WORLD JERSEY CATTLE BUREAU

YOUTH TRAVEL SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMME

REPORT FOR THE 2006 COUNCIL MEETING IN SWITZERLAND

 by Anne Corner (UK)

 The WJCB Youth Travel Scholarship Programme is for young people between the age of 18 and 26,  and is a wonderful opportunity for young people from around the World to visit a country of their choice and learn more about Jersey cattle in that particular country. It is a hosted programme and participants live as family, with stays normally for six months. Some young people prefer to stay a few weeks or months on one particular farm while others like to move around with shorter stays in one place. At the moment all participants, provided they take part for a minimum of three months, are given a £400 grant from the Lord Jersey Research Trust which now incorporates monies received from the Sir James Knott Trust Fund. This grant is towards their travel to a country and insurance for travel and staying on farms; all participants must be fully insured.  Young people live as part of the family and in return they help out with farm responsibilities. There is give-and-take in this relationship and it is a learning experience for the young person to live with another family.

As reported last year at the Council Meeting,  Sergio Salazar from Costa Rica visited New Zealand. He thanked everyone for making his visit possible and urged other young people to take part in this great experience. Jo Stubbs from the UK also visited New Zealand, and again appreciated the great opportunity to take part. Similarly, Miguel Segura from Costa Rica visited New Zealand and returned home earlier this year. Thanks to Don Shaw and all the other host families in New Zealand who made their visits possible.

In April last year Fernando Delgado from Colombia visited South Africa and learnt much about the keeping of Jersey cattle in this country as well as learning a new language.  Fernando had worked with Jersey cattle for many years as his family owned Hacienda Extremadure Jersey Farm, nationally and internationally recognised for the quality of its livestock. Fernando’s goals were to be a successful Jersey breeder to maintain the farm’s prestige and profitability. Fernando was the first young person to take part in the programme from Colombia. Most of the six months that Fernando was in South Africa he was hosted by Etienne and Liegie Rouseau. Etienne himself took part in the programme in 1990 when he visited the UK. Many thanks to them both.

Last July Rebekah McCaul from Australia took part, visiting the UK and returning home in November. Rebekah came from a farm in the Fleurieu Peninsular,  South Australia,  and was very interested in value-adding to the raw milk product as all the milk produced on the family farm is processed by their own factory – a family concern with generations of cheese-making knowledge.   Whilst in the UK, Rebekah had the chance to stay on many farms and visit many processing plants, as well as the Royal Show, the Great Yorkshire Show, the Dairy Event, the South West Dairy Event and the Young People’s All Breeds Calf Weekend.  She also went to Jersey Island, and, in her own words, she is “the luckiest girl in the world to have had this opportunity”.

Also from July 2005, Ashley Mayer from the USA visited England and Jersey, returning home just before Christmas. Ashley comes from Taneytown in Maryland, and is responsible for her family’s Jersey cows. Ashley visited many farms and appreciated her stay. She also had the opportunity to learn about the production and marketing of ice-cream on a farm in Cumbria. Here the family gave her the chance to come up with her own recipe and market it - her “Mississippi Mud Pie” (a mixture of malt balls, chocolate chips, caramel and marshmallows in chocolate ice cream) was second in the farm’s sales. Ashley also had a short tour to Denmark with the Jersey Cattle Society of the UK.

Very many thanks to all the families who have so kindly hosted these two popular young ladies.

All the participants mentioned in this Report have been wonderful ambassadors for their respective countries in the Jersey world.

For the future, James Wallace from the UK is visiting New Zealand from mid-October and arrangements are in hand for his visit.  From Ecuador (once their visas are arranged), Holguer Fernando Salguero is planning to visit New Zealand and Edwin Alzamoro is planning to go to the UK. There have been other enquiries from Kenya and Brazil.

The programme is a wonderful and exciting opportunity for young people to partake in what it offers:

• more knowledge of the Jersey Breed
• a learning experience - worth a lot
• life-long friendships
• the possibility of learning another language
• the chance to see a country and experience its culture.

The Youth Travel Scholarship programme is a stimulating part of the Bureau’s work to be involved with,  and hopefully more young people will apply. 

Anne Corner
Youth Travel Scholarship Programme Co-ordinator, World Jersey Cattle Bureau                                                                    May 2006