CULTURAL EXCHANGE

The Rotary Club, together with the Australian Consulate in Cannakale, organised a cultural exchange between eight girls from Cannakale College and our eight students from Christian Brothers’ College in St. Kilda. With limited English from the girls and no Turkish from our boys, the initial meetings were awkward. However within minutes of getting on the bus, there were signs of chatter between the groups which broke into laughter and many photos taken. Email addresses were exchanged, MSN contacts added and promises of group photos to be displayed prominently on their Facebook or Myspace pages. Our tour guide, Izzett, was unbelievable with his knowledge of the battlefields and retold accounts with sensitivity and compassion. Upon hearing our boys were from St. Kilda, Izzett told the group that Albert Jacka, Australia’s first VC winner of the campaign was the Mayor of St. Kilda in 1930 and that he is buried in the St.Kilda cemetery in Hotham St. Wow!
The joining of the nations’ youth could not have been epitomised better than witnessing the group walk arm in arm down from a Turkish monument singing and laughing, revelling in each others’ company.