Dear members of the Rotary Club in Clearwater, my name is Sarah Wiefels and I was an exchange student in your town in 1999/2000.
I was living with three families: Eileen Sedgwick, Dean and Lori Redman and Lil and Stan Saari (Golf Course). I stayed in Clearwater and visited the eleventh grade of Clearwater Secondary School and did not want to come back to Germany.
But of course I had to go back, finish high school and later nursing school. After years of working at the university hospital of Freiburg (Black Forest), I started studying nursing science in Switzerland.
In 2009 my first child was born, Leon Noel. While working as a clinical nurse specialist in palliative care my daughter Mia was born in 2012. And again, I started studying the master program in palliative care.
In 2015 I decided to move back closer to my family, which was still living near Cologne (north western part of Germany). Now I am working in the university hospital of Bonn as a CNS in palliative care. My third child Yuma was born in 2017 and completes our household now.
Since I stayed in Clearwater, I’ve stayed in touch with my host family, with Dean and Lori Redman and their daughters, my sisters. I made it back “home” in 2008. And it felt like I had never been gone.
My year in Clearwater has been one of the best times in my life so far and I will always keep it in my heart. I would not have been able to go on exchange without the help of the Rotary Club. And although meetings in Clearwater were quite early in the morning, I always had fun singing “Oh Canada” and having breakfast together.
This year will be our 20th anniversary and all exchange students from district 5060 will meet in Revelstoke in August. Most of the students will visit their host families and host clubs again. Since I am a single mom now, I won’t be able to afford travel expenses for me and the three kids.
This is emotionally really hard for me especially after not having been able to visit my host sisters’ wedding last year already. (My host sister Robin Earle moved back to Clearwater from Tasmania last year and her little son is the same age as my little daughter).
But still it is one of my biggest dreams to show Clearwater and B.C. to my kids one day. I wanted you all to know that I think of Clearwater and all my friends and families quite often. Thank you for this amazing opportunity to be part of your community. Clearwater will always be in my heart. Keep the exchange program running. It is one way of keeping the world together.
Take care and all the best from Germany,
Sarah Wiefels
