Download - AFS Intercultural Programs

ONE AFS
AFS is as diverse as its hundreds of
thousands of Returnees from programs
abroad, as passionate about intercultural
education programs as its tens of thousands
of active volunteers and as enthusiastic as its
nearly 13,000 new participants who go on an
AFS program every year.
AFS is as responsive and supportive as its
thousands of host families, who open their
homes to our participants, and as resolute
in the belief in the transformative power of
intercultural education as the thousands
of parents who trust AFS to send their
daughters and sons on exchange programs
abroad.
AFS has a presence in more than 50 AFS
Partners countries around the world, and
conducts intercultural education exchanges
among 80 countries that have their own
distinct cultures. AFS represents a unique
community that finds its strength in diversity
and its inspiration in its mission to provide
intercultural learning opportunities to help
people develop the knowledge, skills and
understanding to create a more just and
peaceful world.
AFS is united by the spirit of volunteerism
that is the basis of our organization; a spirit
that was kindled by the AFS ambulance
drivers during the two World Wars of the
twentieth century and that today sustains
our work to create mutual understanding
through intercultural education.
We share a common culture that transcends
borders and that forges familial bonds that
last for a lifetime. Our programs connect an
AFS worldwide family made up of hundreds
of thousands of individuals who are ready
to pursue lifelong learning experiences and
to meet the challenges of an ever-changing
world that is being transformed by both the
stresses and rewards of globalization.
AFS is inspired by its passion for providing
all our participants, whether they are host or
natural families, volunteers or teachers and
their school communities, with a supportive,
reliable and caring environment in which
learning and discovery can flourish.
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