International Meeting Place

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31762, 20 August 1968, Page 3

International Meeting Place

Where in the world can you find a dentistry teacher, a wine consultant, a carpenter, a politician, and a domestic worker enjoying a conversation —especially if one is from Portugal, another from India, and others from Egypt, England and Afghanistan?

These are some of the people from only a few of the places represented at the International Lounge every Tuesday evening at the Young Women’s Christian Association in Washington, D.C. The International Lounge Is also known as the "Top of the Y” because it is located in the seventh floor penthouse at the Y.W.C.A.' headquarters in Washington. It is a meeting place for young people from all over the world who have come to Washington to live, work and study. The idea is to welcome newcomers to the United States. Some people who come have only been In the States for a few days. But most of the weekly visitors have been in Washington or elsewhere for months or even years.

They continue to come be cause they enjoy these Tuesday evenings with people from everywhere. What is it that continues

to bring visitors to the Top of the Y? It is sometimes to talk to, the possibility of one night finding someone from' “back home.” It is a relaxed, sociable evening, with conversation, table tennis, games, dancing, and light refresh meats. River Cruise During the spring and summer months there are also outings to places in and round Washington. Sometimes these' day trips are 'social, as a recent picnic and a moonlight cruise on the Potomac. Often they are educational, too, as a trip to Williamsburg when more than 50 members piled into volunteers’ cars to visit the historic colony in the Virginia countryside. The “Top of the Y” is a place where one can And the answer to a pressing personal problem. A young woman from the Netherlands, recently found a way to continue her secondary education although She must work full-time during the day. A Brazilian girl, who came to Washington to join her brother, asked for help in getting a job with an airline. A partially blind Indian boy was in need of a job, and one of the hostesses arranged several Interviews for him. Others need suggestions about where to find English lessons, and where they might live while they are in Wash ington. U.S. Volunteers

Several young American volunteers are on hand each week to meet and greet new guests. By far the most enthusiastic hostess is Miss Bobbie McKenzie, who works in Washington for the Young Republican National Federation, as do several of the other volunteers. Other volunteers include a sound technician at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, an Investment counsellor, and a schoolteacher from lowa. Another is Walter Butler, a young Negro who works as a carpenter and is studying to become a missionary for the non-sectarian United Family religion. He used to go to the “Top of the Y” as a rather shy guest (many young Americans go to meet people from other countries). Now he'is one of the most active and outgoing volunteers. Walter discovered, as others do, that it is one place where the quality of the individual is the only thing that counts. Racial and ethnic barriers disappear and even young people whose countries are feuding in other parts of the world find a basis for friendship.—U.S. Information Service.