DATE: Monday, July 28, 1997                 TAG: 9707280099

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY PHYLLIS SPEIDELL, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: SUFFOLK                           LENGTH:   76 lines

BORDERS YIELD TO INTERNATIONAL BONDS AT CAMP

International understanding flew forward with a few passes of a volleyball when teenagers from around the world met for the first time at a backyard barbecue in Suffolk.

Thirty-one students from 19 countries are spending a month or more in Hampton Roads, experiencing American culture while becoming acquainted with one another and a world of different lifestyles. Hosted by local families, the teens are part of the John M. White Youth Exchange Camp sponsored by Lions International, District 24-D.

Each summer since 1981, the Lions have brought dozens of international students, ages 15 to 21, here to spend two weeks with a host family and two weeks at the exchange camp based at Virginia Wesleyan College. This year's camp ends Saturday.

During camp, the teens take field trips to Washington, Baltimore, and a variety of local sites, learning about everyday life in America while forming strong bonds with one another.

``Hello,'' said Michelle Reuland, a tall, blond 16-year-old high school student, to each participant at the barbecue. ``My name is Michelle, and I come from Luxembourg, a small country between Germany, France, and Belgium.''

``No one seems to know where Luxembourg is,'' she said, with some surprise. ``They have all heard of it but don't know where it is.''

Michelle and the other students spent their first evening together tossing around a volleyball, eating hamburgers, getting acquainted and trading impressions - all in English. Some fluency in the English language is a camp requirement, and many of the students were eager to come to the United States to polish their skills.

A few of the teens, such as Michelle, had been in the States for only a few days. Others, such as Lorenzo Banfi, 17 and from Milan, Italy, arrived earlier and had almost two weeks to acclimate.

``Everything here is bigger: the cars, the streets, even the cereal boxes,'' Lorenzo said. ``I had known the U.S. only from the movies and was surprised to find that it was not all like New York City.''

A Texas Rangers fan, Lorenzo, like several others, eagerly anticipated a trip to an Orioles baseball game and a tour of Washington.

But small everyday adventures are as much a part of the exchange experience as the more elaborate field trips. Pool parties, shopping, a fishing trip and learning to work together to negotiate a rope course were all part of the agenda.

One host parent, Jerry Shell, a Chesapeake resident with an optical business in Suffolk, hosted a camper from Brazil but learned that another participant, Esra Bahar Noyin, a 17-year-old from Istanbul, Turkey, had always dreamed about riding a Harley-Davidson.

``Well, you are in luck because I have one, and we are taking a ride before you leave,'' Shell told her.

While the other students traveled thousands of miles to reach the camp, Cheryl Langston, 17, drove less than 25 miles from her Suffolk home. A rising senior at Nansemond River High School, Cheryl was the lone U.S. representative.

She won the camp experience the same way the international students did, by winning the top prize in a Lions-sponsored essay contest.

Dan Atwood, former Lions district governor and current camp director, is always amazed at how the students overcome national differences and then bond.

``We sometimes get kids from countries that are not friendly to each other, and, by the end of camp, they are hugging, crying, exchanging gifts and addresses,'' he said.

Anna Golusinska, 16 and from Poland, agreed. After participating in a Lions camp in Iowa last year, she remains in touch with all the other campers and will return to visit her former host family in Iowa when she leaves Hampton Roads. MEMO: For more information about the camp, or to become a host family,

call John Berryman at 484-1267.For more information about the camp, or

to become a host family, call John Berryman at 484-1267. ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo

RICHARD L. DUNSTON/The Virginian-Pilot

Students worked together to help Cemhan Baykal, 19, of Turkey, leap

a fallen tree in the Lions exchange camp.

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