by Hina Saifi, India 07-08 hosted in The Dalles, OR
YES, we are different, it is ok if i don’t like to do the things you do, but here are the things to think through—you are a lot like me and I am a lot like you.
We all have some dreams in our life and we all live to fulfill those dreams. I also have one dream. I dream to see this world as one, no discrimination based on color, caste or religion. I dream that we all see the beauty of each others soul. The threshhold of this world’s future is in our hands.
Peace is an act of courage and you all have taken your first step forward by being involved in AFS YES. This year I found so many things in me which I couldn’t find if I weren’t an exchange student. We all live with some kind of stereotypes about different countries. Why don’t we look at the beauty and not the negative things.
After involving myself in YES, I have a different perspective on life. I found a family. They’d never met me and I didn’t have any idea who these people were, I just knew that I was coming to the United States. But I found a lovely family here who love me like they love their own kids. They care for me. When they see that I am missing my family in India, they try to make me smile in any way they can.
Dad is such a sweetheart—I am really scared of cooking so he taught me how to cook macaroni and cheese. Mom makes apple pie for me. And they hug me all day like it is my last day. They call me their princess, a blessing in their house. They say that I am a star of their house. My year is almost at the end but I love my family from the very very very bottom of my heart. And I’m really going to miss them. But now I have a reason to come back and visit; now I can say that I have a family in America.
Friends, now tell me have you ever seen anyone like that? What would you think if you have a person in your house who has a different faith than you and practises it in your house Most people will not like it. But the family AFS and YES chooses for students respects the differences and accepts the student without discrimination by color, faith and country. I love my family and can’t believe that this is year is almost over.
It was all possible because of YES. I can’t show my gratitude enough. How thankful I am and how proud I am to be a part of such a great organisation whose aim is to collaborate with different countries. Friends, please take a step forward and help YES and its goals by volunteering in way you can.
On my first day of Thai High school, I had to wear the school uniform. “It doesn’t look bad,” I said, trying to make myself feel good. I was wearing knee high dressing pants, white knee high socks, black shoes and a purple button down shirt. I looked like a clown. If any of my friends from New York were there to see that, they would have laughed to death. The whole week in Thailand made me feel stupid. I had to wear that uniform plus, I couldn’t communicate with anyone; not with the teachers, not other students and certainly not with my family.
It was not just in Thailand that my lack of communication skills affected me in the shape of an obstacle. When I was nine years old, I migrated from the Dominican Republic. My inability to speak English was something that became a big factor. I wasn’t able to interact with many English native speakers. I was put in bilingual class all the way through my third year of high school and most of my friends were Spanish too. That same year I earned a scholarship to study abroad in Thailand with AFS.
Back in Thailand ,the language boundary served as a way for me to be more isolated. I didn’t understand anything my host parents said, especially my host father. He didn’t speak English so I hardly ever spoke to him. My mother spoke some English, but it was still hard for me to understand. Every morning she woke me up by saying, “Kali!!! Khun bpy mah tah yom.” Eventually I figured out it meant, “wake up you are going to be late for your school,” but I still felt uncomfortable because I couldn’t express myself. The only way for me to be who I wanted in Thailand was to learn their language, not make them learn mine.
After my first week I had already made some friends in school. They spoke clearer English than my host parents did and they helped me out a lot. Happily I would stay in school for fun even after the school day was over; just to be with my new friends. That is when my experience began to shift.
In my third week in Thailand, I found out that my mother, who was a teacher, had planned a trip to the beach in Bangkok and asked me to go. On the bus one of the guys who I had seen in my class pulled me down next to him and asked me some questions about America and how to say things in English. I took the time to also gain some ground in my Thai language.
My mom later came and pointed me into a seat, next to a girl. She said, “Kali, she want to talk with you.” The girl said, “Sa wat dee kaa, chan suu Liw.” I said, “Sa wat dee khap.” I was really getting it, my communication skills had gone up. She started to ask me if I liked Thailand and what I liked about it. I responded in Thai. Conversation was headed to something like a good friendship.
We arrived at the beach and my mom along with the other teachers started teasing me in a funny way. “Kali has girlfriend… Kali has girlfriend.” The whole class settled along the beach, but I didn’t want to get into the water. My hair was braided back then, and I was not planning to get it wet. Instead, I walked along the shore for some sight-seeing. Liw caught up to me and asked me why I wasn’t in the water. Of course it took me a while for me to understand what she was saying, but I got it, although I couldn’t explain my reason.
After a few hours we get back home, and I decided to sit with my mother on the bus. I realized that if I tried speaking English at a slower pace she wouldn’t have a hard time trying to understand me. We talked about life in America; how I had always had a hard time communicating and expressing myself because the lack of my English skills. We talked about what we both can do to be more united as a new family. We planned trips to temples around Thailand. She taught me about her customs and beliefs, which involved the humanism in Buddhism. That moment made me feel so comfortable. Our relationship changed so much once I was able to communicate more with her.
After that journey to Thailand, I came back to America with a whole new mentality.
I love to speak the English language, and I do more frequently. I try to include it in everything I do. Back at home, my sister and my brother seem very surprised that I have not spoken much Spanish in a while. Every time I was asked I would tell them that it is for my benefit. English is the international language and I have to be great at it.
Check out a new video created by YES Alumni and college students in Ahmedabad, India. The team was led by Nirali Machhar (05-06), with help from Mehr Seth (05-06).
Nirali and Mehr also organized the “Smile” community service project seen in the video. Mehr was a participant in the recent Training of Trainers Workshop in Los Angeles and Nirali was an alumni delegate to the International Youth Host Committee and World Congress in New York.
by Taqia Rahman, Indonesia 07-08 hosted in Cincinnati, OH
One day in early August 2007, I traveled from Indonesia to Washington D.C, United States of America (USA). But there was a long story before I came here to the US. After I decided to be an exchange student, I had not seriously thought that this journey would change my life.
I still remember the day before I traveled to my host family in Cincinnati, Ohio. I and 79 other Indonesian exchange students went to the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C., during arrival orientation. It was a really hot day in the summer, and we wore Indonesian traditional costume. When we agreed to wear this costume, we didn’t know how hot it was going to be!
I was looking at the Lincoln Memorial when an AFS tour guide asked to help me take my picture with this monument. She also took my picture in front of the statue of Abraham Lincoln a couple of times, and then I left.
2 months later, I was sitting at my desk in US history class when my teacher told the class, the history about the civil war and Abraham Lincoln; what he had done for this country, and how this history was so important. I realized I didn’t notice history very carefully. I didn’t know that 2 months ago I was standing in front of the statue of the Emancipation Proclamator; I didn’t know that I was sitting on the stairs where Martin Luther King Jr. was telling his dream and the African American’s dream about equality, desegregation, and integration.
There are many peoples in the world who choose to do the right thing for the world. Many of them are here in the country that I have been visiting: USA.
That is just a little example of my experiences. Being an exchange student might be the best thing I have ever done in my life. I go through the day with a new lesson, new understanding, and new knowledge, in every single aspect. Here in USA.
So many rumors about the USA that I had heard before I came here are truly right, but many of them are wrong. Since US government decided to invade Afghanistan and Iraq, Indonesian people’s perspective about USA has been changed. News and mass media persuade us with their opinion, so what the media said were what we thought. I had never known the truth.
Now that I have arrived in USA, I have been looking around, I have been examining carefully. I didn’t see violence there, I didn’t see war there. There were Human beings, there were people with their dreams, there was a government taking care of the world, there were communities helping their neighbors, there were parents bringing up their children, and there were folks hoping the war will end soon. I have seen no war.
There are so many differences between Indonesia and USA. But it is not impossible for an exchange student to discover new love, friends, and peace. Because we have the same concept in taking care of the world, honoring parents, and living peacefully. One day when I go home, I will tell my country what I’ve seen here is different than what I have heard from the news.
I wish every single person in every country in the world will have an opportunity to be an exchange student, so they will understand how friendly their neighbors are, how good their attitudes are, how unique their cultures, religions, and languages are, and how beautiful all its differences are.
Being an exchange student means being a young ambassador, presenting differences, building up understanding, and creating peace among countries. Being an exchange student also means being an agent of change and peace. It is not only being a tourist. The most important thing for being an exchange student is being a member of a beautiful family, being treated as an equal as a real family member, enjoying leisure or chatting at the dinner table.
For me, the USA is like my second country where people voluntarily give their hand to help me. They are my host family, AFS volunteers, AFS and school friends and other people that I can’t mention. Without them this journey would mean nothing. And without the US government, AFS and YES, all those who are providing for this program, it wouldn’t be possible for me to be here. In our own small way, we are helping to create peace in the world.
This is just a little story of me as an exchange student in USA. I begin my day with a little word: Hi! My name is Taqia Rahman, I am an exchange student from Indonesia, Nice to meet you!
by Aneessa Nagasewi, Thailand 06-07 hosted in Shaftsbury, VT
This article is a translation of the original article from Matichon Online
Many students and parents may be familiar with the name AFS. More than half of Thai students dream of being part of the AFS project, which will give them an opportunity to spend their time overseas with a sponsor family and with local students, deemed a rare opportunity.
However, when asked about YES, several may wonder what YES is. YES stands for Youth Exchange and Study, another exchange project fully sponsored by the U.S. Department of State offered to Muslim youths all around the world. At present, YES members include 9 countries: Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey, The Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Ghana, and Thailand. Scholarships were first given to Thai Muslim youths in 2006.
YES was established after the September 11 incident, in which pirates hijacked American airplanes to crash the World Trade Center buildings, resulting in a great number of deaths. The incident has caused misunderstandings between Americans and Muslims around the world. The subsequent wars and losses, both attacks in Afghanistan and the U.S.’s war in Iraq, have worsened the situations. Thus, the U.S. Congress has allocated a budget to sponsor education for Muslim students to spend some time in the U.S. to foster better understanding between young ambassadors from two different nations and different religions.
YES students are, in general, similar to any other exchange students. The difference is that YES students hold a ‘dual ambassador status’; that is, representing their own country and representing Muslims studying in an American society. In addition, this project provides American people an opportunity to learn about the real life of Muslims.
The number of scholarships for Thai students which has increased from 15 in the first year to 31 in 2008-2009 should confirm this project’s success. The success of the YES project in Thailand is shown through both former YES students’ achievements which please the project owner and the Thailand AFS’s effective candidate selection, in which candidates are chosen not only for their academic performance but for their adaptability and suitability in other aspects as well.
YES is a project to promote international goodwill that fosters love, understanding and good relationships between people, which is a foundation for peace in our world.
From now on, exchange students’ view of American people will change for the better as a result of this cultural exchange. At least, everyone has their friends and host families there.
This is the ultimate objective of the YES project: to have every student returning to their home country to spread this message of peace for always.
