YFU India

Enrich your children’s experiences:
An exchange student is helpful to the children at home as they acquire international exposure and may be learn a new language. These early experiences teach tolerance and can spark a lasting interest in world history, geography, and language.

Learn about another country:
All members of your family will get a taste of another culture and language without even leaving home. Through hosting you will find out about new foods, sports, games, views and much more. YFU India regularly hosts students from the USA, France, Germany, Belgium, Estonia, and other countries.

Share your own culture:
Indian traditions gain deeper meaning as you introduce them to your new son or daughter; a casual family chat about world events reveals new perspectives you may never have considered. It will help your family to see issues and familiar places through a different perspective and through “new eyes”.

Make new relationships:
Hosting gives you a new set of relationships with a family overseas and a very special relationship with your host daughter or son. You will be introduced to new friends from another country and with whom you can meet up in the future in India or on your travels abroad.

Expand your family:
Imagine yourself introducing your host daughter or son to the Indian culture by going to a temple or ashram, an intoxicating evening of Ghazals or the celebrations at Holi and Diwali. Whatever your favorite activities, sharing them with an exchange student will make lasting memories for you and your new family member to share forever.

Help your community and school:
An exchange student brings a different culture right into your school and your community. He/she will help you and those around you learn about other people, places, and perspectives. What better way for the young people in your community to learn about the world than by studying, talking, and laughing with a peer from the other side of the globe?

Mareike’s Host Mother Comments
“Like other parents who do a lot of research and think up on having an exchange student in their family, we never gave it a thought. My daughter came home one day and said she wants to host a student. Her friend had gone to Germany through YFU INDIA and it prompted her to decide on having an exchange student at our house. I agreed on the subject and so we went on and we had Mareike at our home. I am so happy with Mareike she has integrated in our family, as it was her own family. It doesn’t feel like me never knew her from before. I feel like I have had a bond with her since a very long time. I have two daughters and now it feels like I have three daughters. I really get upsets when I think of the day Mareike will fly back. This has been such a wonderful experience that I would like my daughter too goes for a student exchange program and she finds a very good family out there.

On the off hand we would like to thank YFU INDIA for giving us the opportunity of hosting a child who has been a wonderful experience to be with. It has not only helped my children but also my husband and my self in creating a new life with a new member in our family”.

In Her Words

Xabina Bhaseen and her family in Jalandhar previously hosted student Sam Maaritz from Seattle, Washington, USA.

“Having another teenager at home got me quite a few raised eyebrows, but it’s never been anything but a pleasure. Sam from Seattle has turned around to be quite an eye-opener for us … I never expected or thought that the world around the globe could be so similar — the mother’s care so identical, the worries of the father, the tastes so similar.

I personally am impressed with the human relations of these kids and the orientation given to them, which is very thorough. One interesting experience I’ve had is the warmth felt between my own kids and the way they are so protective of their new brother. We are trying our best to extend his trip.”