About exchange!

Sue Clarke and her daughter Amy from Orange, NSW have had a fantastic experience with their host daughter, Tiffany, from France:

What motivated you and your family to volunteer to host?
It was Amy's idea to become a host family ourselves and after some thought I agreed. Amy had been interested in knowing more about exchange programs and when an opportunity came up to become a coordinator nearly two years ago I jumped at the chance so that we could learn more first hand. We thought that 6 months would be quite long enough but now that the time for Tiffany to leave is getting closer we wish she could stay longer. Tiffany has become a member of our family, a second daughter and a sister, and we love having her with us.

Did you have any reservations?

Amy was very excited once we had made the decision to take on our student but I did have a few reservations. I was concerned about the reaction that a student and her family might have about having a single parent host family. Also, my working full time means that our day to day lives are very busy and I was concerned that it may be difficult to spend enough time with our new family member. Because Amy is an only child, I did wonder how I would cope if our student and Amy did not get on or had totally different interests. Silly me! None of my concerns have caused a major problem. Life is still busy, and I am still a single parent but our student has fitted right in and copes with our family life as if she has been with us for ever.

Any major challenges or difficulties?

There really haven't been many. I think my role as coordinator had provided me with a good understanding of what to expect. Ensuring that I had some support systems in place was important. Planning ahead was the key I believe. For Tiff, the biggest challenge has been getting used to school because the system is so different here.

What benefits have you gained from hosting? Tell us about the good stuff!

The benefits...where do I begin? I am sure every host family would talk about the benefits of exposure to another culture but we did not realise how much we would enjoy sharing our lives with an overseas student. The benefits have not just been for Amy and me, but for everyone around us. Amy is an only child so the obvious benefit for her has been that she has enjoyed having a sister at last and they have become very close. They talk about visiting one another in the future and Tiff has indicated that she wants to come back to Australia to live for a while. Tiff's father has even invited Amy to come and work with him in France for several months. It seems that our relationship with Tiff will not end when her stay with us is over and I look forward to meeting her parents at some time and visiting her home in France. I think she will always be part of our family now.

By Lourenço Menezes

What do you think about exchange?