By Aurore Machenaud, YCE delegate of the SW district
Have you heard about the Lions Club’s youth exchanges? Do you know what YCE is?
For more than 60 years, Lions International has offered young people the opportunity to participate in an international intercultural exchange program, the “Youth Camps & Exchange”, otherwise known as the YCE. By receiving and sending young people from all over the world to camps for discovery stays of 2 to 4 weeks, this action promotes the Exchange and cements friendships.
The YCE, for young people aged 15 to 22, including LEOs, is an opportunity to share the Lions movement and values since the young person and his family will receive a young person from another country on the basis of reciprocity.
It’s not a travel agency! It’s an opportunity to open up to other cultures, to other people. It is an opportunity for the development of participants who expand their field of possibilities, with actions carried out around themes such as Sight, Environment, diabetes, … 3000 young people participate in this experience (/ stays?) every year.
About 95 YCE camps are held annually in 37 countries. France offers 9 camps in different districts, between Paris, Dinan, Marseille, Annecy…
District 103 Sud-Ouest organizes the Camp du Périgord Noir since 2015. Created in cooperation by Lions around the Southwest Gastronomy, we welcome young people, including a young visually impaired. After a family holiday, the young people then meet between the Dune du Pyla and the Dordogne, to discover Bordeaux and the cave of Lascaux!
