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"Hosting"
Want to do a bit for world peace? Or, just help one child?
You can have a greater impact on international relations than you ever imagined. Host an AFS high school exchange student and help a young person learn about your America.
Please contact our Hosting Coordinator or email AFSHosting@misstennky.org
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Read what a former Miss Tennky Area Team AFS Hosting Coordinator had to share about
her own family's hosting experiences.....
"Why host an exchange student? Because it brings the world to life, broadens your
vision, develops qualities of character in both you and your student, and offers a genuine service
to humanity!
"How, you ask? Well, the abstract becomes real. For us Paraguay, Mexico, and Chile became
more than places on a map that we never thought about. Instead, their people, culture, and
geography came alive through the young woman and the young men who lived in our home as
part of our family. We learned of fascinating differences and interesting similarities.
We learned that giving love begets love. Thinking of someone besides ourselves enabled us
to become more selfless and compassionate. Sharing our lives with someone from far away made
us appreciate our life in the United States in new ways. We took new pleasure in sharing special
places and activities.
"We experienced great satisfaction in knowing that we had helped a deserving young person.
And that they, in turn, would carry their positive experience back to influence people in their
country. We really feel that we contributed to world peace, one heart at a time!
"Who did we host? Our AFS "daughter" is Nidia Irrazabal from Pilar, Paraguay, who
lived with us from August 1995 to July 1996 while our own daughter Lily Ray went to Puebla,
Mexico.
"Then during the 1996-1997 school year Wayne, Lea, Lily, and I hosted Jose Luna of
Metapec, Mexico. Not to miss out on an exchange experience, in January 1997 Lea went to
Pilar, Paraguay on the AFS semester program.
"In August 1997 Lea went to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Lily went to
Rice University in Houston, Texas and we thought our hosting days were over. But in January
1998 a host family was needed and Wayne and I welcomed Diego Munoz of San Fernando,
Chile for a semester.
"Does the hosting relationship continue? Yes! For two weeks in July 1998, the four of us
went to Mexico to visit Jose and meet his family, then travelled throughout the country with Jose.
The reception we received from his family was wonderful and we look forward to the day when
they can visit us in our home here in Tennessee. Jose loves American football and will probably
come soon, now that we have a championship football team!
"This past summer, in June 1999, we took a two week trip to Paraguay to see Nidia and meet
her family. Wayne and I became "Mom and Dad" to all of her sisters and their husbands.
Only Nidia's parents, Senor Colman and Senora Irrazabal, called us "Jan and Wayne"!
We were deeply touched by the love and hospitality they showered upon us and hope that
someday they, too, will come to Tennessee. Nidia is planning to spend her two week vacation
with us July 2000.
"We had not planned to host again, but when the latest group of students arrived in August I
could not bear to think that each one didn't have a welcoming home and so Wayne and I jumped
into parenthood one more time. Our latest "son" is Enrique Caracheo, from Celaya,
Guanajuato, Mexico, and he is an absolute delight! We are so happy that we have further
extended our international family and are already looking forward to visiting him and his family in
Mexico in the future.
"Our primary reason for hosting is to be of service to a young person who has courageously
left home in pursuit of better English skills and an international experience. In return, we have
been rewarded immensely with love, humor, new perspectives on our own country and culture, a
deeper insight into other people and places, and great new friendships, both with the students and
their families, and the globally-minded AFS volunteers and other host families."
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Much more about Hosting opportunities can be found on the "Host a Participant" link on the AFS-USA web site.
Please give your family and an AFS child this wonderfully enriching experience. Call our AFS Regional Office at 1-800-876-2377 or contact our local volunteer Hosting Coordinator or 1-800-AFS-INFO for a Host Family Application (or just more information).
Select for Facts and Questions ("FAQs") about hosting with AFS.
Hosting Help Always Appreciated! -- We are looking for volunteers willing to help with the following:
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AFS Student Selection and Community Placement of AFS Students -- The hosting season is upon us! Student applications will soon be ready to be previewed by us (local volunteers). Volunteers select who we want in our area. We need a person who would work with a small committee to review student application and make final selections on behalf of the Miss Tennky Area Team.
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Host Family Interview Delegation -- As families express interest in hosting we need a volunteer willing to
delegate the interview process to local volunteers. You would also provide materials to the interviewer: hosting video, How to Interview Host Families, the Interview Form, and Article Assessing the Host Family.
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Paperwork Follow Up
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Host Family Interviewers -- Interview to assess suitability as a host family. Complete the interview
form. Communicate obligations of host family and orientations and arrival dates if possible.
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Obtaining School Placement -- a Host Family can't host if the school won't agree to accepting the student, so this is critical too.
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