Monthly bulletin

Youth Friendship Exchange is a program organised by Rotary Club of Kota Kinabalu for the Interactors and students in Rotary sponsored schools in Kota Kinabalu, namely SM La Salle, SM St Francis Convent, SM Lok Yuk, SM All Saints and SM Maktab Sabah.

It is an international exchange program that provides young people with the opportunity to meet people from other lands and to experience their cultures, beginning a lifetime of international understanding. It shall also inculcate positive values to the youths upon their return.

There were about 50 students, 10 from each school, who were given the opportunity to be involved in this program. The students themselves were specially selected by their respective schools and recommended to RCKK for consideration.

These students were then sent to various destinations in Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, the Phillipines with the furthest to Taiwan. Arrangements were made with Rotarian from the local Rotary clubs to host these students. They would then assist in providing lodgings, local transportation and itinerary for the students during the length of their stay there.

They departed to their respective destination via KKIA and LCCT on the 9^th September 2010 and were sent off by their parents and Rotarians. Upon arrival, the host Rotarians was already at the airport to greet them.

The itinerary organized for the students were diverse, interesting and exciting :

- Visit Host Rotary Club project sites

- Visit charity centres

- School visit

- Attend Host Rotary Club meeting

- Courtesy call to City Hall and Mayor

- Meeting up with Host Interactors for cultural exchange activities

- Helping up in the community or join Rotary project

- Presentation of gift and performance

- Sightseeing

One other interesting thing to note was the program coincided with the Hari Raya Puasa celebration. So some of the students had the unique opportunity to experience it together with their host, friends and families.

Duration of the program was about 5 days with most of the students returned on the 13^th September 2011. All the participating students were grateful on the experience and responded that it has enriched their values with the schools looking forward for such program in the future. Likewise, the host Rotary clubs all had positive comments on them.

In view of the positive and favorable response, Rotary Club of Kota Kinabalu is considering to make this into an annual program in line with the objective in contributing to the development of youth.