US Student Exchange Programme – Tarab Muzaffar and Surbhi Showkat share their experiences.
The journey with KL-YES and AFS has been a life changing experience for us. Little had we known that this journey will begin a dramatic growth of our minds. AFS has particularly been a keystone supporter in making this journey a lifetime experience for us. AFS (American Field Service) is an international, voluntary, non-governmental and non – profit organization that provides intercultural learning opportunities to help people gain the skills, knowledge and understanding to create a more just and peaceful world. Along with AFS, KL-YES has been equally responsible for bringing out the best in us by initiating this program at the very first place. KL-YES (Kennedy- Lugar Youth Exchange and Study program) was initiated in October 2002 after the events of September 11, 2001. This program provides scholarship to students in countries with significant Muslim populations to spend one academic year in the U.S. Students live with host families, attend high school, engage in activities to learn about American society and values, acquire leadership skills, and help educate Americans about their own countries and cultures. The procedure of the selection for this program was a long one which required us to be both academically bright with leadership qualities. We went through a lot of screening such as essay writing competition, English Comprehension Assessment, Verbal examination, Group discussions and finally a Personal Interview at the US Embassy itself in New Delhi before we finally got selected for this program. We spent almost a year in the US, attended an American High School, lived with an American host family and gained a thorough understanding of the norms and social values of their society which was altogether an eye opening experience for us. Apart from this, we also learnt a lot about their culture by taking part in lot of their festivals and social events. Stepping out of our pretty little cocoons exposed us to the world out there that encompasses so many people from so many races, backgrounds, cultures, beliefs, outlooks, perspectives and ideologies both similar and dissimilar to ours and that’s when we realized that no culture is inferior or superior, it’s just different. We didn’t just get to meet the Americans but we met the “World” over there because America is the “melting pot of cultures” and that made us more aware of how things work in other countries and how diverse the world is. Our experience in the US has changed our whole personality. Our understanding of the world out there, the way we see and comprehend people who are unlike us, our acceptance and tolerance towards other cultures has changed drastically. This experience has boosted our confidence, made us more self reliant , exposed us to the idea of cultural relativism, made us non-stereotype and has sparked our spirits with the determination to work for our society and reinforce whatever we learnt there into our community so that we too can have a peaceful and better tomorrow. We would like to thank our school that made this entire journey possible by taking the first step and providing us with this marvelous platform to become AFSers and explore the world. Finally, we may have come back from the States but its not the end of the journey, it is the beginning. The beginning of a more prosperous tomorrow!
