|
By Anniela Carracedo, member of the Rotary Club of Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, USA, and a Rotary Youth Exchange Alumna When I decided to become a Rotary Youth Exchange student, I had no idea how much it would change my life and the lives of everyone around me. In 2017, I was invited to the Interact Club of Valencia, Venezuela, following my parents, who joined the Rotary Club of Valencia. I joined the club because I wanted to make a difference in my local community. I had seen Venezuela go from being one of the healthiest countries in Latin America to experiencing one of the worst humanitarian and economic crises in the modern world. Today it is considered the second-largest refugee crisis in the world, according to UNHCR. I wanted to help, but I didn’t know how; Interact turned out to be the perfect combination of service and fun. Then, I learned about the Rotary Youth Exchange program. I immediately applied and was selected to become a goodwill ambassador in the United States. Unfortunately, due to my country’s complex situation, participating in an exchange program was and still is a challenge. However, our 2019 district Youth Exchange chair, Francisco Padilla, made it possible for 70 of us to become exchange students.
In my case, I had to cross the dangerous border between Colombia and Venezuela on foot to get my visa, because early that year, Venezuela broke diplomatic relations with the United States. |
