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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Homes Away From Home Staying With Families Puts Travelers ‘Into The Heart And Soul Of A Country’

Jimmy Carter Universal Press Syndicate

For a small-town boy brought up in the rural South, one of my good fortunes in life has been the opportunity to travel: under the sea as a young submarine officer with the U.S. Navy, on trade missions as governor of Georgia, throughout the United States as a candidate, and around the globe as president.

In the 16 years since leaving the White House, Rosalynn and I have continued to travel, packing and unpacking so many times we’ve lost count. Sometimes we go for pleasure - to be with family and friends and to fish the remote reaches of the world - sometimes on missions for the Carter Center, such as observing elections, negotiating between disputing parties and helping to resolve problems in the developing world.

In all this travel, what I remember best - beyond the places I’ve been - are the people met along the way.

Seasoned travelers know that if you’re going to experience life in another land, you have to get as close as you can to the people. You must embrace them and their ways, and the best way to do this is close up - in their homes.

Exchange programs in which students and young people stay in private homes in other countries have been around for a long time. They have served well as vehicles for helping participants cross over and gain insight into other cultures.

But what I didn’t realize until I was governor of Georgia is that this mode of visiting - and learning - doesn’t have to be restricted to students and other young people. The homestay philosophy is just as valid for adults, and through organizations like The Friendship Force - marking its 20th anniversary this year - they are readily available for all who are adventurous enough to give them a try.

While I was governor of Georgia, Rosalynn and I helped carry out a series of people-to-people exchanges between Georgia and Brazil. Through our involvement in this program, which was the precursor to The Friendship Force, we saw firsthand what could be accomplished. It made us firm believers in the homestay concept for enriching individual travel and as a means of creating a more peaceful world.

After entering the White House, Rosalynn and I helped create a new organization that would promote a global homestay program for adults called Friendship Force. It would be nongovernmental, the homestays would last one or two weeks, and it would be available to everyone in the world. Our goal was to create a “force,” using the power of friendship to break down barriers by creating direct, personal ties among the people of the world.

Rosalynn’s mother, Allie Smith, was an ambassador on the first exchange between Atlanta, Ga., and Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England. While there, she stayed with an English family with whom she still stays in touch.

Later, our daughter-in-law, Annette, went to Berlin. Even as a member of the president’s family, she was assigned to live with a typical German family, sleeping on their living room sofa because there was no spare bedroom.

And our daughter, Amy, has been on two exchanges, one to Newcastle and one to Moscow.

In 1987, Rosalynn and I were ambassadors on an exchange back to Newcastle and lived in the home of the family with whom Amy had stayed years before. I remember fondly our summer visit with Tony and Jenny Coates in northern England, and we still keep in touch with them.

It was an unusual situation for me. Rosalynn, for once, had the busier schedule, attending official Friendship Force functions, leaving me free to enjoy our visit as an ordinary tourist would. I had quite a bit of time to be with Tony and Jenny and their daughters, Amy, 10, and Charlotte, 7.

I like to jog in the morning and found that Tony liked to run as well. So early on Saturday morning we went for a 3 1/2-mile run through the beautiful countryside outside Newcastle. Our route took us through a tiny village called Riding Mill, and you couldn’t ask for a better setting for an early morning run. Then it was back home for a delightful English breakfast prepared by Jenny.

The Coateses have a wonderful sun room (they call it their conservatory) which overlooks the back yard. It was there that we spent many enjoyable hours together.

It is never quite possible for me to get out of the public eye altogether, and some local reporters came around for an interview. But with Amy and Charlotte sitting on my lap, even the interview took on a more relaxed tone.

One of the clearest advantages of a homestay program is that it puts you in personal contact with the best tour guides: people who live in the area you’re visiting.

One afternoon while Rosalynn was involved in meetings, Tony and Jenny took me to see Hadrian’s Wall, a relic from the days of the Roman Empire. For the Coateses, it was part of their local terrain, something that had always been virtually in their backyard; for me, it was a tangible link to history.

After visiting Hadrian’s Wall, we came across a cricket match. It had been years since I had seen one - back in the early 1950s when I was in the Navy. I was pleased that I could remember as much as I did, but it helped to have Tony, a local sports enthusiast, by my side to help explain the finer points of the game.

Before returning home there was the traditional stop by the local pub, the Wellington in Riding Mill. There I met Tony’s friends and passed a pleasant time, talking and listening to a Saturday afternoon’s conversations.

As cousins across the Atlantic, it is easy for Americans and British to assume that our cultures are almost identical. After living for a few days with an English family and meeting their friends, you discover some fascinating differences, as well as many common characteristics. The sense of history, literature and the theater that the English have is impressive. This, along with their quick wit, made it easy for me to get along with those I met.

My favorite poet is Dylan Thomas. While in England (or his native Wales), you don’t have to look long before finding others eager to discuss his work - or to tell you of their favorite authors. Either way, as an American, you can’t help but be impressed with the knowledge ordinary British citizens have of their rich culture.

Exchanges between cultures as close as the American and British can be great fun, but it is also gratifying to join exchanges between cultures whose differences are more profound. The Friendship Force provides an opportunity to experience a wide variety of cultures, with local chapters in more than 50 countries, including Japan, Indonesia, Ghana, Brazil - even a chapter in the Siberian city of Irkutsk.

The first time a group came to the United States from the Soviet Union was in May 1985. It was a small “Georgia-to-Georgia” exchange linking Tbilisi in the then Soviet Republic of Georgia with my home state of Georgia. Rosalynn and I participated in this historic exchange by attending church and a picnic in the small community of Big Canoe, Ga., where the visiting Georgians were being hosted.

Who could not have been affected by the events of the day, in that beautiful mountain setting with Georgians from halfway around the world, sharing time together? I don’t know who was moved more during the church service: the Tbilisi Georgians, listening intently to the sermon and the warm welcome, or the Americans, marveling at the rich voices blended in harmony from a quartet of the visiting delegation.

From talking with host families that day in Big Canoe, it was clear that they were getting as much out of the homestay as were their guests. This is one of the great attributes of a homestay program. By volunteering as a host family, you can learn about another culture without ever leaving home.

In the past two decades, more than 500,000 people have participated in Friendship Force programs alone - as goodwill ambassadors traveling to other countries or as host families. Whether hosting or being hosted, they experience a different culture in a way that no commercial travel package could possibly provide.

For Rosalynn and me, this is the greatest significance of the growing international homestay movement. The friendships gained can have a long-term impact on creating international understanding.

There are more conflicts than ever all around the world. Quite often they arise because people simply don’t understand each other. The differences that separate people are religious, ethnic, political and they are deeply ingrained. When those differences dominate our actions, serious misunderstandings can lead to bloodshed.

Getting to know people in their own home leads to bonds of trust, and trust is the basis of understanding. A homestay is an adventure travel experience that is hard to beat: You have a great time, and in the process know that you are part of a movement that is creating a more harmonious world.

But a homestay experience is not for everyone. Certain values are essential, such as a willingness to be open to new cultures and new ways of living. A strong dose of curiosity is needed, along with a sense of humor and the ability to laugh at yourself.

And be prepared for tears: When you leave your host family - or they leave you - you will feel you are parting with life-long friends.

If you want the predictability of hotels and restaurants that are essentially the same from one country to the next, a homestay is not for you. But if you want to see beyond the tourist sites, into the heart and soul of a country, this is by far the best way to travel.