ROTARY Club of Okehampton is sponsoring a young professional from Devon taking part in in a Rotary International group study exchange.

On April 28, team leader Sally Wilcox and a team of young professionals from Devon comprising police officer Ed Vallins, lawyer Lucy Seymour and development management officer Sulina Tallack, will travel to South Korea for a one-month exchange. At the same time, a similar team of South Koreans will travel to Devon.

Rotary Club of Okehampton have sponsored Sulina Tallack for the trip.

Sulina, originally from Yorkshire, moved to Devon to study for a teaching degree 17 years ago. Sulina has worked for East Devon District Council for the last ten years in a variety of community involvement and project delivery roles.

The opportunity has been provided by Rotary International, and is known as the Group Study Exchange (GSE).

During their month long trip, the team will travel throughout their host province of Jeollanam-Do, the south western province of South Korea. 

Each team member will stay with host families, and the team will visit Rotary Clubs to provide a pre-prepared presentation on the topic of peace and conflict resolution, the theme of the exchange between Devon and Jeollanam-Do.

The team will also engage in vocational visits to learn and exchange ideas and visit businesses and governmental departments to explore local issues and initiatives.

The team aim to share their thoughts and insights as to their professional contribution to peace and conflict resolution by way of a prepared presentation that will be delivered to Rotary clubs within Jeollanam-Do.

Sulina will concentrate on major infrastructure projects as well as community involvement in decision making and the delivery of social projects.

The team also aim to learn, via their cultural and vocational visits in the province, about conflicts which develop locally and methods which are used to resolve such conflict.

Ed Vallins said: 'We meet regularly to plan for the trip, meeting for language lessons and researching and discussing the culture of the country.

'The intention of our exchange is to foster international relations and support the development of young professionals in addition to raising awareness of Rotary's initiatives.

'For me, this will be a once in a lifetime opportunity and I am really looking forward to learning about South Korea and its people, first hand.'