When I retired I decided to open up my home to students

Over60 community member, Marilyn Sanderson, 66, shares her wonderful experience hosting two international students through the Lions Youth Exchange in retirement.

“The idea of hosting an international student at some point in my life has been an appealing one but as serial house renovators and owner builders we were not really in a position to do so. Come retirement and my husband and I found ourselves with a large house with bedrooms to spare so when we were approached to host international students through the Lions Youth Exchange we decided to embrace the opportunity. As we were empty nesters living on a rural block we decided that it would be good to host two students so that they would be company for each other.

My initial thought was to host two teenage boys as I am use to relating to boys having only sons, brothers and nephews. We also thought that boys would find more activities to keep themselves occupied. As it transpired we hosted a 17 year old Turkish boy, Eray, and a 17 year old Italian girl, Bea, and this combination worked beautifully.

The Lions Clubs International Exchange program operates camps in Victoria, NSW and Queensland.  Usually students spend three weeks with a host family and then a week at camp where they meet with other students from all over the world. Bea went to Queensland to attend her camp near Proserpine while Eray went to a camp on the shores of Lake Macquarie.

As we are not “Lions” we needed a Lions Club to sponsor the students and Raymond Terrace Lions stepped up to the plate and did so. The club also invited the students to be guest speakers at their dinner meeting and both students charmed and impressed the members. We also needed working with children clearance to host students under 18.

We spent three stimulating weeks with these amazing young people and in many ways it was better than playing tourist in some overseas destination. They were so appreciative of having the opportunity and of our efforts to make their experience a memorable one for all the right reasons. We had so many interesting conversations on a plethora of topics which gave us a new widow on the world. We shared meals, swapped recipes, played cards, socialised with friends (especially those with teenagers), played tourist and laughed a lot. As urban dwellers both students enjoyed helping out with some of the tasks demanded by rural living.

The one thing we would we do differently in the future would be to enlist the help of members of the sponsoring Lions Club so that we didn’t assume responsibility for all the activities. We were new to the experience as was RT Lions Club. We agreed that arranging for the students to spend at least some time with Lions members would have been desirable on a number of levels.

We have stayed in contact with both our guest. I think Bea best expressed the experience when she wrote (in English!)

‘There's so much wild and powerful nature in Queensland, and thanks to the camp I experienced some of the best part of it. I did scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef, I went ocean rafting in the Whitsundays, where I saw the most spectacular beach of my life: sand had the same color and consistency of snow, I swear. In the lake next to us we had fun doing tubing and sea jet driving, and on the camp oval we did activities (such) as relays that included groveling in ponds full of wallaby's poo  and jumping  through a suspended wheel. I felt like in Full Metal Jacket movie, preparing for the army, and later I discovered that one of the directors of the camp was a retired army pilot. I came to know so many people from all over the world! And everybody was kind, open-minded and very curious, the atmosphere was absolutely positive and stimulating. The only things that I was missing at the camp were you two and Hazelwood. I realized that with you I created an everyday life that had the smell of home. The three weeks I spent with you dug an indelible cosy place in my heart.’

It dug an indelible cosy part in both our hearts too.”

If you’re interested in finding more about the Lions Australia Youth Exchange program, visit their website here.

Related links:

The questions everyone needs to ask themself before retiring

Retirement boosts happiness and health

We left suburbia to move to a farm… the best decision we ever made