From One Island to Another

From one Island to another

Rotary club accepting applicants study exchange program with Taiwan

Ryan Quigley

Journal Pioneer

The Rotary Club of Summerside is looking for applicants to participate in the foundations Group Study Exchange in March and April of 2012.

The foundation will be sending the accepted applicant to Taiwan, where they will be working in their field in a different time zone, country and culture.

The Rotary club is looking for candidates that are young in their careers but with at least two years experience, between the ages of 25 and 40 and reside in Summerside.

Rotary International is covering the cost of the trip, which will be from four to six weeks long. Participants will live with Rotary members in the country they visit.

Last year there was five representatives of the Atlantic region that went to Australia, including Cora Lee Dunbar, owner of ABI Business Services and Summerside resident.

Dunbar said she had a fantastic experience with the program last year.

“What we were to do was to go down and experience life from the Australian point of view,” she said. “I have a bookkeeping business, so I went to different accounting and bookkeeping firms in Australia.”

She said she also had time to experience other aspects of Australia.

“We’d start off doing something from a business perspective, then later in the day I did something from a vocational. We went to a local beach, we did the bridge climb in Sydney and we went to the Opera house.”

Dunbar said it changed her life by giving her a whole new perspective.

“I guess it just got me to see life from another perspective. They do a lot of things similar, but at the same time I was able to appreciate the differences as well,” she said. “It just kind of opened my world up more and it makes me want to travel more and more for sure.”

Bill Kendrick, a Rotary member, said he thinks the program is beneficial for growth in a profession experiencing it in a different culture and country.

“I know that when I led the team to Australia, each of them really benefited from meeting other people who do the kind of work they do, but do it under different government regulations, under different business situations and so the opportunity to explore that with other people who have, in many cases a lot more experience in their profession than the young professionals that go on this is a great learning opportunity.”

He said Taiwan was chosen after the Rotary’s director in Atlantic Canada and the director from Taiwan had a good relationship at their annual meetings in California.

“I think to go to Taiwan, which is such a different culture than ours’, is just an incredible opportunity.”

Kendrick said the program is important to the Rotary because it helps make the world a smaller place.

“It helps to break down stereotypes and prejudices, and we think that it could have an impact on, it sounds to suggest this, but on world peace. A lot of the problems that exist in the world today come as a result of lack of communication, lack of understanding of others and stereotypes and prejudices that get developed.”