A PUBLICATION OF THE YFU-USA ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

So you went on exchange, came back and are now wondering how you can continue your involvement with YFU? This issue focuses on a few of the many ways alumni can continue to be involved with YFU and reap the lifelong benefits of exchange.

The Alumni Contact Network is a great example of a wonderful way to continue your exchange experience by rekindling those friendships you made on exchange. Another great way to continue your involvement is to work for YFU, and this month we have some great stories from alumni who are doing just that.

If international travel is more your style, why not go on the new Italian Archaeological Exchange program for alumni? The YFU-USA Alumni Association invites you to participate in an archaeological project in Priverno, Italy during the first three weeks of July 2001. The program includes a set of theoretical classes, review workshops, guided tours and an actual archaeological excavation experience!

A Very Special Exchange Story

I am an "Executive" with a building material company in Boise, Idaho. I am 37 years old and am married with four children ages 9 to 20. I am originally from the Chicago area and I went to Michigan State University, where I was involved with YFU as an alumnus in 1984. I went to Denmark in July 1978 and stayed for one year. I lived in a city called Odense, which was the 3rd largest city in Denmark.

My stay in Denmark and Europe was phenomenal, but what really made it special was my family. I lived with a wonderful family on a farm. They were a "Green Acres" kind of family. They were raised on farms, but they left their city jobs to go back to being farmers. While I was in Denmark, their son Morten was in the US as a YFU exchange student. My US parents actually picked him up and took him snow-mobiling in Michigan, so you can say that the whole family was involved.

Towards the end of the year, Morten became very sick and had to come back to Denmark. Right before I left in June, Morten was diagnosed with cancer and had to have his leg amputated. Later that December, my parents and I flew back to Denmark to spend Christmas with my Danish family and Morten, who was dying. He died before New Year’s and his last words were "Mom, I am snow-mobiling and it is wonderful". Obviously, his exchange experience had a tremendous impact.

Later, I received a letter from my Danish father telling me about the funeral. They covered his casket with both an American flag and a Danish flag. He finished the letter by telling me that in Denmark they had a saying, "A man without a son was a man without a future." He then told me that I was now his only son, and that I was his future.
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The Denmark 1980-81 Class on program - can you guess which one is Susan Cook?

Alumni Work for YFU!

In the last issue of the Alumni Link, we told you about YFU alumni working in the American Overseas Office. Now we’d like to introduce you to the YFU alumni working for YFU all across the nation.
As Outreach Coordinators, Bethany Davidson, Norway 1990, and Michael King, Germany 1997, give YFU presentations at schools and community groups, encouraging others to go abroad with YFU. Michael says, “I loved being able to share my YFU experiences with others, in the hopes that they too may take on the exchange experience - this is why I now love going into high schools to promote the program!”

Using their exchange in another way, Field Directors Barb Lansing, Germany 1963, Anne Johnson, Japan 1989, and Jesse Rude, Japan 1992, along with Support Services Manager Christy Hobza, Germany 1992, keep very busy recruiting new volunteers, providing volunteer training and supporting international students year-round in their designated fields. Jesse Rude of Washington says, “It sounds cliché perhaps, but I love touching the lives of the kids. If I can help someone turn a tricky situation around or help someone understand the bigger picture just a little better, I feel I've done something truly worthwhile.” These thoughts seem to be a common theme among YFU staff members.

When Barb Lansing of Michigan was asked what her favorite YFU memory was, she had difficulty coming up with only one. “There are so many that it is really difficult to mention only a few. I am proud of the fact that I am still in contact with my German family, that my daughter was a CB student 28 years later, and that I have "sons and daughters" all over the world. There are two doctors (a Brazilian pediatrician and German heart specialist), an Economics Director at the Swiss Embassy in Washington, D.C., a store owner in Germany, a nurse in Australia, and the list goes on. YFU has really enriched my life.”

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