By Rodger Mullen, originally published in the Fay Observer. Photo by Paul Woolverton

Occasionally, Hassan Hassan (YES 2016-17, Tanzania, hosted by AFS in Fayetteville, NC) has to explain his native Tanzania to his Jack Britt High School classmates.

"They ask me a lot of questions about my country," Hassan said. "They don't know where my country is. Sometimes they ask me if Africa is a country or continent."

Hassan, 17, doesn't mind the questions. Answering them is part of the reason he's in the United States.

As a participant in the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study Program, Hassan is spending a year learning about American culture while talking to Americans about his own.

Hassan is staying at the Hope Mills home of Chantelle and David Goodman. He arrived in August and will be here through the end of the school year.

Hassan, who has four sisters, lives in Zanzibar, which consists of two islands off the coast of the east African country. His native language is Swahili.

The Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study Program was established by Congress in Oct. 2002 as a response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. It provides scholarships for high school students from predominately Muslim countries to learn about American society and values.

A related program, YES Abroad, gives U.S. students the opportunity to spend a year in predominately Muslim countries. More than 9,500 students have participated in the program since 2003, according to its web site.

Hassan competed with hundreds of other students to win the opportunity to participate.

"In my family, I am the first to come to this country," said Hassan, who has been improving his English skills since coming here.

Hassan has not been shy about exploring U.S. culture during his visit here.He has attended a Lumbee pow-wow and experienced the diversity of local culture at Fayetteville's International Folk Festival. Hassan has also visited museums, gone to movies, church services, a school dance and visited a water park.

Chantelle Goodman said the idea is to help Hassan experience the full breadth of local culture."We made a list of as many things that we could think of that he wouldn't have experienced otherwise," she said.

Hassan said he also enjoyed foods he might not have been able to eat in Tanzania, including lasagna, macaroni and cheese and Thai chicken.

The experience has not been without its challenges. Hassan said he struggled at first to understand his teachers."But now I've adjusted," he said. "I understand them." There has been plenty of time for fun as well. Hassan has learned how to play Frisbee and the card game UNO. He plans to learn how to swim and go horseback riding.

Hassan particularly enjoys playing video games with the Goodmans' 16-year-old son Cameron."And we play soccer and all sorts of stuff," Cameron said. "We argue about soccer."

Chantelle Goodman said Hassan fits right in the family's household. It helps that the family is already multicultural - David Goodman is from Jamaica and Chantelle's parents are British, she said."Embracing different cultures is very, very important to us," Chantelle said. 

Hassan said his ambition is to be an engineer, or possibly a doctor.

And while he will be returning to Tanzania after the school year, Hassan said he will miss his adopted country.

"I'd like to live forever here," he said.