Aug 21 / YES Student Featured in National Geographic Magazine
Hina Saifi, India 07-08, hosted in Oregon, is featured in an article highlighting student exchange in National Geographic Magazine’s September 2008 issue!
High School Give and Take
Five Oregon 11th graders balk at working with an Arab exchange student who’s a Muslim. Another Muslim exchange student, Hina Saifi of India, sees the impasse and helps her classmate explain: Islam is not a religion of terror. In the end, the teens all “became close friends,” says Saifi, who was touched to see Americans open “hearts and homes” to her this past school year. That kind of attitude flip was the goal in 1947, when World War ll ambulance drivers from the American Field Service pioneered a high school exchange effort known as AFS. Germany has long been a big player, initially motivated by a desire to do postwar outreach. In the post 9/11 world, US groups hope to welcome more Muslims and ease their culture shock. Since Americans can be a tad parochial, the Council on Standards for International Educational Travel is wooing them as students and as host families. —Marc Silver
© 2008 National Geographic Society
Read more from Hina about her life-changing experience as an exchange student here!
Photo: Hina and host family, the Barclifts, courtesy of Hina Saifi
