1. AFSINTERCULTURAL PROGRAMS

2. Quick Facts • AFS is an international, voluntary, non-governmental, non-profit organization that provides intercultural learning opportunities to help people develop the knowledge, skills and understanding needed to create a more just and peaceful world. • Partner organizations in 50 countries • Exchanges between 80 countries • International exchange since 1919 • More than 30,000 active volunteers and 100,000 supporters around the world • Close to 11,000 students sent per year • More than 300,000 program alumni • AFS intercultural exchange programs include the highschool exchange for one academic year, semester or trimester. The summer or intensive programs are for one to three months focusing on homestays, language skills, community service or cultural activities. • Community Service Program participants volunteer for a semester in one of twenty countries across the globe, to work at local organizations that address community needs, such as helping street children or developing training programs with human rights workers. • The educator programs for a year or short study tour allow teachers to the educational systems of other countries experience first hand.

3. Origins of AFS • AFS began as the American Field Service during World War I, when 2,500 Americans volunteered to drive ambulances in France and in the Balkans. • Following the war in 1919, AFS Fellowships for French Universities were established. A total of 222 fellowships were awarded between 1919 and 1952. • In World War II, another 2,200 men volunteered as AFS ambulance drivers in Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, India and Burma. During the two wars, AFS drivers transported more than 1.2 million wounded. At the end of World War II, AFS drivers assisted with the evacuation of over 11,000 survivors of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany. • AFS Intercultural Programs and its student exchanges began in 1947. Stephen Galatti and 250 AFS ambulance drivers pledged to sustain the tradition and principles of service that the organization was founded on by creating the AFS International Scholarships.

4. AFS in the WORLD

5. AFS Turkey • The AFS Adventure started in Turkey in year 1952 when for the first time two students took part in the AFS exchange program. • In 1974, AFS returnees and the volunteers established Türk Kültür Vakfı – TKV. TKV is still functioning as the official AFS partner in Turkey. • Since 1999, our volunteers, mostly between 20-30 years of age, established the AFSGD, ‘AFS Volunteers Assosiation’. • Founding member of EFIL ‘European Federation for Intercultural Learning’ since 1971.

6. AFS Turkey

7. ADAPTATION

8. AFS IMPACT STUDY A large scale three-year, independent research study of the impact of AFS exchange programs was completed in early 2005 by Dr. Mitchell Hammer of Hammer Consulting, LLC. The study’s findings confirm that AFS year programs at the high school level play a critical role in building bridges across cultures. The research shows that AFS programs help young people: • Become more competent in crossing cultures • Feel more comfortable with people from other cultures • Build more friendships with people from other cultures • Become fluent in the language of their host country • Learn more about their own culture by seeing it from a fresh perspective • Gain a real understanding of another country and its culture and society

9. AFS IMPACT STUDY • The Impact of the AFS Study Abroad Experience – So much more than just a year abroad • “There may be people who can see the world through only one window. However, I now have individuality within two cultures. When I go back home, perhaps I will feel uncomfortable toward my culture and feel culture shock, but I think that is the process of combining two cultures. When the two are united, and a new individuality is formed, then I see and understand the world not only from one window, but from many different perspectives.”

10. AFS QUOTES • “Turkey is a wonderful country with terrific people. They are very open minded and kind hearted people and they have a great food culture.”Chelsea Cassel (USA, 2003 AFSer) • “We all lived and learned a new life here. It was worth a whole lifetime. I want to return but it will never be the same. Miles of memories remain.”Heather Anne Hawkins (USA, 1990)

11. AFS QUOTES • “Turkey is a country with competent and futuristic people, lasting and deep relationships between friends, a great supportive structure network, a society with many creative solutions who love to have fun, an international curiosity and awareness and a world’s full of opportunities for me to have the time of your life enjoying the beauty and pleasure of living in Turkey.” Tanè Perry Remington (USA, 2004, AFSer)