudgee:
Q. I’m not in Rotary, can I still host?
A. Absolutely. In the last two or three years, half our Mudgee host families have not been Rotarians.
Q. I don’t have a spare room.
A. That is fine; however, don’t be afraid to still be involved and have your children benefit from the program. You could simply offer to take a student out for the day, or a weekend or the holidays.
Q. I have holidays booked already.
A. No problem – you have options. You could offer to take the exchange student with you on holidays, if possible. You could share the student with another host family while you are away or simply asking other Rotary members to help while you are away. The student becomes part of your family.
Q. How hard is it to host a student?
A. Not hard. The benefits well outweigh the small effort required. You may have some difficult times. These children are on the other side of the world, away from their families in a completely different culture and environment. They may get homesick. However, when it comes to the end of their stay, 9 times out of 10, they don’t want to go home and it’s extremely hard for host families to let them go home.
Q. What if problems occur?
A. Rotary will have a counsellor provided for the student and will always be in contact with the student and the host family.
Q. How much does it cost?
A. Rotary provides the student will a monthly allowance. Rotary pays for school fees, student excursions and sports registrations. Your family will be responsible for day-to-day living expenses and for anything you and your family plans.
If you interested in participating in this programme either as an Exchange Student or as a Host Family then Contact Us