Amanda Diniz Malheiros1

July 18, 2007

To Whom it May Concern:

My name is Elizabeth Elliott (most people know me as Lisa) and I was sponsored by the Rotary Club of Edmonton Strathcona to participate in a youth exchange during the 2005-2006 academic year. I spent eleven months in francophone Belgium and made some of the very finest friends and met some of the most dynamic individuals that I have had the privilege to know. Without hesitation, I would say that the most excellent part of youth exchange is the people: the sponsor and host Rotarians; the host families and friends; and the international friendships with fellow exchange students. I have come to know and appreciate the power of Rotary, a worldwide organization with international standards and globally accepted aims and principles that seek to serve and better the world we live in.

I am currently in the process of finding employer sponsorship for a good friend of mine: Amanda Diniz Malheiros, a Brazilian who was hosted by the Rotary Club of Theux-Pepinster in Belgium, as was I. During our time in Europe, Amanda was my best friend and sister in exchange. Since returning to our respective homelands, we have continued to correspond diligently by phone and email. Amanda had long hoped to spend time in Canada or the United States working and improving her English. After our year together, when Amanda again expressed interest in coming to Canada for several months to live and work, I spoke with my family and we extended to her an invitation to stay in our home.

Amanda hopes to come to Canada for four to six months in January of 2008. This being said, she must be granted a work visa, a process greatly facilitated by employer sponsorship. While Amanda is not really looking for full time employment (her aim is not to make a profit), with the difference in currency value, and the relative lack of student employment opportunities in Brazil, she would like to be able to work enough to cover living expenses, English classes, and any occasion for travel that come her way while in Canada.

I am sending this letter to you, Rotarians, because it is thanks to Rotary that I had the chance to meet and know Amanda. I believe also that this sort of exchange may be of interest to many Rotarians, who, in my experience, tend to see and appreciate the value of cultural and linguistic exchange to promote global understanding. I would appreciate very much if you could share this letter with anyone you feel might have an interest and the capacity to help out. Attached you will find a letter from Amanda explaining who she is, as well as a copy of her resume I have helped her translate into English. I would urge any interested parties to contact me by email or phone as soon as possible. Have a safe and sunny summer- my best wishes to you all!

Sincerely,

Elizabeth (Lisa) Elliott

Phone: (780) 436-9118

Email:

July 2007

Dearest Rotarians,

My name is Amanda Diniz Malheiros, I am eighteen years old, I am Brazilian and I live in the city of Belo Horizonte (in the Southeast of Brazil). It has been two years since I prepared myself to go to Belgium as an exchange student, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Curvelo and received (hosted) by the Rotary Club of Pepinster-Theux. Probably Lisa already told you that we became great

friends over there. We lived in a small city in the East of Belgium, called

Theux. I met Anne Macdonald there also, Lisa’s mother, when she came to visit

some days with her daughter.

It has been one year since I came back to Brazil, and since then, I have prepared myself to write difficult university entrance exams so I may start my program in Economic Sciences, at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, in August of 2007. Until August, I worked as a receptionist in my mother’s psychiatric clinic. I also taught a horseback-riding course in January of this year. Horseback riding is one of my favorite activities.

I am not sure about which area I want to finally have a career in, but I am thinking about maybe Political Sciences, Local Economics or International Economics. I have done some research and I discovered that my University in Brazil has a partnership with some good universities in Quebec and British Columbia. I am interested in and thinking about doing some specialization in Canada or England in a few years, but I feel need to speak English more fluently (it has been five

years that I took an English course in Brazil!), even though I already speak

Portuguese and French.

Lisa’s family invited me to spend a few months at their house in Canada - this is an incredible chance! This way, I will have the opportunity to improve my English, see old Canadians friends that I made in Belgium, and know your country that enchants me.

As I’ve never been in Edmonton, I thought that Rotary could help me to find a job or suggest to me some places where I could look, or offer an opinion about where to find a job that can help me also perhaps to see what is the work done in the fields I am wanting to study. Also, I would like to be able to have a job, so I would have some more money to live and travel in Canada, and to be able to meet some more great people! Also, the job is crucial to my obtaining a working Visa for five months (January until May / 2008).

Thank you very much for your aid!

Greetings.

Amanda Diniz Malheiros

Dona Cecília Street, nº 64, ap. 201

Brazil

E-mail:

AMANDA DINIZ MALHEIROS

Rua Dona Cecilia, 62 –apto. 201  Belo Horizonte  Minas Gerais Brazil

Telephone: (31) 3225-0232 email:

OVERVIEW

  • Past participation in leadership projects
  • Capacity to live and work with other people in multi-cultural situations
  • Well organized and tidy; Picks up new skills fast
  • Able to keep calm under pressure; able to work individually and in teams in situations where communication is essential.
  • Cheerful and Welcoming; happy to meet and know new people.

EDUCATION

  • Current Student of the Federal University of Minas Gerais, working towards a Degree in Economic Sciences (in Belo Horizonte / Brazil)
  • Selected for a Rotary Youth Exchange studying in francophone Belgium; Completed one year of schooling in French at the Institute St. Roch (high school) ((August 2005 – August 2006)
  • Graduate of LoyolaSchool (High School) in Belo Horizonte / Brazil (January 2004 – June 2005)
  • Completion of the Unimaster University Preparatory Course, in preparation for University Entrance Exams (August – December 2006)

EMPLOYMENT BACKGROUND

  • Receptionist at Psychiatric Clinic March 2007-July 2007

Responsibilities:

-answered telephone and simple queries; took messages

-Greeted patients and instructed them in the waiting room

- Respectfully filed confidential documents and papers

  • Routine Babysitter Costa Family  since January 2005

Responsibilities: (two times weekly)

-entertained preschool aged children

-supervised and kept children safe

-prepared meals and snacks

  • Assistant for Banking Services  Weaving São Geraldo  January 2003 – November 2003

Responsibilities:

- make payments and deposits

AWARDS AND CERTIFICATES

  • Medal of Honor; best student award at Institute Pequeno Príncipe – Expansão (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003)
  • “Best student” award at the CCAA English Course (May 2003); completion of the CCAA English Course (July 1999 – December 2003)
  • Bronze Medal for Equestrian Competition at the Farming and Industrial Exposition of Curvelo (2000)
  • Participation at the Fifth Annual Festival of Dance at the Institute of Ballet “Elisa Lopes” in Curvelo.

LANGUAGE SKILLS

  • Portuguese: mother tongue; excellent reading and writing skills
  • French: fluent speaker; good reading and writing skills
  • English: basic comprehension; aural comprehension exceeds oral skills, basic writing skills
  • Spanish: basic comprehension; aural comprehension exceeds oral skills
HOBBIES AND INTERESTS

- Music

- Reading (fiction and nonfiction; interested in philosophy)

- Enjoys traveling and visiting with people

- Exchanging new ideas and culture

- Animals (horses, dogs, other farm animals such as cows)

REFERENCES available upon request