Each year the Rotary Club of Pelham awards a Will Watt Fellow to the student that most exemplifies the ideals of GRSP. This year’s recipient of the student Will Watt Award was Aaron Bezuidenhout, who is from Zimbabwe and is attending Augusta University. He is sponsored by five District 6910 Rotary Clubs, RC of Thomson, RC of Washington-Wilkes, RC of Columbia County, RC of Columbia County West and RC of Martinez Evans and wrote the following in the year book:

So many people ask me how long it took for me to get to the USA from my home in Zimbabwe. The honest truth is that I don’t really know. I kind of lost track after hour 28. What I can tell you however is that every hour, minute, and second was worth it. Looking back at my time in little Augusta Georgia, I realized that I spent many hours traveling here as well. The thing is I remember the details of those trips so much more clearly. It got me thinking about all the places I've been to, people I've met, and things I've experienced while exploring the USA. I doubt I’ll be able to fit it all into this article, but hopefully I will leave you without a doubt that my time here has been incredible.

The GRSP program has managed to tap into an essential truth about life. A place is nothing more than the people that live there. Knowing this, Rotarians have been able to experience the entire globe through the lives of the students they have graciously brought here to the USA. In turn each student has experienced the globe by GRSP students, and learning about the USA from its people. Living with a six-foot tall Danish guy named Jakob was something that I never thought I'd be doing a few years ago. Neither was building cardboard boats with a Brazilian guy and Scottish gal. That was the beauty of GRSP; we may have been here to experience US culture, but we got to experience so much more through the connections we forged with the other students. If the richness of a life was measured by the quality of those one meets along the way, and the experience one has, then I am wealthy indeed after this year.

Foreign students aside, the University experience I have had at Augusta University has been phenomenal. The diversity there made me feel at ease and making friends seemed to be as easy as saying hello. Each person I befriended on campus was unique and had their own story to tell about the USA. My American Government class had some bone deep philosophy, my math class had beautiful poetry, and my composition class had art. Nothing was what I expected and it was so much more enlightening that way. I ate grits and drank Starbucks in the morning, had pepperoni pizza at crazy campus events, and enjoyed tacos with friends while we ranted about our workload in the evenings. It was a lifestyle that fit me perfectly in almost every way, and I enjoyed it all thoroughly.

I was not always on campus however. I spent a number of weekends with two of my host families when not on a student outing. I traveled to South Carolina and talked politics with a software engineer over coffee at Christmas. I got to sleigh down the side of Black Mountain in North Carolina. I spoke at an open mic poetry event in downtown Augusta. These are all moments that GRSP granted me through the generosity of its Rotarians, and I will be forever grateful.

My time in the USA, with the amazing Rotarians of Georgia and intriguing GRSP students is drawing to a close. It has not all been sunshine and rainbows; the racial divide and social polarization here has been higher than any time in this decade. Despite all this I see a lot of hope in the USA. People are willing to help one another, sacrifice for each other, and defend one another. I believe that what I will take back from seeing the people of the USA interact with each other is that there will always be someone who cares about your situation despite all the problems that they may be facing. That is the most beautiful part of US culture for me.