Irving Penn, one of the most celebrated photographers of the last half of the twentieth century, was 27 years old and a photographer for Vogue when he volunteered with AFS in August 1944. He was sent to Italy and India, and served as an AFS ambulance driver and staff photographer between November 1944 and November 1945...

April 6, 2017 marks the 100th anniversary of the U.S. entry into World War I. While this day commemorates a military decision, it’s also serves as an important reminder that the war created a significant need for humanitarian organizations to provide some urgently-needed relief in response to the devastation...

Volunteers are key for AFS: they support our study abroad and hosting programs, and deliver educational activities to make a positive impact in their communities. Boosting volunteer engagement and keeping them involved in the organization is one of the core topics on the everyday agenda of AFS offices across globe, just like in many other not-for-profit volunteer driven organizations. (Read more in the The importance...

The unique poster depicted above was designed by Mr. Teye Obahi Akunor, an AFS Participant from Ghana to Switzerland in 1975-1976. ..

A year ago, I was approached by an AFS Czech Republic volunteer whom I had just trained in What Every AFSer Should Know about Intercultural Learning - a training offered to AFS volunteers and staff around the world, that gives them a shared basic knowledge and competences within intercultural learning. This volunteer found the training extremely interesting and wondered if we could do a similar one in the company for...

Arthur “Art” Howe, Jr. was an individual who dedicated much of his life to AFS: first as a volunteer ambulance driver in World War II, then as an AFS President (1965-1971) and finally as a Life Trustee. He shared his commitment to AFS with his wife, Peggy, who volunteered for the organization and traveled alongside her husband during his many AFS adventures. Traveling played a great part in their long marriage...

Research has shown that intercultural learning provides multiple benefits, which are structured in the educational goals that guide the AFS programs for high-school students: intercultural learning helps young people develop competences on a personal, interpersonal, cultural and global levels. How far reaching are these benefits of intercultural learning? Those of us who have participated in an exchange program with...

The city that never sleeps , New York is famous as one of the world’s best known melting pots of culture. Between May and October last year there was an art exhibition installed at New York’s Brooklyn Bridge Park, which is neither right in the city center nor a famous art gallery site. It took me awhile to get to this open public space, but this journey was also metaphorically perfectly suited for this exhibition...

Have you ever wondered about the cultural diversity in schools and how to integrate in it effectively? Such questions arise when we work on developing intercultural competences (also known as global competences) in teachers and the educational community as a whole. In many countries it is not common to consider that these competences are essential for teachers, since the educational system has other needs that require...

In 1915, Harvard graduate Waldo Peirce volunteered as an ambulance driver with the American Field Service in France. After the war, Peirce went on to become an acclaimed artist with artwork in distinguished museums and private collections. Peirce painted a portrait of his lifelong friend Ernest Hemingway, which would appear on the cover of Time magazine in 1937...

The world today faces tremendous challenges related to cultural and religious tensions, social injustice, political and economic crises as well as sustainable development issues. In Indonesia, we have also witnessed shortfalls in leadership, corruption and increasing conflicts and tensions in many areas. To deal with the challenges and complexities of today’s world, we need to critically look at our education...

The American Field Service (AFS) relied on donations from Americans in the United States to purchase ambulances during World War I. The organization created a number of promotional items and events in order to raise funds, including the promotional film Our Friend France...

Globalization of migration flows, shifting ideas about ethnicity and race, and intimate relations across ethnic boundaries mean that more and more of us parent children with individuals from an ethnic background different to ours, or in a society different to the one that we were raised in. In some cases, we are doing both. What does it mean to parent children from such diverse backgrounds? How can culture and intercultural...

When I attended the Summer Institute for Intercultural Communication (SIIC) I was excited to meet likeminded people from all over the world and to gain perspective on the sheer necessity of intercultural learning (ICL) in every area of life. Although I learnt a lot in this course I still feel like a beginner in so many ways (but conscious incompetence is a step up from unconscious incompetence, right?). I suppose the...

In the never ending quest to grasp the full spectrum of intercultural learning I recently found myself reading The Council of Europe’s Compendium of Intercultural Learning from 2012. The Compendium provides a comprehensive overview of how intercultural learning (ICL) is seen as a reference point in the youth work of the Council of Europe. The Council of Europe (CoE) is an international organization that focuses...

AFS Brazil office received the news about the new AFS Student Learning Journey Curriculum with a lot of excitement, but also with a lot of concern. The AFS Student Learning Journey Curriculum outlines how AFS can deliver more meaningful learning experiences to students before, during and after participating in an AFS program and it also strengthens AFS's credibility as an educational organization. AFS Brazil already...

AFS Participants simulated the 1968 U.S. presidential elections aboard the S.S. Waterman on their way back to Europe after spending a year in the U.S. in July 1968. After selecting Republican and Democratic candidates during mock party conventions (where votes were counted on a blackboard)...

Earlier this year, AFS world-wide network was introduced to the new AFS Student Learning Journey Curriculum . The document provides a clear and coherent structure that includes all the major non-formal learning touchpoints for exchange students from the moment they learn about AFS programs, through their experience abroad, until they return home and are invited to become AFS volunteers. Inviting our program alumni...

On the evening of September 23, 1916, AFS volunteer ambulance driver Roswell Sanders took Edward E. Kelley, a newly-arrived volunteer, out on the road near Verdun, France. Verdun was the site of one of the longest and bloodiest battle of the First World War...

“ Education gives us the chance to understand that we are all tied together as citizens of the global community, and that our challenges are interconnected ”. Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General Every day, international, national and even local news confront us with a world where intolerance, preconceptions, ignorance and fear of differences are the common denominator. This is not only seen through violent...

In AFS, we often use the term “ the unfinished product ” to describe participants of our programs. This reminds us that they are growing, changing and learning while they are with us. I like to think that we are all unfinished products with many areas left to grow, many ideas that we can change, and many things to still to learn. Every interaction we have adds to our knowledge and experience. What we do with...

Intercultural Learning (ICL) helps us understand similarities and differences between cultures, and why people sometimes behave differently from us. At AFS, we believe that this understanding helps us build better intercultural friendships, thus resisting conflicts and taking us a step closer towards world peace. However, is intercultural learning only about moving towards the noble cause of world peace? Definitely not...

AFS exchange students and host families experience other cultures and the world in a way which is inaccessible for tourists. Their intercultural encounters are so inspiring that AFS Czech Republic decided to share them with the wider audiences. We put together a portable exhibition of authentic photos and stories of AFS Czech Republic alumni who spent their intercultural experiences around the world - from Costa Rica...

This photograph shows AFS volunteer William Boardman Kinter waiting on the Kalaw Staircase for casualties in Burma in 1945. Kinter and his AFS friends referred to themselves as “Marsh’s Marauders,” which they painted in bright yellow on signs placed on the front stretcher rack of their jeep ambulances.

There is a common factor that helps young people become more flexible and adaptable, be more innovating and better at speaking foreign languages. According to a recent research study, this factor is - intercultural experiences! This study has found that school exchange programs, volunteering abroad, independent travel, university study and work placements abroad have a profound and positive effect on individuals, employers...