The Homestay Experience
Many international exchange organizations offer students and professionals opportunities to immerse themselves in a culture by living with a local family. In fact, living with a host family is often the most rewarding and memorable part of an experience abroad, and imparts special insight into the culture and daily life of the host country.
The expectation of becoming a member of a new family can be intimidating, however. Many exchange participants wonder if their family abroad will like and accept them, and how they will adapt to living with a family with different traditions, and often, a different religion. “I [wondered] how it’s going to be to live with another family, other than mine, [since] they have different cultural norms and traditions,” says Kawthar Taleb, a high school exchange student from Lebanon. “My host family were Mennonites. It was a little hard at first to adjust to their life style, but then at the end nothing was hard anymore.”
Most exchange organizations have a network of dedicated volunteer host families, including families from diverse religious and ethnic backgrounds, who apply to host students and professionals from around the world.
Some host families have had prior experience hosting people with disabilities and/or include people with disabilities as family members. This was the case for Yamie Fiestada, a high school exchange student from the Philippines. “I didn't think I could go to America because I'm Deaf, but my Mom told me that AFS would support me, and that was true. It was also good that I had a Deaf sister in my host family here in the U.S. Her parents can sign, so communication in the home was easy.”
Photo Caption: Yamie, a YES Program participant from the Philippines who is deaf.
High school student Marlon Celson from the Philippines had a similarly empowering experience as a high school exchange student in Michigan. “I have dwarfism, but what’s amazing is the fact that I have never met or talked to someone who has the same condition as I do. Maybe I was just too scared or ashamed of talking about my disability. All of this changed when I knew that my host parents are ‘little people,’ as they say. They are active members of an organization called Little People of America. They taught me a lot of things about being a Little Person. It opened my mind and it also changed the way I took at myself. I know that those things that I have learned from them will be a very big help for me.”
This was also the case for Carla de la Cruz, a high school exchange student from the Philippines. “My host sister is also riding in a wheelchair and both of us have spina bifida.”
Others may not have had an opportunity to spend time with people with disabilities in the past. “My family had never known anyone who was Blind. It has been a very good experience for them to learn about Braille, about how Blind people live,” says Abd Elghany Barakat, a high school exchange student from Egypt. Regardless of the amount of prior experience your family has with people with disabilities and/or people from your home country, your family is as excited as you are to embark on an international experience.
“The experience with my host family defines the success of my whole year in the States. They were so nice and helpful, and I felt like I could have stayed with them forever. They taught me a lot of things, things I have never thought of before and because of them I am more open to issues concerning disability and being an advocate.”
Marlon Celson, a high school exchange student and person of short-stature from the Philippines.
Hosting an international exchange participant is also a great way to have an international experience – without ever leaving your community. Exchange organizations actively recruit host families from diverse backgrounds, including people with disabilities and people from diverse religious backgrounds. By hosting people with and without disabilities, individuals have an opportunity to serve as role models to youth, and to dispel myths about the abilities of people with disabilities. For more information on hosting an international exchange participant, please contact the organizations listed in Finding an Opportunity, or contact Mobility International USA.
