“It was great to know that all the negative thoughts I had at the first place were wrong and to learn so many new facts about America. My host community learned about the wonder of differences, and they taught me to see through beyond what eyes can see. “Every individual is different ! Everyone need to be acknowledged, to be supported, to be loved and to be trusted. But everything needs time and effort…Rome wasn't built in a day. I have lots of people who support me and I should do the same things !!” (Rivana Mezaya, siswa pertukaran program AFS'03 ke Amerika Serikat) I teach freshmen through seniors in a suburban school district outside Milwaukee, WI. Few students, or teachers for that matter, have any experience with Islam; well, any experience except the association of Islam with terrorists and the Middle East tensions. It is in this context that Rafikah's visit was especially beneficial this year. She is a poised, intelligent, gracious, and effectively communicates complex issues dealing with her homeland and culture in teen-friendly terms. She debunks stereotypes single-handedly by her interaction at school. This is no easy task considering a noteable number of her local peers refer to the "towel-heads" that work at local gas stations. I hope that your organization can continue to support the YES program and bring students like Rafika to our community. Thank you, (Aaron Callender, Guru dari Rafika, siswa pertukaran program YES'04 ke Amerka Serikat) “When AFS gave me the opportunity to live one year abroad, I decided I wanted to go to a place as much as possible different from my home country Germany. And ended up spending one year as an exchange student in Indonesia! It was one of the most important and most fascinating years of my life and has influenced almost everything I do ever since. Living in a completely different culture for a whole year was a fantastic experience. Of course I learned lots about Indonesia (and South East Asia in general), studied the language, the culture, the religion, learned traditional dancing and picked up some Karate, made lots of friends inside and outside school and had a fantastic time. But at least as fascinating to me was learning so much about myself and my own culture by looking at Europe from the outside! My AFS-year really has had profound and long term effects on my life. The AFS-year in high school definitely was one of the major triggers for this: a fantastic experience that I very much recommend to everyone”. (by Irja Berg, Hosting Student-Makassar'86-87) “I would like to know more about the real life behind the nice beaches Indonesia's islands have. Get to know the history of the country, the people, the language spoken, the cuisines and the religions. So many questions were there, when I left rainy Belgium on August 1997. Questions which slowly found and answered during my stay until May 1998. Those answers have helped me to build up my mind about so many things. Indonesia also fulfilled all my expectations that I had concerning about Islam. As it is the biggest Muslim nation in the world, it was impossible to hide from it. I completed the Ramadhan and attend other Islamic festivities. Honestly I must say that those experiences had made it easier for me to understand the religion, especially after 9/11 when all Muslim were considered as fanatics and terrorist”. (Bram Tuytens, student from Belgium 1997-1998) “Student asks, Poet answers”
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