Since infancy my parents have instilled in me the knowledge that I am a strong person. My parents taught me life is a roller coaster, and that life is unjust. My freshman year of high school I had climbed to another height on my roller coaster. I applied to be an exchange student with Rotary and prepared to spend my sophomore year in Chile, South America. Words could not capture the emotions I felt. I knew spending a year abroad would change my life. I did not anticipate how much my inner strength would bolster me in the coming months.
The first weeks of my exchange were great. I worked hard to understand the language, customs, and culture of Chile. I was at the top of my roller coaster when everything came crashing down. My host family had grown hostile towards me. It was as if everything I did was wrong. School was not any better. Two weeks after everything began to crumble, two classmates assaulted me. The first student walked up behind me and put a knife to my neck. A couple days later, another student sexually assaulted me during school. I reported the assaults to the school, and the local Chilean Rotary began to harass me. Additionally, they blamed me for everything. They told me on multiple occasions that I am the worst possible exchange student and a horrible person. A few weeks later my host family kicked me out of their house. In turn, Chilean Rotary kicked me out of the country. The Southern Oregon Rotary chapter and International Rotary provided me with no assistance.
I undoubtedly learned a great deal about myself from this experience. I can say with confidence I am grateful I had this opportunity. Without this encounter, I would be a completely different person than I am today. Now I know I handle stressful situations in a mature manner and with composure. Additionally, I have learned how to forgive and move on. This has been difficult for me to do, but I believe this is important. For me, offering forgiveness shows how you are the bigger person. Forgiveness is a strange but crucial concept and it is a necessity in life because, without forgiveness, society would be angry and depressed.
Since returning, I work to spread the word about my experience. I hope all potential exchange students and their families realize Rotary does not work to create ambassadors for the world and does not care for the both emotional and physical safety of its students while on exchange. I do believe at one time Rotary was a great program, but over time it has deteriorated. This experience made me realize how strong and unbreakable my spirit is. I recognize this experience made my desire to explore the world even stronger and plan on traveling more in the future.
From Oregon to Chile 