It is International Blog Against Racism Week and since cultural and religious based bigotry often coincide with racism and the week coincides with the arrival of the AFS exchange students to Alaska I thought I would share with you why I am proud to be a volunteer with this organization and why I think it makes a difference. AFS is an intercultural, non-governmental organization that promotes intercultural learning through worldwide exchange programs for students, adults, and families. AFS flies no single flag, represents no single ideology or national objective, and speaks no single language. It was founded by volunteer ambulance driver's in World War I who thought that if people knew each other and had a better understanding of each other's cultures there would be less need to go to war. It is now the oldest exchange program in the world and is still run primarily by volunteers.
"AFS enables people to act as responsible, global citizens working for peace and understanding in a diverse world. It acknowledges that peace is a dynamic concept threatened by injustice, inequality, and intolerance. 
AFS seeks to affirm faith in the dignity and worth of every human being and of all nations and cultures. It encourages respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms without distinction as to race, sex, language, religion, or social status."
My Dog & Cat in inter-species communication
One of the things that makes me very proud of AFS is the organizations reaction to the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks. This event showed AFS-USA that there is clearly a huge rift of understanding between Musl
im & Judeo-Christian cultural groups and nations. We discussed how can AFS increase understanding between these groups? We decided to create a scholarship particularly aimed at exchanging students & teachers between nations that are predominantly one or the other, in other words, encourage non-Muslims to go on exchange to Muslim based nations and non-Judeo-Christians to go on exchange to Judeo-Christian based nations. These students will learn amazing things about the other cultures and their own but more importantly is that they will connect with people and when they return to their home countries they will share those connections with their communities. These connections make it harder to generalize and scapegoat the group because the group has a face and a name and a history.
As a commenter on my blog recently pointed out (you're right William, I should announce it) AFS has organized a petition to promote world peace through more intercultural exchanges. Click here to go sign it: Petition for World Peace. (If the link isn't working you can paste this address into your browser: www.exchanges4peace.org )
