According to organiser Dubretha Oosthuizen, the goal of the programme is to expose young people to new cultures.
The organisation believes experiences like this will provide insight and understanding of different cultures and foster positive international relations.
She said the only criteria for the programme is that students must be between 15 and 17 years old.
She also said applicants must be confident and fairly independent.
Oosthuizen said acceptance to the programme will depend on how applicants perform in the interview.
Three young women spoke to the City Times about their experiences living abroad while on the exchange programme.
Rotary Youth Exchange gave the 17-year-olds the opportunity.
The recent travellers are South African Amy Shuttleworth and Alyssa Mendoza from the United States of America.
Shuttleworth spent a year in Brazil as an exchange student.
Mendoza returned to Alaska on September 12 after attending Hoërskool Hans Moore for a year.
Long-term exchange students live with about four families during their year abroad, but Rotary also offers short-term programmes.
Melissa Pienaar (17) spent six weeks with one family and her host sister, Nicole Gomez from Brazil, spent six weeks with her in South Africa.
She said although she had a good experience, she regrets not picking the long-term programme.
“I miss my host sister very much. I actually phoned my mom a day before my flight home and told her I am not coming back,” she laughs.
Mendoza said she did not want to return home as “[she has] become a part of South African cultures”.
In her first month, she lived in Daveyton and admitted that she struggled to adapt, explaining that she had to wash her school clothes by hand.
However, she praised the host family for teaching her valuable life skills and how to work hard to make ends meet.
When asked what she found strange about South Africa, she said she was surprised to see how many South Africans walk to where they need to be.
She said people in her home town in Alaska usually only travel by car.
Shuttleworth said she would like to return to Brazil as she made “friends for life”.
“Brazil has many cultures from all over the world,” she said.
“I went to one country, but it feels like I experienced every country on earth.”
Shuttleworth lived in a German community in Brazil.
“I can’t explain the experience, South Africans are proud of their cultures, but in Brazil, it is in their everyday lives.”
She admitted she struggled with how “liberal” Brazilians are, saying that she grew up in a Christian home, but she said it “opened [her] mind for new ideas’.
If you want this experience, be sure to apply to get a possible opportunity.
Application forms can be downloaded from the Rotary Youth Exchange District 9400 website and submitted on the website during the remainder of September and during October.
If you are between 15 and 17 years old you could apply to become an exchange student.
Applicants will then be contacted to attend an interview early in 2018.
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