About the Future Leaders Exchange

Another Plate At The Table

by Dawn L. Bond

The FLEX students are perennial visitors to Russian Sampler. Here three of the 2003 students answer questions from area middle schoolers about life in Russia. Photo by Gregor Smith.

What would make you take a stranger, a teenager no less, into your home and care for that child for a year? Now con­sider that this teenage stranger comes from the former Soviet Union, where the culture is com­pletely different and English is not the primary lan­guage. Could you do it? Would you do it?

Bunny Geisler is the Maine coor­din­ator for the Pro­gram of Acad­emic Exchange, or PAX, a non-profit organization that arranges U.S. homestays for high school students from the ex-Soviet republics and other countries. Geisler is passionate about the program and considers each child she places as one of her own. Throughout our interview she refers to the program participants as "my kids."

While most exchange students coming to the U.S. pay their own way, few students from the former Soviet Union can afford the plane fare. Thus PAX seeks funding for these exchanges from the Future Leaders Exchange program, or FLEX. This U.S. government program was developed by Senator Bill Bradley in 1993. Bradley was convinced that the best way to encourage the development of democratic governments and institutions in the former Soviet republics was to bring young people from these countries to the U.S. experience democracy directly. The program also builds cross-cultural understanding and lifetime friendships, enriching both the students and the hosts through their shared experiences.

The number of students wanting to come to America through the FLEX program has risen each year. Last year (1998-99), 36,000 applied; this year, the number was 45,000. Applicants are rigorously evaluated. They must have the equivalent of a "B" average or better, be proficient in English, and possess certain characteristics, such as adaptability and openness, which are ranked in a series of personal interviews. Both this year and last, 930 kids were ultimately accepted, and Geisler was placed in charge of four each year.

When asked why she chose to do this work, Geisler said without hesitation, "I love kids; I love teenagers; I find it interesting to get involved with kids." She became a coordinator for PAX after a friend involved in the program asked her to join. She has never looked back — even though the job is difficult and the stipend minimal.

Her position does not allow for her to be a host parent to the kids — hers is a "welcome home," should the host parents have a problem and the kids need to stay with her. Her responsibilities are for the kids and the parents: to ensure that this venture goes smoothly, to host special events at her home, and take the kids on special trips, such as to New York City. She also helps craft grant proposals, helps the host parents adjust to a child, advertises the program, holds orientations for the students, and takes care of many other details to ensure that everything goes well — and that the kids all have homes to stay in.

Even with all the planning and organizing, things can still go wrong. For instance, this past year, one of her students lost his passport. Geisler notified her headquarters in Washington, DC and then had the young man file a police report. As part of the procedure, the boy had to write a letter in Russian, telling what had happened. He and Geisler then had to go to the Russian consulate in New York, along with two witnesses of Russian descent who could testify that he was indeed Russian.

"Being at the Russian consulate at 8:30 in the morning was slow. As we were finally let in, the young man walked to the desk to begin to tell what had happened. I told him to take his hat off. The consulate representative told me that I spoke to him like his mother. I told him, they are all like my kids. He smiled at me and said that was very good." Geisler pauses, and one can sense the pride she felt in this acknowledgment of her relationship with the boy. She continues, "[A]nd then he began to yell at the boy in Russian. However, he did get a new passport issued."

For all the mishaps, there are also the shining moments, when something extraordinary happens. For example, one of last year's students, Kirill Tsybin of Russia, recently won a four-year full scholarship to the University of Maine. Like a proud mother, Geisler tells me of his 1470 score on his SAT's, and that he will be doing a double major.

And then there are the touching moments, such as when the host family realizes the year is over, the student realizes he or she is going home, and suddenly it becomes apparent to each how much they will miss each other. Or the girl whose family sent her with money but told her to bring it all home, and she went through the year with nothing new, but clean and neat, and bringing her money home to her mother.

What are the qualifications for host families? "It is important to have a family where the child will feel like they are a part of it," Geisler says. "The size of the house, the marital status, the sex of the host parents are not as important as knowing that these kids are in good homes, with someone who will care about them. Even if your house is disorganized but clean, or it is a very small house or trailer — you will probably qualify to help one of these kids."

When asked if she had ever traveled to the former Soviet Union, Geisler laughed — something she did easily throughout our interview. "No," she said, "but I would like to. About the time I think I could go, we have to begin this all over again." And indeed, the next day, August 14, she was to go to the airport to pick up a girl named Anna, as school was about to start again. Besides Anna, who comes from Kyrgyzstan, Geisler will be in charge of a girl from Azerbaijan, a girl from Ukraine, and a boy from Armenia. The first two girls will be attending Morse High School in Bath; the third will go to Oak Hill High in Sabbatus; and the boy will study at Mt. Ararat in Topsham.

Lastly, Geisler said what surprised her the most was "that all teenage kids, not matter what country they are from, are the same in terms of age-appropriate behaviors, things that they are interested in, everything." We talk a bit more and she adds, "and they all think we live like they do on Santa Barbara — the soap opera that is played over there. And how even though we may not be rich, we often have so much more than they do."

For more information about FLEX, write to Bunny Geisler or call her at (207) 442-9872.

Despite the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the FLEX Program is still going strong. For the 2002-2003 school year, some 50,000 students applied and around 13,000 were accepted. Geisler has just placed three girls and one boy in homes in Maine. (See photo above.) The girls are from Russia, Armenia, and Moldova; and the boy is from Kazakhstan.

This article was originally published in the Fall 1999 newsletter.

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