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| Students from all over the globe come together at Rotary Club during an interaction programme on Sunday. Picture by Hardeep Singh |
Ranchi, Sept. 30: Seventeen-year-old Eimi from Tokyo is fluent in Hindi and greets elders with a courteous smile and “Namaste”.
She loves to gorge on dosas and toffees.
So does Carla, who hails from Brazil. “Everybody tells me that I look Indian. That’s a great feeling. In schools, the students are quite friendly and also share jokes. But we cannot go out alone,” said Carla, who wants to pursue medicine after she returns to her country.
The two are not the only ones recounting wonderful stories about their experience here.
Five student ambassadors have lived in the city as a part of Rotary International’s Youth Exchange Programme for the past one-and-a-half months. These include Phelep (from Brazil), studying in DPS, Rourkela, Mariah (from Alaska, USA), studying at St Xavier’s School, Bokaro, Carla (from Brazil), studying at Loyola School, Jamshedpur and Eimi (from Japan) and Bianca, studying at DPS, Ranchi.
They are studying in Class XI in different streams and would return to their country after one year. All the students are staying with Rotary members for a year under the Youth Exchange Programme initiated by Rotary International. Four students have gone to Australia, Japan and Brazil from Jharkhand and Bihar under this programme.
On their likes and dislikes Carla complained that the teachers here are rather impatient. “Besides, here people only love studying. There are no extra-curricular activities,” she rued.
Mariah, on the other hand, confessed that her favourite pastime is to watch cows and dogs on Ranchi streets. “I love watching these animals walk on the streets so freely. Also, eating dal and ice creams are a real treat,” she said.
Jogesh Gambhir, adviser of the programme, said these students learn about the Indian culture and valuable experience as a part of this programme. “We teach these students that tolerance is very important. There was a girl from Brazil who picked up our culture and also learnt to stay in a joint family system. She had learnt to cook samosa and dosa which she is still taking pride in,” Gambhir added.