Each AFS participant's experience on program varies, but Deb Moon and Juliette Cosh's summer in Cyprus stands out as truly unique.
Deb and Juliette, along with five other AFS students, were on this small island in 1974 when the Greek Cypriot military supported a coup to overthrow the country’s president. A few days later, the northern part of the country was invaded by the Turkish. Deb and Juliette were then evacuated to Lebanon.
In this episode we'll explore the typical questions about AFS experiences, such as host families and skills gained. However, the focus will be on their gripping experience fleeing Cyprus during a period of uncertainty. It was during this tumult that they developed a friendship, one that has persisted over the years.
Nearly five decades later, Deb and Juliette remain close friends, having met up multiple times. Most recently, they reunited in Utah during the summer with another participant from the Cyprus program, who was evacuated to England.
Tune in to this episode to hear about the journey these two AFSers had in Cyprus and Lebanon, and discover how this unforgettable experience ignited a lifelong friendship that has endured through the decades.
Guests:
Deb Moon
Juliette Cosh
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
Educator Resources: www.afsusa.org/educators
Contact us: podcast@afsusa.org
Each AFS participant's experience on program varies, but Deb Moon and Juliette Cosh's summer in Cyprus stands out as truly unique.
Deb and Juliette, along with five other AFS students, were on this small island in 1974 when the Greek Cypriot military supported a coup to overthrow the country’s president. A few days later, the northern part of the country was invaded by the Turkish. Deb and Juliette were then evacuated to Lebanon.
In this episode we'll explore the typical questions about AFS experiences, such as host families and skills gained. However, the focus will be on their gripping experience fleeing Cyprus during a period of uncertainty. It was during this tumult that they developed a friendship, one that has persisted over the years.
Nearly five decades later, Deb and Juliette remain close friends, having met up multiple times. Most recently, they reunited in Utah during the summer with another participant from the Cyprus program, who was evacuated to England.
Tune in to this episode to hear about the journey these two AFSers had in Cyprus and Lebanon, and discover how this unforgettable experience ignited a lifelong friendship that has endured through the decades.
Guests:
Deb Moon
Juliette Cosh
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
Educator Resources: www.afsusa.org/educators
Contact us: podcast@afsusa.org
Kate M.
Hello and welcome to The AFS Exchange. I’m Kate Mulvihill. The AFS Exchange is a podcast by AFS-USA where we open the door to hear from members of our AFS family. This is a place to have conversations, or exchanges, with AFS host families, students, volunteers, and educators.
Kate M.
Okay this episode is going to be a little different. I mean, similar to many other episodes, we will be hearing about the experiences of students who went abroad with AFS. However, their AFS program ended up being… quite unique.
Deb Moon and Juliette Cosh went to Cyprus with AFS in the summer of 1974. Also in the summer of 1974? There was a coup d’état in Cyprus. Deb and Juliette, along with 5 other AFS students, were on this small island when the Greek Cypriot military supported a coup to overthrow the country’s president. A few days later, the northern part of the country was invaded by the Turkish. Deb and Juliette were then evacuated to Lebanon.
In this episode we will hear some of the normal questions about AFS experiences- host families, skills gained, etc, but we will also hear about their experience fleeing Cyprus during a time where they had no idea what was going on. During this time they forged a friendship that has continued throughout the years. A few months ago, Deb, Juliette, and another member of their cohort in Cyprus, Mary, all met up to reflect upon their experiences.
But, before we get into my interview with Deb and Juliette, I want to provide you with some context about Cyprus during this time.
Normally there are little history or cultural lessons scattered throughout the episode as it pertains to a country that a student went to or came from. In this case though, I will be front-loading the episode with some historical context. If you happen to be… well-versed in Cypriot history, feel free to skip ahead 4 minutes or so.
[Music]
Cyprus is an island kind of tucked into the corner of the eastern Mediterranean Sea. It is south of Turkey, and west of Syria and Lebanon. Also in the Mediterranean, you have Greece and all its islands. In terms of land mass, it’s about half the size of New Jersey.
Cyprus has a long, long history. But we’re going to start in the late 1800s. At that point in time, it was under the control of the Ottoman Empire, or the Turkish Empire. In 1878, the British took control of Cyprus as the result of a lease agreement with the Turkish, and in 1914 it formally became a British colony after the Turkish defeat in World War 1.
The British introduced modern infrastructure, education systems, and governance structures. However, they faced resistance from the Cypriot population looking for greater self-governance or unification with Greece.
Unification with Greece having a specific word that is a big part of history here- it’s called ‘Enosis’. E-N-O-S-I-S.
The desire for enosis fueled nationalistic sentiments among Greek Cypriots, leading to periods of unrest and demands for independence. They didn’t want to be controlled by the British, they wanted to be unified with Greece... or at least be an independent country.
This wasn’t the case for every single person living on the island though, there was also a large Turkish Cypriot population, but the Greek Cypriots had the bigger numbers and louder voices. The two groups also did not get along very well, and were quite divided, with communities staying pretty insulated.
Cyprus gained independence from Britain in 1960, becoming the Republic of Cyprus.
However… not everyone was happy with Cyprus being its own country. There were still a number of Greek Cypriots who wanted enosis. On July 15, 1974, the Greek Cypriot military supported a coup to overthrow President Archbishop Makarios III, aiming to unify Cyprus with Greece.
In response to the coup, Turkey intervened by launching a military operation 5 days later. This led to the division of Cyprus, with Turkish forces occupying the northern part of the island. The intercommunal violence, the coup, and the subsequent invasion led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Cypriots.
This is where Deb and Juliette’s stories come in. They were there in Cyprus when this happened, and were then evacuated to Lebanon. And… Cyprus since then? Well, it’s obviously complicated.
As a result, Cyprus remains divided to this day, with the Republic of Cyprus controlling the southern part and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus established in the north. However, this division within Cyprus is only recognized by Turkey. Northern Cyprus is considered by the international community to be part of the Republic of Cyprus.
In the north, a Cypriot dialect of Turkish is spoken, and they use the Turkish Lira for currency. The rest of the island speaks a Cypriot dialect of Greek, and they use the euro. Many Cypriots also have a high proficiency in English as a 2nd language, which is a lasting impact of the British rule.
Alright so, now that we know a bit more about Cyprus, let’s hear from Deb and Juliette. Their journey to Cyprus, their experiences in July of 1974, and their evacuation to Lebanon. They also share about their friendship since, and how their takeaways from this program 49 years ago are still valuable today.
[Music]
Kate M.
I am talking to…
Deb M.
Sure, I'll start. Um, I'm Deb Moon and currently I live in Scottsdale, Arizona. But I grew up in Beloit, Wisconsin.
Juliette C.
All right, and I'm Juliette Cosh, originally Juliette Cumpelik, and I live in Athens, Tennessee, and I have a varied background. I was born in Australia, I emigrated to America and spent most of my time in New York teaching high school math, and now retired in Tennessee.
Kate M.
Juliette was only 10 when she moved from Australia to the U.S. Actually, perhaps the word “moved” doesn’t really do it justice, because it was a whole journey.
Juliette C.
When we traveled, my parents made it an educational trip, we traveled for three months coming from Australia to America. So we traveled quite extensively, or in little towns and islands all across. And then the first airplane ride we took was actually from London to New York. Everything else was by boat train, that kind of traveling. So I, I just developed an appreciation of love for cultures from just that journey. And then when I saw that there were kids doing an exchange program. In my own high school, I thought I wanted to do that.
Kate M.
That sounds like that was an incredible trip and an incredible gift that your parents were able to give you at the age of 10. Australia to the United States taking one flight.
Juliette C.
Yeah, what about? Yeah, and Kate, I will say that for many years, I said the same word, you just used a gift. It was truly a gift that my parents gave me because it was at such an age where I was so impressionable.
Kate M.
So back then, you couldn’t really choose which country you would be going to on your AFS program. When they found out they were going to Cyprus, they both had to crack open encyclopedias. When it was time to leave, Deb had a number of “firsts” before she left the U.S.
Deb M.
What was pretty exciting, actually, because I had never been on an airplane before. I hadn't traveled much out of the Midwest. So it was getting a drive to Chicago, and then getting on a plane and flying to New York. And then getting off the plane and discovering that there were other AFS students at the airport, we all chipped in together and got a car to take us to the hotel, which was by Grand Central. And part of the fun was meeting the other AFS students at the airport, and being able to chat and be happy and talk about this big adventure that we were starting.
Kate M.
Landing in JFK and needing to get yourself to Grand Central… as a teenager… in 1974… when you’ve never been on an airplane or to New York City before… is a real way to start your AFS experience.
Juliette C.
And for me, I lived right across the river, across the Hudson River in New Jersey, Northern Jersey. So it wasn't that big adventure getting to the hotel, but the excitement level, the fact that we all got together at that hotel as a staging point, to just chatter and of course, go through orientation and all that was amazing. It really set the stage for our adventure ahead.
Kate M.
There was a group of AFS students at the hotel, all headed to countries in the Middle East and southern Europe. The flight took them to Ankara, Turkey with a stopover in Shannon, Ireland. Then the 7 girls going to Cyprus got in a little plane and flew south.
Deb M.
I was placed in Nicosia, which is the capital of Cyprus. And, but the family I stayed with had a summer home in Famagusta. So, I was in Nicosia for a period of time and then Famagusta also.
Juliette C.
And I was placed in Famagusta with the family, and I loved it. It was a beach resort area. It was gorgeous on the Mediterranean. So I was living like summer vacation. It was awesome. Now my family had been planning a later trip that summer to go to Turkey because I was with a Turkish family. So Debbie was with a Greek family. Correct.
Kate M.
Okay. And can you talk a bit about your host families and what they were like?
Deb M.
My host family was Nicos and Victoria Economides. They have two sons. They were approximately 10 and eight years old. Their grandfather lived with them, of course, we called him Pappu. I think my host family was very accepting. One thing that struck me and even at the time, was the fact that as Juliette mentioned, I was with a Greek Cypriot family, she was with the Turkish Cypriot family. And even then there was a green line between where Greeks lived and where Turkish families lived. But our families got together, which I thought was very interesting and very supportive for us to do that when they were from different cultures.
Juliette C.
And my placement was with the Özada family. They had three boys, and two of them were a little bit close to my age, and then one, about 10 years younger than me. And I've just had to say we just clicked immediately, it was really a nice placement. And I really loved the family.
I will add to what Deb said that one of the things culturally that we noticed is that as you traveled around the island, Deb mentioned the green line. But there were also many sectors in the area where we would go through checkpoints, like now you're leaving a Turkish area. So now show your ID to go into the next area, stop, show your ID now move to the next area. So when, during the time period, in that initial two week time period, the fact that our families were willing to let us, meaning Deb, and I get together was amazing. You know that the two cultures were willing to do that, you know, the two families were very progressive, if you will, are very open minded to say, hey, look, let's get let the girls get together, which we of course, as teenagers appreciated to see somebody, you know that we had already become friends just from the hotel on the trip over you know, but it was a big step for those families. I realized later.
Kate M.
So, Deb, Juliette, and the 5 other American AFS students were planning to stay for 2 months. But it ended up only being about 3 weeks. The coup happened on July 15th, and the Turks invaded on July 20th.
Deb hid out in the basement of her host family’s home in Nicosia. Juliette moved from her host family’s house to another family’s, then snuck out into the fortress of Famagusta.
Deb M.
Well, certainly a dramatic time. And I think that was why it was so bonding for all of us, American AFS students there. But I remember in news articles, too, talking about the tension and the possibility of a coup. I remember them having conversations about the coup when it started, but it really didn't impact me until I woke up the morning of the Turkish paratroopers invading the island.
And certainly, waking up and looking out your window and seeing paratroopers in the sky was a little unnerving and hearing gunfire and explosives sent us scurrying to get dressed and running down to the basement to be safe.
But I remember, laying in the basement, my host family had a Fiat car dealership. And so it was a very large building, our apartment was on the second floor. So the basement was quite large. And someone had brought mattresses down into the basement. And so we were very safe and felt pretty comfortable. But certainly on the way down to the basement, I did see bullet holes in the walls and in the car dealership. And so I definitely thought about the fact that, you know, this could be a little dangerous, but at 18 years old, I don't know that I was concerned about really being harmed. The radio was on constantly. And I heard the Cypriot national anthem 24/7. And I thought I would never forget it. I have. But at the time it was disconcerting, more than frightening.
Juliette C.
And for me, I was just starting to notice that neighborhood people kept coming by. And there were a lot more visitors to the house, and I wasn't sure what was going on. Then I saw them coming with guns. And so they were basically it seemed to me that they were gathering arms. So I knew something was going on. And I was getting concerned about that and what's happening. And then for me, I was woken up in the early morning and told to just grab your things. We're going to go to another home. And the other home was near the police station for that Turkish sector. Just for protection.
So it's a very crowded home. Let's put it that way. There were several families all just waiting for nightfall so I didn't know that that's what was going to happen until they told us okay, get your stuff what you have. So literally, I had all my belongings in a little, like a Walmart shopping bag. So everything else got left behind.
And then when nightfall came, we evacuated through a sugarcane field into a tunnel that led into the old city of Famagusta. So the old city of Famagusta was Turkish, and it was like a fortress. So we walked underground with just, you know, lanterns or you know, there were people in the tunnel holding lamps and so it would shine a light for us to basically escape from the regular town into this fortress so that we would be safer.
And that was a pretty harrowing experience from the standpoint of that whole day when we were waiting for nightfall, there was shooting in the street and I just laid underneath a bed all day just wasn't going to stand up and be near a window or anything.
Kate M.
And then it was time to leave Cyprus…There were a number of neighbors also sheltering with Deb’s host family in the basement. Eventually Deb left with a neighbor to get to the U.S. Embassy.
Deb M.
…When it got to be like, there was some safety out on the streets, the neighbor came to talk to me and said, we've heard that the embassy is going to have a convoy to take people to a British naval base where you can be saved and evacuated. And I'm happy to drive you. And it was dark. And it was kind of scary, but it was certainly good to get to the U.S. Embassy.
Kate M.
From the U.S. Embassy in the capital of Nicosia, Deb then went to the British naval base near Larnaca…
Deb M.
…and we were helicoptered from Larnaca, from the British naval base, to the USS Coronado, so they didn't want to bring the ship in too close to the island.
Kate M.
Meanwhile, Juliette was in Famagusta on the coast, a historically Turkish area, where she was evacuated in a convoy of UN troops.
Juliette C.
So I did not go to the US Embassy, they took me from Famagusta to Larnaca. What occurred for me in Larnaca, there were tents set up for refugees, basically. And they said, just sit here and wait, we'll get things organized to get you out of here. And I can remember going to where the command post was on several occasions and saying, Hey, guys, you didn't forget about me, um, I'm not here with my parents, and I need to be evacuated.
So you asked one of the questions like, what, what occurred, you know, from this trip, I became really outspoken and self reliant. This is what I need, and persisted, and then finally got to where I needed to be, you know, I knew I needed to do it myself. No one was doing it for me.
[Ocean sounds]
Kate M.
After days of chaos and confusion, Deb and Juliette were reunited on the USS Coronado where they had some time to sit with each other and discuss what they’d been through and how they felt about leaving their host families.
Deb M.
Here you are this teenage person without your parents and you're just gone through a war. And you're going to a place where you don't really know anything about either, and you haven't really talked to anybody in authority. So running into Juliette was like this bright, shining moment. I know you. And we were able to obtain a tape recorder. And I don't even remember how we did that. But we sat on the bridge.
Juliette C.
The gentleman gave it to us, remember?
Deb M.
Oh, no, I don't remember. Yeah, a gentleman. He knew. He had. He just briefly heard a little bit, and we told him a little bit about ourselves. And he said, You have to record this. Ah, and you know, I don't know, I don't have that recording. And to me, it doesn't matter. It was a cathartic moment for us to sit down on the deck of the ship, and just tell our story, because we were just in shock, I think from all the changes that occurred, and I truly was so upset that I had to leave my family.
Deb M.
Yeah, I was certainly worried about my family when I left and was wondering what had happened after I left and what was going to be going to happen to them. So that was definitely on our minds to me and our host families.
Juliette C.
That's exactly it. I know when they gave me the go ahead to get with the UN troops and leave the Old City. I was like, but they're coming with me, aren't they? And they were like, No, and that was a tough moment to say, Well, I'm gonna go and I'm gonna leave them. You know, I felt like it wasn't right. Why should I have privilege and not them? It?
Kate M.
Deb and Juliette spent about 2 days and 1 night on the ship which traveled southeast to Beirut, the capital of Lebanon. However, they weren’t able to just hop off the ship once it docked.
Deb M.
Well, another thing, Juliette that I remember about when we did get to Beirut, so we're on the ship before we get off the ship. And some representatives from the embassies showed up on the ship. And because Juliette was an Australian citizen, The Australian Embassy representative came and was offering to figure out how to get her back to Australia. And she asked him if I'd be able to come along too though I wasn’t an Australian citizen. So he said no. So then I was like, Oh, I guess we're staying in Lebanon.
Juliette C.
Kids, you know, I was ready to go to Australia. What the heck. I didn’t have parents there, but yeah, let’s go there. No, no, no forethought on that one.
Deb M.
But it does sound kind of exciting.
Juliette C.
Yeah!
Deb M.
Once we were allowed off the ship, though, we were met by an AFS representative. The woman in charge of AFS Lebanon was Madame Sofiadine. A very interesting woman and I will certainly love her till the day I die.
Juliette C.
Yeah. Give you the shirt off her back.
Kate M.
And then, once you got to Lebanon, what was your experience like there? Did the AFS program continue in some way?
Deb M.
Absolutely. So, um, Madame Sofiadine. She hosted us for a day or two in Beirut. That's where she lived. And then she found us host families.
Kate M.
Deb was placed in a small mountain town called Ehden. Juliette was with a family in the mountains outside Beirut. AFS Lebanon organized a bunch of field trips for their participants that Deb and Juliette joined in on, including to the Israeli border and to the American University of Beirut. They also traveled with their host families around the country, and Juliette even traveled with her family to Syria.
Deb M.
Yeah, so it was Oh, it was a really fun time to visit with the other AFS students that had been there, but also get to see another country and another culture. Because, yeah, the Middle East was a very different place than where we had been in Cyprus.
Kate M.
I kind of want to say, you know, you got a different program than the one you signed up for. But you didn't sign up for Cyprus, specifically, either. So you really, you got two programs. When you really were only expecting one. I mean, that must have been really, frankly, kind of traumatizing, but also exciting at the same time. Not to put words in your mouth. But it seems like it was quite a summer.
Deb M.
I think I was able to kind of compartmentalize the war in Cyprus, and not take it with me into Lebanon. And really enjoyed my time there.
Juliette C.
Yeah. And for me, I agree with you, Kate, about seeing a two in one deal. You know, it was great. There are a lot of things I learned. I wasn't as successful as Deb in leaving Cyprus behind. My heart was there. I regret that I did not fully embrace Lebanon. My host family was so good to me. And yet, I know that I was still a little bit withdrawn from the experience. So I could, I could have gotten more out of the experience had I not had that experience in Cyprus. And yet, as a lifetime experience, it taught me a lot about war. And just the understanding that there's families everywhere that love each other, and that we need to remember that whatever their cultural or national background is.
Kate M.
Right, right.
Deb M.
Yeah, culturally, too. I was placed with a family that had teens, and some younger children, but it was a larger family. And so I got to experience a little bit more of what it was like to be a teen and another country. So for instance, in the little community that we lived in every evening, the teens would go promenade, which meant we would take our walks in the small downtown, the boys would be on one side and the girls would be on the other side. And we would observe each other and maybe smile, but that was as close as you could get. Okay, just things like that, too.
One thing too, about that time period, and Juliette, you know, you're going to remember this, but it's summer of 1974. Richard Nixon is impeached. So we're in another country while all this political stuff is going on. And what I remember so much about that time too is going down to Beirut on one of our AFS, organized outings, and stopping at a newsstand and buying a Newsweek. And it was probably the first time I ever read that magazine from cover to back. Because it was all about the impeachment and Nixon leaving.
Juliette C.
Yeah, yeah, I was in Beirut when that hit the air too. So yeah, that was big news.
Kate M.
Right. And the just kind of experiencing any large American event while in another country is, is always kind of interesting, because you're hearing about it from afar, maybe a bit of a delay, and then possibly you have the opportunity to talk to some of the locals about what's going on in your country, instead of only absorbing what's going on in their country kind of sharing part of, hey, this I know, we're 1000s of miles away, but some stuffs going down in America right now.
Deb M.
Yeah, and I remember being out and about and having people just yell, “Nixon!” to me, because that was the only really English word they knew, but also knew it was something that was going on, and would spark attention.
Kate M.
Okay, if you are confused by this Nixon yelling thing… I encourage you to google “Watergate.” President Richard Nixon was under investigation and it was all but certain that he was going to be impeached by the House of Representatives, so he resigned before he could go to trial. On August 9th, 1974, Nixon became the first- and to date, the only- U.S. president to resign. Anyway.
Kate M.
So Juliette, you touched on this a bit before, but I'd love to hear more from both of you. What skills did you gain or improve upon during your time abroad?
Juliette C.
Well, you know, when you asked that, to look at it, I wrote down “outspoken and self reliant.” I think that I became an adult.
Kate M.
Yeah. Really put into a situation that you couldn't have possibly imagined and no one was necessarily there to walk you through it and tell you what to do. Just had to figure it out. Right?
Juliette C.
Yeah. Yep.
Deb M.
I would say for me, um, and I think I'm speaking more about my time in Lebanon, because English was spoken so much in Cyprus, that there wasn't a communication issue. In Lebanon with Arabic, no training whatsoever and that so I learned how to get good at nonverbal communication. I learned about using eye contact, I learned about using gestures. I learned about observing body language and just learning new sounds that people used to say no or something like that. So definitely, I think some patience and some better listening skills. And just being able to understand a little bit more social cues. Hmm.
Kate M.
Very interesting. I mean, I asked this question to every person I interview and that is the first time I've gotten that answer, learning about how to better read body language and social cues and gestures and sounds. That's very interesting.
Kate M.
So Deb and Juliette have stayed in close contact throughout the years- Deb was even Maid of Honor at Juliette’s wedding! They have met up at each other's homes and once in New York City for AFS’s 60th Anniversary. When they were there they even had the opportunity to grab dinner with Juliette’s host brother from Cyprus who was in town.
They have also stayed in touch with another AFS student who went to Cyprus and experienced the coup, Mary. Her story starts the same but ends a bit differently. While Deb and Juliette were evacuated to Lebanon in that summer of 1974, Mary was evacuated to England.
This past summer, the three of them had a reunion in Park City, Utah. Deb is an AFS volunteer, and she shared about this reunion with her local team in Arizona. The team then relayed the story along to us, and we knew that this was a story to share with listeners of The AFS Exchange!
Juliette C.
This was without any distractions, now we could finally in our lives sit down together. And in that first 24 hours, we had that heart to heart talk. And each of us took a turn, saying, This is what happened to me. And I had no idea about the details of Mary's experience, for example, because Deb and I had talked a little bit more because of getting on the USS Coronado and getting evacuated. Mary had been evacuated to England. So there was that missing piece to know, Well, what happened to you? And I can remember saying to you and Mary, Deb, after that first 24 hours, and we had that discussion, and I said, this has made any efforts that we had to get here worth it because it was a needed discussion. It was very cathartic, right? Yeah.
Kate M.
I bet. And so few people on the planet can really understand what you went through, frankly, like, not just who, but Americans, young women, dealing with all of that.
Juliette C.
And my parents were immigrants that were affected by World War Two, they lived in the Czech Republic. And when I was growing up, they told me stories about the war, and that they lived like that for years. We were there for days. And I know what an impact it had on me after a couple of days. And I can't imagine when people are subjected to that. Like, of course, I'm thinking of the people in Ukraine right now. And I think of our troops for months and months. They're without their families. It's developed that empathy for me, for that other aspect of what it means to be in a war than just from the couple of days that I had. I know it changed my life. And I can't imagine for these families, what hardships they go through. And I know my parents' stories weren't stories anymore. After I experienced it. It was reality. It wasn't just like a storybook story. It's real. It's not shiny and glossy. It's, it's, it's real.
Deb M.
But I think it also speaks to AFS and how AFS is really about making connections and building friendships. And because you have a friendship, you find an understanding through living in the culture and seeing the needs and how the society works. And you realize that, you know, we really all want the same thing. We just kind of sometimes go out of it a little bit differently. I saw a quote that, you know, I really liked. Woodrow Wilson said, Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together. And that's what AFS does. It connects people and makes friends of us.
Juliette C.
Yeah. And we need that with every generation. Because you know how I alluded to my parents telling me stories about the war. It's not a reality until you create your own cement. Right, you need to do that with every generation, because they need to experience living with families. And that's why I'm so glad AFS continues on because it needs to be with my kids and my kids kids to know that there are families in other countries and they love each other too, just because they may pray differently or eat differently or whatever is different about them. Doesn't mean that they don't also love each other and hold their families dear to each other, that it really has AFS has made such a difference in my life. And I know Debbie's too.
Kate M.
Thank you for sharing that. And that, Deb, that was a great quote. I'd never heard that before. I like that a lot. Both of you kind of touched on the last two questions: Why do you think intercultural exchange is important? And what impact do you think AFS programs have on the world? But I was wondering if there was anything else you wanted to add to that?
Juliette C.
Yeah, I would just say that the more connections you have, the less prejudice you have. That I think that they're inversely proportional. That’s the math geek coming out in me. You know, as you have more connections amongst people there, they’re creating that understanding and once people have understanding and they've been exposed to other cultures, they don't prejudge because they know that different is okay, different doesn't mean bad. And I think it makes a person more open minded.
Deb M.
Yeah, I do think that AFS programs also allow you to find out about yourself. You're learning, you're experiencing, and it also creates individuals that believe peace is possible. You know, anytime I wear an AFS logo, shirt, hat bag, whatever. Someone will stop me and maybe someone who already knows about AFS but people who don't know about AFS either will ask about it. So that's a fun thing to do for me. Like to speak about it.
Kate M.
That's great. You're stopped for your AFS merch, you're stopped for the pink hair. Really? How do you get from point A to point B? And um, well, thank you both so much for taking the time to chat with me. This has been a very different type of interview than the kind of interview that I normally have. There haven't been too many coups during AFS programs. So this is the type of story that I haven't really heard too much about. So I really appreciate you both sharing it with me this evening. Is there anything else that you would like to add?
Juliette C.
Not in particular, but I'm glad that you took the interest to, to interview us and to get the story out there that whatever happens in your experience, you're gonna grow from it?
Kate M.
Absolutely, absolutely. In ways that you can't even predict.
Juliette C.
Exactly. Yes. You did a good job emceeing by the way.
Deb M.
Yeah. And you allowed Juliette and I a time to chat with each other too.
Kate M.
That's what I wanted. That's what I wanted. We're not We're not here to hear me talk. We're here to get your stories. So thank you for sharing those.
Deb M.
Absolutely. Thank you, Kate. Yes. Thanks.
[Music]
Kate M.
That was Deb Moon and Juliette Cosh, two AFS participants to Cyprus, and then to Lebanon, in the summer of 1974. Their very unique AFS experiences brought them together, and forged a friendship that has continued nearly 50 years later. To quote Deb quoting Woodrow Wilson, “Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together.”
Kate M.
Well, thank you for listening to The AFS Exchange! I’m Kate Mulvihill. 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 so you don’t miss any episodes in this 3rd season.
This podcast was created by Kate Mulvihill. Social media by Julie Ball and Nina Gaulin. Special thanks to April Murphy.