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A message from Senior Director of Health and Safety Mike Bowers:

Greetings World Travelers!

I am heading back to China again this week to ensure that our organization continues to maintain senior staff on the ground to make sure that each and every one of our student ambassadors is safe, secure and able to enjoy a journey of a lifetime. As I prepare to leave, I can’t help but reflect on some of the truly amazing and inspiring things I’ve seen and experienced this summer in spite of the flu pandemic and the variety of ways it is handled in individual countries.

As you know, People to People Ambassador Programs provides unique and meaningful cultural interactions to all seven continents throughout the world. We are continuing to welcome Student Ambassador travelers to many countries this summer, including China, where screening for the H1N1 virus appears to be more vigilant. The World Health Organization is not recommending any travel restrictions related to the influenza and has stated that limiting travel and/or imposing any restrictions have very little impact and are highly disruptive to the global community.

We pride ourselves on creating unique moments for our travelers. We call them “People to People Moments,” which we define as special moments that our unique access to people and places provides. We try to do everything possible to ensure our travelers complete their travel with experiences they could not get anywhere else. While the H1N1 pandemic was not what any of us had in mind, it has indeed given us the opportunity to make lifetime friendships, experience new cultures first hand, and learn a little about ourselves along the way.

People to People Ambassadors Programs brought daily care packages into the hotel for those in quarantine to make sure they had something to brighten their day. Our wonderful friends at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing added to that by generously delivering four overflowing boxes of gifts for our students. We were surprised by books, movies, toys, and games like “Life,” “Monopoly” and “Scrabble.” We had so many gifts that our students decided to pay it forward and share the gifts with the many friends they made in the hotel.

Our Student Ambassadors shared their gifts with many - an impromptu game with a newly acquired badminton set to a quarantined father and son from Denmark; toy cars for a 5-year-old; a soccer game for all that wanted to join in. Some released Australian friends conducted a “graduation” service for their departure complete with cap and gowns made from food trays. The food services people in the hotel made a birthday cake for one student; others made some menu changes to reflect student palates. I am so proud of the poise of our travelers, and truly believe that as they continue on their exciting journeys through China, they indeed had the experience of a lifetime!

Safe and happy travels!
Senior Director of Health and Safety

Sincerely,

Mike Bowers
Senior Director of Health and Safety
People to People Ambassador Programs

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Basic Information about the H1N1 Virus

  • The H1N1 virus causes a respiratory infection.
  • The symptoms are similar to the symptoms of regular seasonal flu: fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. Some people have reported diarrhea and vomiting as well.
  • The incubation period is 1-7 days.
  • Eating pork or pork products cannot spread swine flu.

Things to Understand

  • The health and well-being of our student and leader travelers is our paramount concern, and we continue to work with government agencies to communicate the facts about the H1N1 virus situation in a measured and responsible way.
  • Health experts continue to affirm an approach that balances concern without alarm.
  • The World Health Organization (WHO) has removed a travel warning for travel to Mexico. All other regions of the world are considered safe for travel.
  • For information on the current number of confirmed cases of H1N1 visit the Centers for Disease Control.
  • The majority of the patients suffer only minor illness and do not require hospitalization. The more serious cases generally involve patients having some other serious underlying condition.
  • We are constantly monitoring news from the CDC, World Health Organization and federal and state government agencies.

We will continue to update our information as it becomes available.
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