Exchange program leads to decade-long friendship, highly anticipated reunion

BY SHAWN LOUGHLIN

A reunion 10 years in the making played out near Walton late last month as a local family welcomed back an exchange student from Brazil who first entered their lives a decade earlier and never really left.

 

Vandeilson Silva, who goes by Van, first came to Huron County 10 years ago as part of a high school exchange. Silva earned the right to come to Canada by excelling in his studies and spent almost an entire semester at Central Huron Secondary School (CHSS) in Clinton, all while living with Brenda Nyveld and Reg Vinnicombe and their son Nick on their farm near Walton.

 

He so firmly connected with his host family that when the time came to say goodbye, both parties found it hard to bid farewell. So, they kept in touch all these years, with Silva keeping up a monthly phone call with the family and, this fall, Silva was finally able to come back and see his beloved Canadian friends.Brenda, Reg and Nick all agree that Silva became a member of the family all those years ago and it was thrilling to have him back in the area. This time, however, now 10 years older than he was in his high school days, Silva is a member of the work force and could only visit for about a week-and-a-half, but that was enough to reconnect with the people he so loved from his first visit to Canada.

 

Silva isn’t the only student that the Walton family has hosted over the years, but he’s certainly the one who made the biggest impact on them. 

 

Back in 2014, Silva didn’t speak much English, so admittedly, it took a while for him to connect with his host family and his fellow CHSS students. That meant that Silva initially spent the bulk of his time at school with other Brazilian exchange students. However, he began gravitating towards Nick and learning more English and soon they were inseparable, with Silva even tagging along on field trips that Nick’s class would take.

 

He considered himself very lucky, however, because it’s quite expensive for a student from Brazil to travel to Canada for five months, so, to be given that opportunity, he said, he has always been grateful.

 

Silva said he found the culture very different in Canada, even down to the schools and how they operated. Another big difference, of course, was the weather. With Silva being in Canada over the winter semester and spending holidays like Halloween and Christmas in Huron County, it was certainly a bit different than the weather and temperatures with which he’d been accustomed in Brazil.

 

However, he soon came to love what he was experiencing in Canada and found it hard to leave when the time came, but he had vowed to come back when he could.

 

Nick says he really did become part of their family during that time, so he continued to keep in touch through Facebook as the years went on. The boys are both young men now. Nick has started his own videography and video recovery business and Silva is now a flight attendant after a brief stint in teaching English, picking up so much of it during his first visit.

 

During his most recent visit, Silva travelled to Niagara Falls, Toronto and around Huron County to see some of the sights and reconnect with some familiar faces from a decade earlier. This time, he brought along his fiancé Alan who was able to take in everything alongside Silva and the family.

 

Nick unfortunately had to work a lot, but he spent as much time with the couple as he could, so they were able to make it work. During the interview, he said he’d love to head to Brazil for a visit one day, but factors like budget and schedule would have to align for that to happen. Silva even has some landmarks already chosen that he hopes to show off, like Rio de Janeiro, Iguazu Falls, the Amazon and more.