Experience a Foreign Country without Leaving Home

  connecting lives, sharing cultures

 As someone who has hosted a foreign intern who came to work at the Applied Physics Lab I can strongly encourage you to consider hosting an exchange student.  You get to experience a foreign country on a daily basis.  Plus you get a family to stay with if you ever visit that foreign country! Consider the experience.  As Midnight Ryder indicates that it is too late for this year to host a student in Howard County it is something to think about for next year and to pass the info on to people living in other counties for this year.

 

Urgent Request: Host Placement for AFS Students

by Midnight Ryder

As a Volunteer with AFS, a 501(c) 3 non-profit, I am writing with an urgent request to assist with finding host family placements for incoming International Students:

At AFS-USA, many high school students are still without host families. In working with colleagues in our industry it is clear that the entire US-based exchange field is experiencing a year that is more challenging than anyone anticipated. AFS is a non-profit international exchange organization for students and adults operating in more than 50 countries, and organizes and supports intercultural learning experiences. 

We currently have 330 students who are without a Welcome (up to 6 weeks) or a Permanent (semester or year) Host Family. The absolute and final US Department of State deadline for placing students is August 31^st, just 6 days away.  Who do you know around the country who might be open to helping out? Unfortunately the Howard County School enrollment deadline has now passed, but we all know people in surrounding counties and locations with big hearts and a spare bedroom.

AFS-USA works toward a more just and peaceful world by providing international and intercultural learning experiences to individuals, families, schools, and communities through a global volunteer partnership. Founded by volunteer ambulance drivers following WWII, and sustained to this day by an international cadre of tens of thousands of volunteers, AFS has transformed the lives of millions of students, families and individuals.

 

*"We are living in tough times. We eat in rather than dine out. Vacations are staycations. But laughter and love, sharing and understanding are priceless. And, for a young person from another country, your home and your lifestyle are perfect. All they want is to come to America... and experience what it's like to be an American high school student.”

Consider spreading the word via Facebook, contacting Uncle Harry and Aunt Mable and cycling through your address books. Do it for your family, your community, and for a young person who must hear in August that a family has been found.

Click this link to www.afsusa.org for more information about hosting and open your home to this amazing experience.

*Mary Porterfield, AFS-USA Board Chair 2011-2012 

http://www.afs.org/afs-and-exchange-programs/

P.S.

You might also want to consider the Columbia Association Sister Cities programs for foreign students.  Check it out.

P.S.2

As Republicans force the Senate to stay in session so that the President can't make any recess appointments yesterday something occurred that might lead to a trivia question.  When did the Senate meet in a Post Office museum? Tuesday they did when the earthquake forced the Senate out of the Capitol.