This episode focused on the impact of AFS on one family in particular- Dana, Camille, Ricardo, and Yasemin. Dana’s mother, Camille, hosted Ricardo from Brazil in 1974.
A few years later, Dana went to Turkey with AFS-USA. Yasemin was her host sister, and despite having no common language at the time, they two quickly became friends and found other ways to communicate.
We all got together to hear about the role AFS has played in their lives and the relationships they still share. In AFS’s 75 year history, the impact that AFS has had on the lives of its participants is immeasurable. That’s the #AFSeffect.
In honor of AFS’s 75th anniversary, The AFS Exchange is releasing 4 episodes this month! That’s 4 times the stories of the impact AFS has had over the years.
Guests: Dana Rutson, Camille Linen, Ricardo Ferriera, Yasemin Modler
Study Abroad with AFS-USA: www.afsusa.org/study-abroad
Volunteer with AFS-USA: www.afsusa.org/volunteer
Host with AFS-USA: www.afsusa.org/host
Contact us: podcast@afsusa.org
This episode focused on the impact of AFS on one family in particular- Dana, Camille, Ricardo, and Yasemin. Dana’s mother, Camille, hosted Ricardo from Brazil in 1974.
A few years later, Dana went to Turkey with AFS-USA. Yasemin was her host sister, and despite having no common language at the time, they two quickly became friends and found other ways to communicate.
We all got together to hear about the role AFS has played in their lives and the relationships they still share. In AFS’s 75 year history, the impact that AFS has had on the lives of its participants is immeasurable. That’s the #AFSeffect.
In honor of AFS’s 75th anniversary, The AFS Exchange is releasing 4 episodes this month! That’s 4 times the stories of the impact AFS has had over the years.
Guests: Dana Rutson, Camille Linen, Ricardo Ferriera, Yasemin Modler
Study Abroad with AFS-USA: www.afsusa.org/study-abroad
Volunteer with AFS-USA: www.afsusa.org/volunteer
Host with AFS-USA: www.afsusa.org/host
Contact us: podcast@afsusa.org
Kate M.
Hello and welcome to The AFS Exchange. I’m Kate Mulvihill. In honor of the 75th Anniversary of AFS, founded in 1947, we will be releasing 4 episodes this month! That’s 4 times the stories of the impact AFS has had on the lives of its participants over the years.
And yes, if we think about 75 years of AFS exchange students… host families… volunteers… sending families… that’s a lot of people. There’s also the friends that students make while on program, their connections with their teachers and other members of their community… How many lives have been affected by AFS at this point? Really? It’s in the millions. I can’t get more exact than that, because there really is no way to measure it. But I’m glad I get to hear a few of them, and share them with you!
So, what’s the goal of AFS? Passing Peace Forward. AFS empowers people to become globally engaged citizens by delivering meaningful intercultural experiences. AFSers help create a more just and peaceful world. And they’ve been doing it for 75 years now!
[Music]
Kate M.
In this episode we are focusing in on the impact of AFS on one family in particular. Dana, Camille, Ricardo, and Yasemin.
For some brief backstory:
Dana’s mother, Camille, hosted an exchange student from Brazil in 1974-75. That student was Ricardo, who has been a part of their family ever since.
A few years later, in 1977 Dana went to Turkey with AFS. Yasemin was her host sister, and despite having no common language at the time, they quickly became friends and found other ways to communicate. A few years ago, Yasemin reached out to Dana online and they reconnected.
So Dana, Camille, Ricardo, and Yasemin. We managed to all be on a Zoom call together at once.
Dana is in Connecticut and Camille is in New York. Ricardo was in the US from Brazil staying with Dana. Yasemin, who is originally from Turkey, called in from where she now lives in Germany.
It was a fun conversation, and it was clear how much they care about each other. In AFS’s 75 year history, there are so many stories like the one I’m sharing today. The impact that AFS has had on the lives of its participants over the years is immeasurable. But we can try to show that in some way through highlighting stories like this one.
[Music]
Dana R.
Oh, here she is. Yasemin, let's see your face.
Yasemin M.
Hi!
Camille L.
Nice to meet you, Yasemin.
Yasemin M.
It's my pleasure. Hi Dana, hi Kate, hi Ricardo.
Kate M.
So, for some introductions…
Dana R.
And I'm Dana Rutson. I live in Westport, Connecticut, and I was an AFS exchange student and we also hosted Ricardo. Ricardo was ‘74 to ‘75. And I was in Istanbul in ‘77.
Camille L.
I'm Camille Linen. I live in Port Chester, New York, which is about 40 minutes outside of New York City. I've been living here for a long, long time. And I still teacher, and I teach online now. I teach English as a second language. But when Ricardo knew me, and when he was in school, I was a teacher at the high school. So that's me.
Ricardo F.
Olá, I’m Ricardo Ferriera. I’m a Gaucho, I was born way down in the south of Brazil, almost to the border with Uruguay. I came to the States in 1974 for a full year program. I stayed with this beautiful family, the Linen family. Currently I have a career in travel, all my whole life travel and events.
Yasemin M.
Hi, I'm Yasemin Modler. I live in Germany, but originally I am from Turkey. I was the host family for Dana. It was a pleasure for us. I'm very honored to be here today.
Kate M.
Camille first heard about AFS through a friend, and welcomed a student for a few days on one of AFS’s early bus trips.
She later decided to host a student for a year, Ricardo from Brazil.
Camille L.
What I was really interested in was that I have three daughters, right? Kind of the only thing I wanted is, let's have a boy. Let's have a young man come, because that would be a real interesting addition to our family. And I have been amazed at what AFS does ever since. It's just an amazing organization.
Dana R.
Yeah, so I was the youngest of three daughters, and Camille is my mom. And she said, you know, we're gonna host a student and we had Ricardo come, and we're all very excited. And like she said, you know, we now had a brother, we could tease him. We had a lot of fun. But what was the reason I said my mom should be with us today is because she and Ricardo really were the backbone for me of what sparked AFS. To watch the connection that my mother and Ricardo had, and truly he is my brother. He's my mother's son. It was inspiring to me. And I was young and busy with my life. And he was in high school, but it really touched me, their closeness. And I had traveled to Germany when I was 11. To see my aunt, you but this was a different kind of connection.
Ricardo F.
Yeah. And, and I think that being sent to a family with three girls, my family, my family is a very traditional family from Brazil. I mean, the father has the role of a father, the mother has the role of a father of a mother. The rules are very clear, you know, and then I'm transplanted to this family with three girls who are sophisticated to my standards, very sophisticated, culturally.
So I think that adaptation… she was divorced. You know, she was divorced. When my mother heard that she was divorced. My mother was like, you can't go. I remember telling my mother, mom, “She's normal.”
Camille L.
I know.
Ricardo F.
You know, to my mother, that was like a big thing because we didn't have divorced people in Brazil. I mean, we didn't have divorced people. So it was an adaptation.
Kate M.
Fortunately, Ricardo was able to adapt. And over the course of the year, he formed a close connection with Camille and her family. And Dana could see the value that AFS had brought to her life via Ricardo. So not long after Ricardo left, she applied for an AFS program with the full support of her mother.
Dana R.
You know, my mother is also very encouraging of my very independent spirit. And when I was placed in Turkey, she said, I was scared because it was a year of the movie Midnight Express.
I had left it blank, I didn't put any choices. In those days, you could put where you might want to go if you had a choice. And so my mother looked at me and she said, “Well, you don't have to go, but you did say anywhere.” And so she really encouraged me and, and then, to meet Yasemin… I had the most wonderful family.
Yasemin M.
My intention was to have a native speaking English person, to have more time together so that I can get some practice. I didn't know English. But my intention was to learn English and this easiest way is to speak it, you know? So, I heard about this program and I thought, why not? Try. This was our intention.
Dana R.
AFS had placed us together with the impression that I had spoken some German because my aunt, my mother's sister lives in Germany and I had visited her, but in fact, I didn't.
So they came to us about a week later, Yasemin? About a week later and said, “We understand there's no common language here. So we can put you with another family if you'd like.” And I looked at all of them. And I said, No, I love them. And we never had a common language until about three years ago, when Yasemin found me on Facebook. And now we've opened up the floodgates. And we're like a love story. Because we have so much now we have to say that we couldn't say.
So and I did want to mention that when Yasemin and I finally Zoomed, after all these years, I had just found my journal, I kept a journal, from my experience. And in it, it says, “I talked to my Turkish mother all day today.” And when I spoke to her, this is a true story. She said, I just spoke to my mother today before we Zoomed, and she said, “Oh, Dana, and I would have long talks all day.” So it wasn't one sided. It was oh, we communicated without language, we went beyond language. And I think everyone here can do that. And I think that's the power of AFS.
Kate M.
Thank you for sharing that Dana. So what sorts of things would you communicate about while finding alternative methods to communicate?
Dana R.
Yasemin was playing the guitar at the time, and she would play Fernando from ABBA. And she would sing it in her English version, and I would sing with her. And then she taught me some Turkish songs.
Ricardo, the same when he came to stay with us, we're a very musical theater family. Last night we had a family gathering and Ricardo sang for his niece, my sister's daughter, who's 11. And then she sang to him. So there was this music connection with all of us in common, funny enough.
I still remember the songs Yasemin taught me in Turkish. And then also remember my Turkish English dictionary? So when I had the dictionary, we didn't have it online in those days. And my Turkish mother would point to a word and then we go, “Oh, I get it!” You know. So we did that.
Ricardo had very good English language skills when he came here, so we really communicated pretty easily. But we also teased him a lot when he got words wrong.
Camille L.
Yes. Well, yes. And funny things, but a new kind of, you know, so a lot of vernacular, a lot of slang that we taught him and his friends taught him. His American friends. And then he would probably say them in the wrong time in the wrong place. But that was because he could do that. He knew he could get away with it.
Dana R.
I want to say about Yasemin, that we really said this on our Zoom call a couple of weeks ago that we really, it sounds very corny, but we communicated through the heart. We looked at each other, we read somehow. And with everyone in the family. Tarik, her father, who passed several years ago; I was very close to her father. He was, I would say, old-fashioned. Yes. But they're very warm people. And there really wasn't language needed sometimes.
Yasemin M.
I had to go to school sometimes and leave her alone with my mom. And I came back after hours and my mom would say “I told her so much.” How could you speak to each other for hours? They could say many things, you know, so I was really surprised. Just with a dictionary, they showed each other. So this was very good for me to see.
And I learned how she could adapt herself so easily, how she could be so open to a new culture to everything. She came with us everywhere, I don't know, to a mosque or to go shopping. So she was a very good example for me for years. And now after years, I have changed countries. I’ve lived for years now in Germany. I did the same, but I learned from her. Thank you, Dana.
Camille L.
It's great. I like a lot of what Yasemin said is just exactly how I felt about Ricardo. I felt like he changed my life because he made me understand that it's not where you come from. It's not you what language you speak, what your culture is. It's the soul that you connect with. And AFS should be required of all human beings, that kind of exposure to other cultures and other people. And we wouldn't have problems, we wouldn't have wars.
I can’t tell you how Ricardo changed my perception of life and the world.
I think I wouldn't have gone into the best teaching of my life if Ricardo’s influence wasn't there. Because I love teaching people English from other countries, I just, it's the best teaching of my life. So in a way, you inspired me to do what I was supposed to do here, and I can't thank you enough, but I don't need to because I think he knows.
Kate M.
I asked Ricardo and Dana what skills they gained from their time abroad.
Dana R.
I'd say to anyone who does AFS is, what we've all discussed here, is a willingness to learn to be open. And when you do that, there’s just no boundaries. You can learn anything, if you're open, right? I mean, I think you may go as an adaptable person, but then you may become maybe a humble person, or you may realize that you have this real skill set that you didn't know you had, and then you enhance that. It's starting with an open mind. And then it's the sky's the limit from there.
Ricardo F.
I think it's very important first to state that the skills that I took were pretty much derived from the fact that there was a very good match done by AFS. You know, me being the host student for them, and them being the host family for me.
But I think the skills that I took were adaptation, flexibility, openness. I came from a family where I have three brothers, myself and three brothers, all Latinos, all gauchos, all from the south of Brazil. Kind of close to redneck Brazil.
Overall, I think that if I look at the threads of my life, being a citizen of the world, that to me is so important. I made a family where being citizens of the world is central to us, you know, so I think that AFS was such a nice expression of that.
Kate M.
Both of Ricardo’s kids participated in AFS programs. He also has worked in Travel and Hospitality for years and has been to over 100 countries.
Well. I asked the group what advice they would have for potential AFS students.
Dana R.
Really see past anything, just sort of have no particular view before you go. Have an open, open vision, and also patience. I'm not by nature the most patient person. But I find that I am when I travel, and am around other people. Because my heart leads in a way I just sort of realize that this is something I don't know, and I can step back and focus. So I would say patience is important.
And I did want to mention, I do believe because of AFS I was head of Global Communications for Rosewood Hotels and Resorts. So I, like Ricardo, I've been in the travel business, I’ve worked for the Peninsula group.
I think it gives you a really good toolkit for any job that you're going to have. So my advice would be, muscle up and let those skills come to you, don't fight it. And just really, they will be used over and over again in your one on one relationships, your business relationships, and anytime you're adapting to any environment.
I wasn’t on the Development team of Rosewood but they brought me in on a project because one of the executives said “You know, you're sensitive with culture. These people do not want some big American company coming in and acting like they know what they're doing. Could you come with us?” And that reminded me of my AFS roots.
Camille L.
That's great. That's great.
Dana R.
I lived in Dallas for Rosewood and I was pregnant, nine months pregnant, and Ricardo was going to be flying through. He flies all over, does business all over, and we were going to meet for lunch. And I faxed him not just the place where we were meeting for lunch but the address of the hospital in case I was delivering. And lo and behold, there he was in the delivery room. My mother said “Ricardo is here.”
Ricardo F.
Exactly!
Dana R.
And he is my son’s godfather. He was a little nauseous and he had to run out of the room. But he earned the title of Godfather, so that’s a good thing.
Ricardo F.
And I saw a child’s birth. Wow.
Dana R.
And my son was fortunate to go, I guess at age 15, my son flew alone to Sao Paulo and stayed with Ricardo and Ileana. Ileana is my sister, his wife. She is a big part of our AFS family by extension and by heart. But my son stayed with Ricardo and learned some things about work from Ricardo so it cycles and I can't wait to continue this with Yasemin as well in some regard.
Kate M.
That's incredible. Wow, just happened to be flying through Texas. How about you Ricardo, what advice would you give to anyone maybe hesitant about doing an AFS program?
Ricardo F.
I was invited like five or six years ago to, I'm considered a senior person in AFS San Paolo, I did a lot of work for AFS, I was president of the committee, etc, etc. So sometimes they asked me to tell my experience.
I told this group of kids, like 60 candidates and then 12 people that actually got approved to be part of the experience.
I said, “Challenge yourself, challenge yourself, don't choose easy destinations. Don't choose Latin America, don't choose the United States, I mean, go to this small village in Thailand, go to this very specific place in the mountains in Czech Republic, you know.”
I said challenge yourself. If you challenge yourself and you succeed, then you are an AFSer. You have an experience that takes you out of your comfort zone, and you feel confident that you can take any other challenge in your life.
Kate M.
Before we ended the conversation, I asked the group if they had anything else they wanted to share.
Dana R.
It's one inspiration after another, one connection after another, is really to me what AFS is about. I really look at all these people. And I think, you know, just good people in my life who actually have a lot in common. And if they were all sitting in a room together, you know, we'd be here for hours. It's great.
Yasemin M.
It's so beautiful to learn from each other, you know, we can, we can learn to adapt ourselves to be more open to tolerate more things. We see we are humans, okay? We are really just humans, it doesn't matter which passport we have or which skin color we have.
For example, when I came to Germany to marry a German guy, I mean, and to live in Germany. In Turkey, many people had judgments against the German people. And then once when they met my husband and the whole family, and so many judgments were dissolved between all relatives, friends, between two cultures.
Camille L.
I encourage people, especially people who live in this country, that this is what it means to be alive. Don’t just stay in your world. You know, a comfortable situation. Get out there because the only way to know what it's like in another place or a mindset you will understand if you go to that place even if you go for a week.
Ricardo F.
I would like to make a comment to say that I think I'm a good friend, a good husband, a good father, a good son, a good citizen, and I think I'm a good AFSer. I think I'm a good AFSer in the sense that I positively impacted the lives of people such as Dana, Diane, Denise, Camille, etc, etc. And they impacted my life tremendously.
I worked for AFS for a number of years when I was back in Brazil, helping people have this experience because it's a life changing experience. And I think that this is so important in my life.
Kate M.
Thank you all so much for taking the time this morning, this afternoon, to chat with me. This was great.
Camille L.
It's so nice to meet you, and Yasemin to meet you.
Yasemin M.
I’m very happy to see you all here, Ricardo, Camille. I'm sure we will be in touch.
Camille L.
Come to my class on the internet!
Yasemin M.
Yes, why not, why not. Send me an invitation!
Dana R.
Yasemin, we will do another Zoom soon and make plans.
Yasemin M.
Yes, please.
Ricardo F.
I barely know Yasemin but I consider her sister. Because Dana’s sister is my sister as well.
Yasemin M.
I feel the same. Thank you, Ricardo.
Camille L.
I love that. You made another addition to their family.
Kate M.
That was Dana Rutson, Camille Linen, Ricardo Ferriera, and Yasemin Modler. I hope you could see through this episode the impact of Ricardo’s AFS program in the US, then Dana’s program in Turkey.
Over AFS’s 75 years, there have been so many stories like this, and I’m glad I was able to share this one with you.
[Music]
Kate M.
Well, thank you for listening to The AFS Exchange. I’m Kate Mulvihill. Remember, in honor of the 75th Anniversary of AFS, we will be releasing 4 episodes this month! That’s 4 times the stories of the impact AFS has had on the lives of its participants over the years.
Let us know what you thought of this episode by sending a message to podcast@afsusa.org. You can also rate and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe there as well! Season 2 of The AFS Exchange will bring you conversations with hosted students, educators, host families, volunteers, and more.
This podcast was created by Kate Mulvihill. Social media by Julie Ball. Editing support by Nina Gaulin. Thank you to our guests Dana Rutson, Camille Linen, Ricardo Ferriera, and Yasemin Modler.