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st the tribune thursday september 11 1997p 17 stouffvi lie welcomes teen from the netherlands kate gilderdale correspondent pieterdine schilthuis 19 recently arrived in stouffville from the netherlands to take part in the mennonite central committee mcc inter national visitor exchange program its for people around the world who want to come to north america to work for a year explained schilthuis there are 65 people involved five are in ontario and im the only one here in stouffville the exchange hours a week in their chosen vocation and are treated as apprentices rather than hired help in addition to providing a job the sponsor also pays the trainees room and board gives him or her spending money and pays mcc for over heads such as transportation and medical costs host and sponsor work together to introduce their guest to the church and to help establish contact with people in the community first i came to pennsylvania for the orientation which was about three days then i travelled to ontario said schilthuis although she has been in stouffville for just a few weeks she is already enjoying the experi ence everything is bigger here the first day i came i went to niagara falls and went on the maid of the mist she was impressed with the falls but my shoes got wet she said with a smile she has visited st jacobs and was invited to spend labour day weekend with some new friends 1 went to volleyball on monday evening at the missionary church and met some young people there schilthuis completed high school in may i came here because i didnt know what i wanted to do or what to study so i took a year off after months spent organizing her trip i was ready to leave but it was hard for my parents i was the youngest i have one brother and he studies at university he was a trainee a few years ago on the same program in bc and although she is sometimes a little bit homesick the prospect of the year ahead fills her with enthusiasm im looking forward to the leaves changing and the snow in the winter program promotes international friendships be tween young peo ple particularly mennonites and gives them an op portunity to learn about different cul tures languages attitudes and work ing conditions this program offers a great op portunity for young people to broaden their hori zons and views to stretch their minds to make new inter national friends to exchange ideas on religion education and working me thods to learn a new language or get more fluent and to learn to understand them selves and others better explained geralde reesor the local ivep co ordinator schilthuis will spend six months living in stouffville and working at the care and share shoppe which is her sponsor and then i will go somewhere else in canada for six months probably out west she said they do try to get you to two dif ferent areas said reesor in some cases however participants or trainees remain in the same location throughout the year you have to choose in october whether you want to stay for the full year or whether you want to switch the program which is partly selffinancing involves the spon sor who provides employment for the trainee and a host who supplies accommodation and meals wel coming the young person as part of the family visitors work approximately 40 waterloo sowestmountrdn v 51918886388 new locatlon ancaster meadowland power ctr hwy 403 mohawk rd v 905 3043777 markham winners square plaza 5221 highway 7 e s 905 4770393 oakville oakville town centre 290 n service road k 90s 8 151530 oakville hyde park gate plaza 2501 hyde park drive v 905 8293397 shoestrings superstores over 10000 square feet in size featuring a full selection of brands and models and a kids entertainment area