A visiting group of 10 Indo-nesians and 10 Canadians, who have become local celebrities through their community work with Canada World Youth (CWY), are leaving the Coast on Saturday to spend the second half of their program in Borneo, Indonesia.
The community, including host families and work placements, was invited to a cultural performance at Chatelech Secondary in Sechelt Nov. 20 to say goodbye and good luck to the group of young leaders. The youth, ranging in age from 17 to 24, were here for three and a half months on an exchange program for volunteerism, community service work and international development.
"Everywhere we went, people knew who we were and what we were doing," said Paul Bien, 21, from Ottawa. The highlight of his time on the Coast was doing community service work such as painting and planting. The group started out as strangers and quickly became a close-knit group.
"As we got comfortable here, we got comfortable together," Bien said.
The program is not just about multiculturalism or tolerance, he explained.
"It's about how you can come together with people from all over the world and laugh and have fun and do crazy things," he said.
Soon the group will be in Borneo, living in a small village of indigenous people for three and a half months, setting up infrastructure, living with host families and doing work placements. Bien has completed three years of university in international development, so the experience he's gaining is in line with his future career path of working to help communities around the world.
"It's about doing the kind of life learning that schools don't give you," Bien said. "You learn about cultures by being immersed in them. You learn real-life lessons."
Wisnu Wardhana Hen-dratno is a 23-year-old Indo-nesian from Jakarta who was here with the group. The highlight for him was doing cultural performances for the community. He decided to enter the CWY program just after he earned his business law degree.
"I wanted to learn something new and experience something new," he said. Through the program, he's learned that helping people is more important than money, so he has decided he wants to offer free legal services.
He learned valuable life lessons through the group, such as dealing with conflicts in real life. He wants to return to the Coast if he ever has the opportunity again.
"Thank you for being part of my learning process to become a better person," he wanted to say to the community. "I hope one day I can come back to repay."
Terence Lowe, 28, is CWY's project supervisor for the Indonesia/B.C. program.
"For them to be able to come together and pull off community events and affect this many people is pretty inspiring," Lowe said. He called them ambassadors of culture, international development and volunteerism.
"There's a great energy that comes from the group that we're hoping is contagious to other youth in the community," he said. The group reached out to local secondary schools through presentations, hallway booths and connecting with counsellors and career and personal planning programs. Some of the nine host families had youth of their own in their homes. The typical host family has had children who have since grown up and moved out. CWY also welcomes young couples who haven't had kids who show an interest in bringing youth from the program into their home.
"We break the stereotype of a host family," said Clarissa Tufts.
Tufts, 28, and Billy Hume, 35, run Country Haven bed and breakfast in Wilson Creek, so when they first met the CWY group at Creek Daze this summer, it made sense to become a host family since they have accommodations in their home.
"They've given so much to the community," Tufts said. "The least we could do was to give them a place to live."
The 18-year-old Canadian and 22-year-old Indonesian became like sisters in their home. "Because we're young and we don't have children, it was like having roommates we formed close friendships," Tufts said.
The youths also learned about running a real-life household and were involved with household chores, grocery shopping and taking the time to bond as a family, she added. "It was a great learning experience for us to have kids in our home," Hume said.
Emily Harris from Ontario is now pursuing schools in Vancouver and wants to come back to visit next summer. Elly Wardani was a nurse in Indonesia before the tsunami hit. During her time here, she tried to create ties to the nursing community in Vancouver so she could build bridges with the nursing community to benefit her community back home. Lowe hopes the CWY program will return to the Coast next year with a brand new group of youth. CWY is already recruiting local host families for the same time next year - three and a half months in the fall. Interested families can call 1-800-889-6069.
On Monday, the day after the farewell event at Chat, the District of Sechelt welcomed a few of the youth and visitors from Indonesia's state ministry of youth and sports affairs, who were here for four days, into the district office. Mayor Cam Reid thanked the youth for their work in the community.
"I commend you for the manner and the way you've tried to include the community," Reid said. "You certainly are starting off on the right foot."
Reid told the youth in the program they are wonderful leaders. "It makes the world a smaller place and hopefully a better place for everybody," Reid said.
For more information on the program, visit www.cwy-jcm.org.
