Culture Awareness in Our Own Back Yard
Saturday, February 12, 2011, our 9 District Inbound students and 8 of our 10 newly selected Outbound students, joined up to learn more about the cultural diversity in our metro east community.

After a Friday night swim and pizza night at the home of Warren and Donna Schenewerk of Freeburg, they traveled to the International Institute in St. Louis. Thanks to all of the students and volunteers, the students presented a carload of household items to the Institute, to help refugee families set up their household. We were then taken on tour of the institute by Kelly Moore, who also was a Rotary Exchange student 15 years ago, and even had her Rotary blazer to prove it! She taught us the difference between immigrants and refugees; immigrant history of St. Louis; current ethnic communities; (Did you know that St. Luis is the home of nearly 70,000 Bosnians?) We ended our visit by hearing from 4 individuals who are studying to become American citizens and why they "love" the US. This was truly a proud moment for all of us.



Exploring ethnic food was next on our list, with experiencing Bosnian, Ethiopian and Thai cuisine! On to the Delmar Loop and Plow Sharing, where we found out about Fair Trade and how that makes a difference in the life of a family in Africa!

As one Inbound student said at the end of the day, "I learned how very generous Americans really are!"

This was the first activity for the new Outbounds, in preparing them to be ambassadors for Rotary and the US, and to continue to introduce the Inbounds to our own American culture.