"My Different View" is the name we've given to the AFS Essay Contest for returnees, and we are delighted that 35 AFS Partner organizations are participating. The web site for the contest (http://mydifferentview.org) is open as of April 1.

AFS is organizing this contest because we feel strongly that it will be useful and educational for our program alumni to reflect on their experience and what they have learned. The contest is a way to encourage them to tell their stories and to increase their understanding of this incredible experience that they have had. 

Recently, Dr. Bruce LaBrack and Dr. Nan Sussman visited AFS International to help us re-focus our attention on the re-entry phase of the experience. They reminded us that for many participants, the message they hear when they come home is that they now need to return to "normal," to "fit in" and to "return to their old patterns of behavior." What they don't hear is their peers, parents, and others asking them "How are you different now?"  The essay contests asks this now, and we look forward to reading the essays our returnees submit. Thank you to the many staff who are making this possible.

Connecting with our Alumni
One of the most surprising and concerning findings in the 2002 Educational Results Study by Mitch Hammer (see http://www.afs.org/research for more information) was the fact that while almost all students attend orientation sessions prior to departure and in the hosting country, less than 13% of the AFS students who responded to the post-test survey in September of 2003 had attended a post-return orientation event in these first two months after their return home. We know from discussions with volunteers in various countries that it is often difficult to attract participants to the re-entry sessions when they are planned. Post-return sessions that are planned usually do cover issues of re-entry adjustment and frequently attempt to encourage returnees to become involved in the volunteer chapter. Some also offer opportunities for the returnee to reflect on what he or she has learned.

The difficulty we have in gathering our alumni requires us to re-examine the way we provide orientation for this group. If we believe that AFS is a life-long learning experience, it's important to find a way to involve the returnees and to provide them with both support and the opportunity to rediscover their own culture through their re-entry experience.

R2 A4 and the World Wide Web
Having seen the benefits of the alumni web site developed for the "Yes" program participants (the YES program is a US government-funded program which hosts Year Program participants in the US from countries with significant Muslim populations), we are looking with AFS-USA at how this could be developed to include not just the returnee blogs, photos, and discussion forum but also a fun and informative educational element that focuses on the re-entry learning needs of all AFS alumni. We are currently reviewing the orientation goals for re-entry, and all phases of the program, to ensure that we are better addressing the needs of our participants and returnees, and are planning to create modules for use on the web. The first phase of this project involves working with AFS-USA's revision of their "Culture Trek" but we are looking to set up a model for use and adaptation worldwide.

A useful model for developing a re-entry orientation component for an alumni website, or for developing a workshop of any type with recently returned participants was developed by Bruce LaBrack (see attached Word Document). He's named this model the R2 A4 model (each step begins with an R or an A in English) for re-entry programs of any type.

From his many years of experience, Bruce has found that addressing topics in this order creates the most fruitful experience for the returnees. Watch for more information on this project in the coming months.

Bettina Hansel

Director of Research, AFS International