Operation Friendship International

NEWSLETTER NO. 45 - February 2002

Gerhard Steiner, International Secretary ( IS )

E-mail: [email protected]

Dear OF - friends!

Reading the newsletter you will notice that only a few countries have sent information for it. It's a pity that there seems to be not too much interest in it, although we have asked for better communication the last years. Even for the newsletter in November I had to remind most of the member countries by a special mail . I also sent out an action list. At the upcoming IM we should give it a serious thought and think our deadlines over , too. I wish you and your delegation a save trip to Holland and I'm looking forward to seeing you all there.

Best wishes Ge

BAVARIA: ( News from Ge Steiner )

The delegates for the IM are: Claudia Prößl, Annette Schlamminger and MonikaStich Agenda Items: 1. European exchanges - European countries should think of planning more exchanges within Europe 2. Lack of communication - concerning the International Newsletter - are two newsletters too many?

CZECH REPUBLIC: - NO NEWS

ENGLAND: - NO NEWS

ESTONIA - NO NEWS

HUNGARY: ( News from Maria Dánné)

Definitely there will be two delegates for the IM in Holland: Katalin Tarjan and Anna Scheili. But they'd like to send three more. No agenda items at the moment.

IRELAND: ( News from Harry Wallace )

The Officebearers in OF Ireland remain unchanged from last year. Following the tragic events of September last year, we are pleased that OF America has been able to to send a good number of groups to Europe this year. We wish them all a safe and enjoyable visit. We are expecting one group who will be hosted in Portadown. Our Dungannon Group hope to host a group from Bavaria. International Meeting. The following Delegates will be attending the Meeting in Holland:- Ivy Williams, Rosemary Wray, Lilian Southwell. Thanks to the present cheap airfares there will also be several guests of whom we have already given OF Holland the details.

SCOTLAND: NO NEWS

SWEDEN: NO NEWS

THE NETHERLANDS: ( News by Henk Brouwer )

1. Age. We like to discus about lowering the agelimit for exchange to the USA to 14 years.

2. The future of OF. This is an old item. But we have the bad feelings that in a few countries (including The Netherlands) it is more difficult to get people interested in OF. What can we do about that? May be together we have some new ideas.

The I.M. We are expecting more than 40 delegates and guests to the international meeting in Vorden. We are very glad about that. At this moment we are working finishing the preparations. We will inform every person in the coming weeks about their hostfamilies a.s.o. That will be in the middle of March. So don't get nervous if it takes some time. Best regards and looking forward to meet you all in April.

UKRAINE: NO NEWS

USA: ( News from Linda Hogan )

OFA will be sending 76 travelers plus 8 advisors to OFE during the summer of 2002. The current distribution will be Holland 10 + 1, Bavaria 10 + 1, England 7 + 1, Wales 10 + 1, Northern Ireland 10 + 1, Scotland 19 + 2, Sweden 10 + 1. The delegates and advisors are anxiously anticipating the trip. OFA has no agenda items.

WALES: NO NEWS