Opening your heart and home to a Greenheart Exchange student as a Welcome Family is such a rewarding experience that allows you and the student, to experience a remarkable cultural exchange in a very short time. Being a Welcome Family is a temporary hosting assignment for the duration of about 6-8 weeks. During that time, the Welcome Family plays an active role in helping an international student adjust to life in the United States, while he/she waits for placement with a permanent host family.
Our High School Program Regional Director, Faith Morse, tells us about her experience as a Welcome Family.
“A few years back, near the middle of August, a local coordinator for Greenheart Exchange asked if my family would consider welcoming a student. We had already picked our student for the year and were eagerly awaiting her arrival. With the bedroom prepared and our hearts set on hosting Margherita, from Italy, it was an adjustment to think about having TWO students instead of one.
My husband and I talked about it and I asked to see some profiles of kids who still didn’t have host families. We had the space and the idea that a kid who was dreaming of coming to the USA but was still waiting to be selected made us sad! I wondered how it must feel to be the teen that no one had chosen!
We picked Klára from the Czech Republic, a place we had never hosted from before. Her picture was a bit fuzzy (perhaps that was a reason she hadn’t been picked) and it all happened pretty quickly after that.
I’m not sure exactly what I expected, but Klára was clear about how much it meant to her that we had chosen her. She was so happy to be wanted and didn’t mind that we were only planning on hosting her for a little over a month while she waited to be placed with another family.
About a week later both girls arrived. Knowing our plan was to just welcome Klára and host her for a few weeks, I was surprised at how incredibly grateful she was.
She was an absolute delight! It turned out to also be the best gift we could have gotten for our original exchange student, Margherita. On the first day of school the girls loaded onto the school bus and sat side-by-side on the ride to their brand new (now shared) experience. In short order Klára and Marghe bonded, and we found them so delightful we just couldn’t give up Klára. We hosted them both for the year and it was a wonderful experience.
Klára has been back to see us here in Maine since her stay with us and is the BEST kid about keeping in touch!
In November, we will go to Prague to visit her, and to Florence to see Marghe too! I can’t put into words how much we fell in love with her and how very much we would have missed by not “welcoming” Klára!
Even if we had not been able to host her for the full year, our welcome allowed Klára to arrive on time to attend our local school.
I’m 150% sure another family would have snapped up Klára and she would have easily had her choice of family placements once she arrived, as Klára really had a million friends among the student body, teachers and staff! While Klára was grateful to us for helping her arrive, my family and I will always be blessed to have gotten to know her and have her as a part of our family!“
Thank you, Faith, for sharing your experience as a Welcome Family for an international exchange student! We thank you for continuing to open your heart and home for international exchange students and for playing an instrumental role in shaping their U.S. exchange experiences!
Are you interested in becoming a Greenheart Welcome Family for an international high school student? Visit HostwithGreenheart.org to learn more!