Langs Beach Estate the 27th of January 2019.
Dear Fellow Rotarians
No doubt you will agree with me that one of the strongest areas within Rotary is our different types of youth exchange.
In August 1994 our club welcomed a new exchange student Durita Reinert from the Faroe Islands (Total area is about 1,400 square kilometres with a population of 50,000. Situated north-west of the United Kingdom and about halfway between Norway and Iceland. It is an autonomous country of the Kingdom of Denmark). Their first foreign language is Danish and that was probably the reason I was asked to be her Counsellor. I rush to say that Durita spoke good English upon arrival and Rita soon took over as her South Pacific Mother. She turned 18 the 23rd of December and spend a great time with the Gardners, the Hallys and the Wylies.
Rita spend a lot of time assisting Durita with her presentation about the Faroe Islands planned for the 4th of April 1995. She did not at all follow her prepared script but made a great job of it. The conclusion was a lesson in Faroes chain dancing to every body’s delight. One of our fellows did not believe that he should participate but the young lass walked up to him and dragged him out on the dancefloor making it into yet another remarkable Rotary Tuesday morning.
The 21st of July 1995 Durita travelled back to the Faroe Islands after a remarkable year. Ever since they have been fighting over where to hang the Kiwi calendar, we have sent them. This last Christmas we did not send a calendar and letter as usual. We wanted proof of address and Friday the 18th of January a wonderful parcel arrived with a most elaborate letter. Durita had sent it the 21st of December – 28 days shipping time from the very far north to the very far south is not too bad!
A few years after Durita’s visit she and her sister Marita returned – they rang from the Airport without any prior warning! It was their Grandmother who had initiated that Durita should go as an exchange student and had paid for Durita’s plane trip and again it was Grandmother who had financed their new trip. To their great sadness the grandmother passed away while they were in New Zealand and they had to cut their trip short.
Durita took up the job in a fish factory in Thorshavn and within a few years she became the Managing Director. Unfortunately, many fish factories in the Faroe Islands did not survive a major restructuring and also “Durita’s factory” went into receivership. The Rotarian who was known to her Grandmother and who facilitated her exchange to New Zealand had become Durita’s mentor. He suggested to her that she should study accounting and while she did that - work in his accounting company in Thorshavn. She now holds a Bachelor of Commerce and later this year she will submit her final thesis for her Master’s Degree.
If you would like to make contact to Durita her e-mail address is: dr@spekt.fo
In conclusion this is yet another great story that has happened thanks to the global Rotary Fellowship. I will suggest to Durita that she should follow in the Rotary footsteps of her Mentor.
Kind regards
Niels