8/7/2007 - Bonds Across Boundaries

Neha Madaan
Pune Newsline

Pune, August 6: It is believed that difficult times indirectly create people and organisations that initiate change. The creation of American Field Service (AFS) re-enforces this fact. During World War I, the AFS was conceived to transport wounded French soldiers. The valuable experience of the ambulance drivers persuaded them to officially start an intercultural exchange programme exposing the younger generation to different cultures. And the result was as positive—toleration, affinity and respect for disparities.

“Under AFS, selected students (between the age range of 14 to 16 years) of one country are sent to another country where they stay with a host or local family for a period of one year. They attend regular school during their stay,” explains Ujjwala Barve, an AFS volunteer. Families who volunteer to be host families have to go through a detailed procedure that assesses their suitability, each member of a prospective host family is under the scanner. The host family is not paid for the student’s accommodation and stay since the family volunteers to be a host family. There are fully sponsored and partially sponsored scholarships as well.

“After the 9/11 disaster, a scholarship program called YES was initiated in an attempt to build bridges between the citizens of the US and other countries,” adds Barve. About two years ago, AFS India was resuscitated in an attempt to rebuild peace and instill confidence in the country’s youth. “Considering Pune alone, a number of students are being sent to countries like the US, Hong Kong, Japan, Switzerland and Norway. One of the AFSers went to the US from a remote Maharashtrian village and another met the Japanese Prime Minister in Japan. They came back as self-reliant and confident individuals,” says Barve.

Nupur Ghatnekar, an AFS member who stayed in Oklahoma for a year, expresses, “I learnt much about my own culture because before I could tell my host family something about it, I wanted to make sure that I knew it well myself. I did extensive research to be able to answer the volley of questions asked by my host family members about the Indian culture.”

Aditya Sunil Dandwate, who recently returned from Washington DC extols the programme and all that it has done for him, saying, “Earlier I had just heard about American families but with this program, I actually got an opportunity to be a part of one. The members of my host family treated me like their own flesh and blood which made me realise that we all are one under this shroud of colour and race.”