The original wooden boomerangs were used by Australian Aborigines 65,000 years ago, to hunt kangaroos.  The unique feature of some boomerangs is that if they miss the prey, they fly through the air back to the sender.  Our gift signifies the wish of all of us, that Valentin comes back to us one day.

 

In his original application for the Long Term Exchange, you wrote that Valentin is a joyful boy whose family loves him very much.  After having him with us for 12 months, I can say with confidence, so do many members of Applecross Rotary, who are also very proud of what he has achieved while we had care of him.  

 

Valentin is the first Rotary Exchange student we have hosted for many years, and it is very likely we will continue to do so now, thanks to the goodwill he has created and the friendships he developed with our members.  Right from the start of his time with us, he made sure he could attend nearly all of our weekly breakfast meetings, and he also began contributing to our weekly Bulletin, the Applecross Advocate.  He saw himself as a member of the Club, not just a visiting exchange student, and took the opportunity to regularly brief members at our meetings with photos and videos of what he had been doing.  He also volunteered his time with our annual fundraiser, the Rotary Jacaranda Festival in November, and helping at the regular Perth Makers’ Market, including one  yesterday!

 

Two of his host families are involved with Sea Scouts, and he really enjoyed becoming fully involved, as well as learning to sail while he was here.  He also embarked on the journey to becoming a King Scout, the highest scouting award available in countries that are part of the British Commonwealth of nations.  He used his skills in helping organise a hike on a section of the Bibbulmun Track along the southern coast.  He was invited to join one of our members and his wife on their annual trip to Broome in the far north of Western Australia, and found out there were Pallottine missionaries from Germany involved in working with Aboriginal communities in nearby Beagle Bay over 125 years ago.  In 1916 they designed and built a beautiful church, which was internally decorated by the local community with “Mother of Pearl” - oyster shells.

 

As you know, he attended a private boys school in Perth, Scotch College.  This was probably an unexpected and major cultural challenge, being single gender, with compulsory uniforms, and a fixation with marching to music provided by a band of drums and bagpipes, every Friday.  He enjoyed playing Rugby Union and Water Polo for his school, and made many close friends while at Scotch, so you might be getting visits from some of them if they take a gap year in Europe.