12/7/2007 - AFS celebrates 60 years in Humboldt County
The Eureka Reporter
by Courtney Hunt
Students from all over the world traveled to Arcata last weekend for the annual Humboldt County AFS holiday potluck, celebrating holiday traditions from the various countries represented. And what better location to hold a global gathering than the Arcata Portuguese Hall?
The event, which is held every December as a way of sharing cultural traditions and creating bonds between the families and students, also marked a special anniversary this year – the 60th year for AFS in Humboldt County.
AFS, which sends students and volunteers to 52 countries around the world every year, was founded more than 90 years ago in France, but has only been in existence on the North Coast since 1947.
Chris Hawkins, a 20-year AFS volunteer, was one of the first students to go on an AFS exchange. She went to Denmark for a summer in 1957.
“It’s all about realizing that this world is bigger than the United States,” Hawkins said. “I came from a little town and it changed my life.”
Hawkins grew up in Glaserville and moved to Humboldt County after marrying to raise her two daughters. She and her husband hosted AFS students while her children were young, and in turn, her daughter spent a year in Turkey as a high school student in 1988.
“Kids from Humboldt County are pretty isolated so for them to go to another country. … It just broadens your world,” Hawkins said.
AFS hasn’t always been about foreign exchanges, but it has always centered on promoting peace by helping humankind.
According to the AFS Web site, www.afs.org, the organization “enables people to act as responsible global citizens working for peace and understanding in a diverse world” through its exchange programs, volunteer opportunities and other programs and activities.
What started as a mission to transport wounded French soldiers during World War I has evolved over the years into an organization that provides intercultural learning opportunities for people interested in learning about different countries and cultures from another perspective.
Though it goes by the AFS acronym rather than American Field Service, the organization stands by its mission of working toward a more just and peaceful world.
Today, the organization operates in more than 50 countries and has more than 30,000 volunteers.
Thirty-two students from Ghana to Germany are visiting Humboldt County and attending local high schools this year, including Huub Hendrickx, who comes from the Netherlands.
With other AFS students, Hendrickx shared holiday customs from the Netherlands during last weekend’s AFS celebration, and took a few minutes away from the party to discuss what he has learned about the U.S. since arriving in August.
Hendrickx, 18, said he originally wanted to come to the U.S. to see what Americans are really like.
“I have learned that Americans are very different from each other,” he said, explaining that there is no one type of person or category in which to place people.
Another thing he has realized is that Humboldt County is unique — “much different than the rest of America,” he said.
So far during his stay, he has been to Ashland, Ore., to see a play and to San Francisco.
While he is comfortable in his new home in Arcata, he said he misses certain foods from home.
On the other end of the spectrum is AFS student Bella Chyntiara of Indonesia, who is Muslim.
Her religious beliefs impose certain restrictions on her living environment — for instance, her host home cannot contain any alcohol or pork — which could have posed problems, but so far Chyntiara said the transition has been smooth.
“It’s difficult but my host family supports and appreciates my beliefs,” she said, adding that one of her goals as an AFS student is to change the way people think about Muslims.
While Chyntiara said she has never felt homesick, she does miss certain foods, particularly rice dishes and spices that are staple foods in Indonesia.
However, she has developed a palate for Mexican food, desserts and potato salad.
Another student, Anuya Ketkar, from India, said she also misses certain types of food but has enjoyed learning about American foods as well.
But one of the biggest challenges for Ketkar since her arrival in August has been to take responsibility for everything in her life, including her personal finances.
“Minding others is really easy but being responsible for one’s own self is really difficult,” she said.
Ketkar, who learned to write in English before writing in her native tongue, Marathi, decided to participate in a foreign exchange after a group of her friends from school returned with tales of their adventures.
“Their experiences fascinated me,” Ketkar said.
So far, Ketkar said her experience has been “really excellent.” She raves about her host family and the fact that she calls her host mother “mom,” and is excited about the changes that have taken place in her internally.
Most of the students at the AFS gathering last weekend agreed: living in another country is as much about getting to know yourself as much as it is about understanding another culture.
Edana Gentry, an American student studying at Humboldt State University, summed it up for the group: “It’s about acceptance, and it’s two-fold: accepting yourself and accepting others.”
Gentry, who hails from Sacramento, lived in Austria in 2000 through AFS.
The biggest lesson she learned:
“That communication is not all about words and it’s not about an intellectual communication. It’s deeper and nonverbal. It’s more about who you are.”
Republished with permission.
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