History
From AFSWiki
Today, AFS-USA is the largest member of the AFS Intercultural Programs worldwide partner network. This unique partnership of volunteer-based nonprofit organizations fosters intercultural engagement through student exchanges among 56 countries.
In 1915, AFS was founded as the American Field Service ambulance corps. During World Wars I & II, young Americans volunteered as ambulance drivers in the American Field Service evacuating the wounded from the battlefields. Having witnessed both the devastation and brutality of war, and the ability of volunteers and their generous supporters to relieve the suffering of wounded soldiers, Stephen Galatti challenged his comrades to focus their post-war efforts on peace-building. His vision was to educate a generation of enlightened world leaders; his plan was to bring high school students to America to live with families, study in high schools, learn about the American tradition of volunteerism, and develop a sense of community between young people in the United States and other countries.
The AFS exchanges were a radical idea at the time: Stephen Galatti wanted to bring German high school students to live in U.S. communities that had lost young men fighting Hitler’s forces during the war. Yet this tremendous risk was part of a compelling vision that eventually took root and grew in the United States and around the world. Within a few years, AFS participants who had come to America began organizing their own countries’ volunteer committees modeled after the AFS chapters in the U.S. Soon they were able to reciprocate the hospitality they had received.
From 1947 until the early 1970s, AFS exchanges were bilateral — between the United States and as many as 80 other countries. Then, mirroring the move towards the unification of Europe and the globalization of trade, AFS Volunteers in Europe launched exchanges among the countries of that continent and, shortly thereafter, exchanges with other regions of the world. Multinational exchanges soon flourished, and today make up the majority of total annual AFS exchanges.
Today, in partner countries all over the world, AFS continues to embody Stephen Galatti’s vision: young people from many cultures and nations learning together as they are nourished by the love of their host families and the support of local AFS volunteers.
The year 1997 marked the 50th year of AFS intercultural exchanges in the United States. With continued pride in the vision and initiative that have brought AFS through this first remarkable half century, tens of thousands of AFS Volunteers around the world are now moving into the 21st century.
