Rotary District 6920 Return to Home Page

2008-09 Group Study Exchange - Brazil

GSE Team Leader Application Form	History of District 6920 GSE Countries
GSE Team Member Application	GSE 2009-10 GSE India
2009 Outgoing Team BLOG
2009 Outgoing Team YouTube

2009 Inbound Team from Brazil

From left to right:

Carlos Vianna Jr - team leader - Translator, Language teacher and Journalist.
Giorgia Battle - 1st alternate - Health Agent
Allan Jones S. Gomes - Civil Engeneer and English Teacher
Ricardo Campello - Architect
Carlos Paula de Moraes - 2nd alternate - Catholic Priest
Paollo Brunoro - Airport Agent and English teacher
Adriana Cunha - Psycology Student and English teacher

District 6920 Contacts

For GSE inbound from Brazil

Justin Godchaux JustinGodchaux@aol.com 912 596 3220

Gordon Matthews Gordon.Matthews@earthlink.net 912 604 1200

Group Study Exchange Inbound - Brazil 2009

PRELIMINARY DRAFT

The departing city is responsible for transporting the team to the receiving city

please coordinate with your adjacent hosts

Day #	Date	Day	Event	Sleep in	No. of nights	Note	Club Meetings

1	7-May-09	Thur	arrives Sav	Jekyll/SS/Bwk	4	a
2	8-May-09	Fri
3	9-May-09	Sat
4	10-May-09	Sun
5	11-May-09	Mon	transfer to	St. Marys	2
6	12-May-09	Tue
7	13-May-09	Wed	transfer to	Waycross	1
8	14-May-09	Thur	transfer to	Douglas	1		Douglas
9	15-May-09	Fri	transfer to	Dist Conf	2
10	16-May-09	Sat		Dist Conf		f
11	17-May-09	Sun	transfer to	Valdosta	2
12	18-May-09	Mon
13	19-May-09	Tue	transfer to	Tifton	2
14	20-May-09	Wed					Tifton
15	21-May-09	Thur	transfer to	Perry W.R.	2
16	22-May-09	Fri
17	23-May-09	Sat	transfer to	Macon	3
18	24-May-09	Sun
19	25-May-09	Mon					Macon
20	26-May-09	Tue	trip to	Atlanta	2	c
21	27-May-09	Wed		Atlanta		c
22	28-May-09	Thur	arrive at	Millidgeville	1		Millidgeville
23	29-May-09	Fri	transfer to	Dublin	1		Dublin
24	30-May-09	Sat	transfer to	Sandersville	3
25	31-May-09	Sun
26	1-Jun-09	Mon
27	2-Jun-09	Tue	transfer to	Savannah	4	g
28	3-Jun-09	Wed					Sav West
29	4-Jun-09	Thur					Sav South
30	5-Jun-09	Fri				e	Sav East
31	6-Jun-09	Sat

Notes:
a	day of arrival - no activities planned due to time change and travel
b	day prior to departure - allow for packing for shipment, if necessary
c	team in Atlanta
d	provide a down day - no activities, just transportation; confirm with Team Leader
e	dinner at DG's house
f	Augusta to provide activities outside of the Dist Conf
g	Sandersville to also visit Ga. Southern on the way to Savannah

This year�s our District�s Group Study Exchange (GSE) will be with District 4720 in Amazon River area of northern Brazil. Known for its rich biodiversity and natural beauty, the Amazon rain forest harbors nearly one third of the world�s species and one quarter of the world�s fresh water. Fifty-eight Rotary Clubs are scattered throughout the region, and the largest cities, Belem and Manaus, each have over 1.5 million inhabitants.

Although there has been substantial development pressure in recent decades, particularly for timber, mining and farming, most of the vast Amazon rain forest remains in tact. Eco-tourism is a growth industry, and visitors can swim with the pink bottlenose dolphin, hike through the forest canopy at a bird�s eye level, and see the life of indigenous peoples on the nutrient rich riverbanks.

The outgoing and incoming team visits will be in late April and early May, for about 4 weeks. Portuguese is spoken in Brazil, but language experience is not required. Applicants should be young professionals between the ages of 25 and 40, and must have the support of their employers for taking time off for the trip.

GSE team members experience the host country's culture and institutions, observe how their vocations are practiced abroad, develop personal and professional relationships, and exchange ideas. Most expenses are paid by Rotary, and participants typically stay in local Rotarians� homes.

Applications for the outgoing team leader are due October 30, and for team membership, November 30. Interviews will be in early December, with training staring in January. Portuguese language training will be provided.

Past participants in exchanges often report their time abroad to be extremely rewarding and in some cases, life changing. Club Presidents and International Committee members are encouraged to identify promising young professionals that can make good team participants.

For GSE applications and more information, go to www.Rotary.org , and click on Group Study Exchange, or contact Gordon Matthews at 912-604-1200, or Gordon.matthews@earthlink.net .

GROUP STUDY EXCHANGE (GSE) HISTORY:

The GSE program began in 1955 as the idea of a New Zealand district. Originally known as the Rotary Overseas Travel Award (ROTA), it was adopted by the Trustees as an official educational program in 1965. As of the end of the 2000 Rotary year, 8,063 teams had traveled, with another 587 scheduled in 2001. For 2002, more than 590 teams were paired, adding nearly 3,000 more participants to the total.

Expenditures through 2000 were more than US$73 million. In 2000 alone, the Foundation spent US$3,835,111.81 for the program.

In prior years, our District has had exchanges with Chile, Brazil, Bolivia, France, Poland, India, Scotland, Indonesia, and Japan. Most recently, our exchange was with Italy. Participants in these exchanges have included non-profit agency director, a vice president of United Way, college and middle school teachers, an attorney, a judge, a hospital government affairs person, a minister, city and county government employees and many others.

GROUP STUDY EXCHANGE PURPOSE:

The purpose of a Group Study Exchange (GSE) is to promote international understanding and goodwill through person-to-person contact.

TEAM MEMBER APPLICATION PROCESS:

All interested applicants must first have their candidacy endorsed by a Rotary club in the district where they works or lives. From there, endorsed applications are sent on for consideration at the district level.

Additional valuable information about GSE is available at:

http://www.rotary.org/foundation/educational/gse/index.html

TEAM MEMBER ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA:

Team Members Must:

Be between the ages of 25-40.
Be employed full-time in a recognized profession.
Not be a Rotarian, honorary Rotarian, ex-Rotarian or the lineal descendant of a Rotarian, ex-Rotarian or a spouse of a Rotarian.
Not a spouse of another team member.

Ideal Candidates Are:

Between ages 25-40.
Employed full-time in a recognized profession.
A citizen of the country in which they reside.
In good health.
Neat in appearance and able to express themselves clearly and logically.
Of a sound, general educational background.
Interested in and clearly enthusiastic about their chosen vocation and in possession of outstanding vocational skills.
Open minded, tolerant, and FLEXIBLE.
Willing to take on some very basic conversational training in Korean.
Comfortable working as part of a TEAM with a schedule that is physically and emotionally demanding.