The Visiting Rotary Sponsored Team’s first call was at the Ministry of The Environment. Minister of State for the Environment, Phenton Neymour is pictured with two of the visiting team members, Rich Turnbull, Team Leader and Jackie Hird, Team Member and Murray Forde, Past Assistant Governor, Rotary Clubs of the Bahamas and Head of the VTT Host Committee.

Nassau, Bahamas - A Rotary sponsored Vocational Training Team (formerly known as Group Study Exchange) is currently visiting The Bahamas as part of an exchange between Rotary District 7020 (10 countries in The Bahamas and the Northern Caribbean) and District 6970 (in Northern Florida). The visiting team will be spending 4 weeks in District 7020 having arrived in Nassau after spending a week in the Turks & Caicos. The team will also visit Eleuthera and Abaco, hosted by the Rotary Clubs in those islands. In exchange, District 6970 will be hosting a team from Haiti, part of District 7020.

Each team under the program consists of a Rotarian Team Leader and up to four non-Rotarians between the ages of 25 to 40 that have been employed in their respective chosen fields for a minimum of two years. The members of the visiting team are involved in the Environmental and Community Development Fields and the trip has a special focus on eco-tourism. The Host District arranges for the members to stay at Rotarians homes and arranges visits to various businesses involved in that field as well as to leading industries and cultural activities in the Host Country, where ideas and information is exchanged. In keeping with that focus, the Team’s first visit was with the Ministry of The Environment. A visit was also made to the Ministry of Tourism. Many any other places of interest will be visited in the three Bahamian Islands, followed by the final destination in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The team is also making presentations at five of the 13 Rotary Clubs in The Bahamas during their two week stay.

Rotary International has approximately 1.2 million members in some 200 countries and territories around the world, divided into over 530 Districts. The overall purpose of the VTT Exchange Program between Districts is to promote international understanding and peace via these international exchanges.