Kuni o ers support to overseas students
Welcome to Australia,’ I beamed to our exchange student Bauti, then 17, who’d come from Uruguay.
It was August 2019, and together with my husband, Troy, then 46, and kids Naomi, 16, Riki, 14, and Emi, 12, we were excited to meet our rst guest we’d matched with through the YFU Student Exchange.
In 1989 I was living in Japan when I had the opportunity to spend my last year of school in the US through the same program.
Going from a strict Japanese girls school to a relaxed co-ed Californian school when I only spoke basic English was scary, but also exciting and liberating.
The family who hosted me were wonderful and I never lost touch with my host mum, Donna.
YFU host families give visiting students a safe and supportive home, helping them create memories, and they don’t receive any nancial incentive.
I was ecstatic to pay that generosity forward to Bauti. He was a quiet student, but it wasn’t long before he discovered a love for his woodwork class and a passion for basketball.
We took him bushwalking, to landmarks such as the Opera House, and he even came with us to visit my family in Japan.
We were in constant contact with Bauti’s family, and they made a generous offer.
‘We’d love to be a host family for Naomi,’ Bauti’s mum Paula said.
Unfortunately, when Covid hit, exchange students had to go home, so Bauti’s stay was cut short by two months.
But Naomi has since spent a year in Uruguay.
Since Bauti, we’ve hosted ve students on a short-term basis.
Sometimes they arrive in Australia before their host family is ready, or they’re transitioning from one host family to another.
I meet students at the airport when they arrive, and, as a local coordinator, I regularly check in with host families and students to make sure everything is okay. I also interview prospective students to assess their suitability.
It’s an honour to meet these teenagers
YFU Student Exchange opens up the world to not only young people, but also host families.
Last year Naomi went to Europe, visiting countries like Estonia and seeing students she met while on exchange. This year, aged 21, she returned to Uruguay to visit Bauti’s family.
Last year, Emi, then 14, went on exchange to Argentina for a year and loved it. ‘We’re looking after her like she’s our own daughter,’ her wonderful host mum, Jose na, said on one of our video calls.
I feel like we have family all around the world. And thanks to social media, I keep up with the lives of all the kids who’ve stayed with us.
It’s an honour to meet all these young, adventurous teenagers who travel across the world on their own. I love learning about their culture while teaching them about ours. ●
As told to Samantha Ireland
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