7/5/2007 - Residents laud exchange program's efforts, cultural benefits
Dianna M. Náñez
The Arizona Republic
About 20,000 people from 172 countries have signed an online peace petition sponsored by one of the world’s largest student-exchange programs.
AFS Intercultural Programs sponsored the petition drive in honor of its 60-year anniversary. The goal of the drive, said a company spokeswoman, is to promote global exchange programs as way to bridge cultural differences and build peace.
A Gilbert husband and wife, Robert and Marcia Fischer, have hosted students from Japan, Denmark and China through AFS.
The couple welcomed Zhu Ye, their third exchange student, into their home this past school year. The senior from China attended Gilbert High
“What a wonderful eye-opening experience,” Marcia said. “She was by far her country’s best ambassador. I love China now and I’ve never been there.”
Marcia said the notion that exchange programs promote peace between people from different countries has proven true for her family. The program, she said, has been a great way to have children in the house again now that their sons have grown.
Marcia said she would be devastated if America went to war with countries from where they have hosted students.
“I would be more outraged,” she said. “It would be like my kid is in China and she’s in harms way. Nothing makes you more angry than if you think about having one of your children or loved ones harmed.”
Angie Fazio, a Tempe teenager who visited Italy and whose family hosted a teen from Turkey through the AFS program, said she signed the online peace petition because she wants people to realize that war is not the answer to solving problems with a foreign nation.
“It seems ridiculous to go to war when you actually know somebody living in the country,” said Angie, 19, who forwarded the petition to her friends and family to sign. “I’d be really mad and really scared . . . It would be like having your sister in that country and it would be like your country killing them.”
Kathy Fazio, Angie’s mother and a Phoenix teacher, said her family first got involved with AFS when she was a high school student in Casa Grande. Her parents hosted a girl from Brazil. Kathy said the women remained close and visit each other often.
“She’s like my sister,” Kathy said.
Although Kathy considers herself open-minded, she admits she worried about how the Muslim teenager, Gozde, they hosted during the past school year would fit in.
Kathy said she soon realized that Gozde was a teen like any other teen. Gozde took Kathy and Angie to visit a Tempe mosque and she went with the Fazios to Catholic services.
“It was a very rewarding experience,” she said. “I knew nothing about Muslims except the bit we hear on the news. I didn’t know what to expect. (But) when you live together you find out how similar we all are. It really breaks down the differences.”
Marie Frank-Nielsen, 21, a former Danish exchange student, who lived with the Fischers during the 2003-04 school year, was back in town this week for her second visit since being hosted by the Gilbert family.
Frank said her student-exchange experience has helped her explain to friends back home that their prejudices against Americans are based on unwarranted stereotypes.
“Especially since the Iraqi war America has been really unpopular,” she said. “It’s nice to say I know people there . . . they’re not like that.”
The Iraq war, she said, has made the idea of your country going to war seem more realistic than in generations past. Frank said she has made many American friends through the program and would not stand for her country to war with the U.S.
“It would be horrible. I would definitely protest,” she said.
Kathy encouraged people to consider participating in the student-exchange program.
“You start to notice the 5-minute news flash about the world does nothing to represent people,” she said.
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