Group Study Exchange

Each spring, District 5150 takes part in GSE, one of the most prominent and effective vehicles Rotary has in promoting lasting professional and cultural exchanges across continents. Over the month-long visit, Half Moon Bay Rotary ususally hosts the visiting team for three to four days --- and consistently winds up high on the list of favorite memories the team says they'll take home with them.

GSE --- Group Study Exchange --- brings teams of young professionals to a corresponding district in another country while hosting exchange teams here. Team members, ranging in age from 25 to 40, and are non-Rotarians. The team leader is an experienced Rotarian committed to the ideal of cultural. exchange. On their monthlong visits, the teams stay in the homes of Rotarians in the host district, living there as part of the family and visiting corresponding members of their professions and local Rotary clubs as well.

In previous years, Half Moon Bay has hosted teams from England, Brazil, the Phillippines, Israel and, in an unprecedented visit, a team from North Vietnam! . Team members' professions have run the gamut of technology, banking, social services, teaching and governmental positions. One team from Brazil was made up entirely of medical professionals and included a cardiac surgeon and gynecologist. They were delighted to spend a day at a hospital and meet their fellows in America.

Those home visits are rich in the kind of memorable moments that come when people from vastly different backgrounds find common ground. For example, the young English team joining the Americans in some good old rock and roll dancing, the dignified septuagenarian team leader from Brazil delightedly absorbing local color in San Francisco, the team from Israel leading Half Moon Bay Rotarians in Jewish folk dance, the young doctors from the Philippines eagerly absorbing medical technology in a San Mateo County hospital where they spent the day with the head doctor, a Rotarian, or the Vietnamese guests sampling seafood a la Half Moon Bay.

Communication never seems to be a problem --- while language skills are sometimes limited on both sides, generally the goodwill that fuels GSE helps make meanings clear.

Next spring, Half Moon Bay will host a visiting team from Australia, the homeland of our new District Governor, Fred West. While arrangements are still being made at press time, Half Moon Bay Rotarians are already looking forward to welcoming the visitors from Down Under for lots of cultural exchanges around the barbie..

At a time rife with international strife and cultural mistrust, GSE offers another way --- showing the best of humanity and of the professions on a very human, one-on-one level. Team members take home the enhanced knowlege that comes of seeing close-up how their counterparts practice their common profession, and they also pack home a wealth of warm memories of seeing a new world with people who often wind up friends who keep in touch from around the world.

Stacy Trevenon
GSE Project Chair