AFS Intercultural Programs

I was an exchange student to Brazil in 1987 with AFS.

I volunteered with orientation for foreign students in the US in 1998-2002.

I interviewed students and families for the program during those years as well.

I was a host parent for a student in 1999-2000.

In short, I believe in this organization and what it does.

But I quit in the spring of 2002, when my youngest child was a baby. AFS was not keeping up its end of the bargain in terms of making my job as a volunteer easier or in terms of supporting me and other volunteers.

I actually talked to the Director and he was, well, let's just say he was unsympathetic. So I quit. I felt I had shared my concerns and frustrations and been open about the kind of support I would need if I stayed on, and they chose not to provide that support. Easy decision, right? Yes, but I have always wanted to go back.

AFS called me this week, and I copped a 'tude with a woman and told her I was not interested in helping an organization that was more fucked up than the Army. (That, for those of you unfamiliar with the military and all of its attendant bullshit, is REALLY saying something).

And I would like to get involved again. I checked out their website, and it looks a lot better than it did 3 years ago. I left a message with someone in the New York office, and with luck I will be able to find out what changes they have made in the way the organization is run, in the way students are placed in the US, and the way families can get help if issues arise that they and the volunteers are unprepared for.

Having written that I think there were problems within the organization, let me also add that AFS is terrific in a lot of ways. Here is a list (I love lists) of what I got out of my AFS experience:

- a sense that there is much more to the world than my own back yard
- an understanding that I was raised in a country with tremendous freedom
- an understanding that most of the world lives in abject poverty when compared even to my modest midwestern upbringing
- a lifelong friend -- the closest thing to a sister I have
- a sense that I am capable and strong
- a sense of adventure
- a realization that the rest of the world sees America through Hollywood -- and that Brazilian boys were disappointed to see an American girl who did not dress like a slut and act like one, too
- a love for the awesome beauty of Rio's beaches
- a love for the warmth and enthusiasm of Brazilians
- a healthy fear of whatever mystery meat is in Feijoada (Brazil's national dish)
- terror at the thought of "chicken cake" -- still don't know what it was, but EWWWWW
- a general willingness to try almost any food once (with chicken cake, once is all you need)
- ability to be flexible and spontaneous (still not one of my strong suits)
- knowledge that we are all the same when you get right down to it

We'll see how this all comes out. I do know that I will volunteer with AFS again someday ... it changed my life for the better.