JANINE BENNETTS International student exchange programmes are calling on Hawke's Bay residents to open their homes to students urgently needing host families. The Hawke's Bay chapter of the American Field Service (AFS) International Student Exchange programme has four students arriving, all of whom need accommodation, while the Education First (EF) Foundation hasthree incoming students, with one still needing a host family. The students arrive next month. The EF Foundation exchange co-ordinator Cathleen Adams said finding host families was an ongoing problem, mainly because it was a non-profit organisation and could not pay host families very much. Treasurer for the Hawke's Bay chapter of AFS, Len Hodgson, said it needed to find families "fairly smartly". Miss Adams said hosting a student gave families the opportunity to experience another culture. Mr Hodgson hosted a girl from Costa Rica for a year and said he would recommend the experience to anyone. He was still in contact with her and her family, who stayed with the Hodgsons over Christmas last year. He said: "It's an ongoing experience. It's not just the year, the contacts will be with you always." He plans to take up an invitation to visit the girl and her family in Costa Rica some time. Host families have to be approved through reference and police checks. Mr Hodgson said it was important to have hosts that can be relied on. Both organisations offer support to host families throughout the exchange with planned activities, meetings, and frequent contact with programme representatives. The students are aged between 15 and 18 and come from all over the world. The EF Foundation students are from Germany, Thailand and Canada, while AFS has students coming from Germany, Belgium, Latvia and Brazil. They usually stay for one year, and will attend a local high school.For more information, contact Cathleen (EF) 843 8763 or Len (AFS) 878 9059.
