Origins of the Friendship Force

							Friendship Force Information Origins o Started in 1977 by Jimmy Carter (US President) and Wayne Smith as an opportunity for Americans and others to understand other peoples cultures and values and vice versa. Today o 367 chartered clubs in 55 countries on 6 continents with 22,345 members o Friendship Force is a network of members worldwide who experience each other’s cultures by staying with members in other countries. o Embraces all religions, and is non-political. o Open to couples and singles of all ages. Some clubs have children who travel with parents and some clubs are predominantly middle aged or seniors o Ottawa club has 170 members: others range from 50 to perhaps 200. o There are 18 clubs in Canada, from Quebec in the east to the Fraser Valley in the west How it operates o The basic activity of each club is the one-week exchange: either inbound or outbound. o Normally 20-25 people (referred to as “ambassadors”) travel and all arrive at the destination at the same time, either as a group or separately. o Exchanges are sometimes held consecutively so that the group will be away 2 weeks. This can be done in countries where there are many clubs such as the USA, Australia, Japan and UK. o Sometimes, after the exchange, participants go on tours together or separately. Such tours are totally voluntary What happens on an exchange? o Each couple or single is allocated a host with whom they stay the week. o The Ottawa club sends a profile of its outbound ambassadors to help the receiving club select the hosts. o Ambassadors often exchange emails with hosts before the trip. If they do not speak English we find a translator at one end to help us to understand each other. Most clubs that do not speak English arrange the program with some translation so that we still get to know each other. o During the exchange we eat breakfast with our overnight hosts and then participate in a number of activities with the host club and with the other Ottawa people. o This is different in each country but an explanation of what is done in Ottawa gives an example. An Ottawa exchange o We organize about 2 days visiting venues in the city, including the Parliament buildings, Museum of Civilization and possibly the Art Gallery. Usually one of

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the club members who does not have a guest staying with them drives the visitors around to the highlights. We usually arrange a day out of town at Montebello, Thousand Islands, the Ottawa Valley or somewhere similar. There will be about 2 days for the overnight hosts to arrange the program such as a trip to the cottage, visiting family, or seeing things that specifically interest the visitors. For example, when one family had a Slovakian architect staying with us, it arranged for two Ottawa architects to take the guests to building sites. When one of our ambassadors who is a nuclear scientist was in Slovakia and Poland, members there took him to nuclear science laboratories. On the evenings that the overnight hosts are with their visitors all day, yet another of our club members organizes the evening meal. This increases the number of Canadians the visitors meet and gives the overnight hosts a chance to meet other people in Ottawa in the club. There are thus three different roles to play when we host an inbound exchange — overnight host, day host and dinner host — and each is done by a different club member. This ensures a reasonable sharing of the hospitality.

Outbound exchanges o Out bound exchanges are all different and best explained with a few highlights. For example,  Riding on the back of a motorcycle through the streets of Hanoi in a sea of traffic that moves like a school of fish to buy a warm jacket.  Answering questions about Canada in the geography class of German school  Meeting the survivors of the communist experiment in Slovakia, Poland and Hungary, including a psychiatrist, architect, professor, bank clerk, secretary, plumber and a retired coal separation plant worker.  Going to dinner as guests of the governor of Chiapas Mexico at the Festival of Chiapa de Corzo where the streets are thronging with the spectacular dancing of the Chapanikas.  Taking the Belgians we stayed with in Flanders to Canadian War cemeteries and seeing them get a sense of how important these are to Canadians whose family members are buried in their country.  Attending a rally of the Flemish separatists.  Getting arrested in Budapest for not having a proper bus ticket.  Help to get from Hungary to Adelaide in Australia when a member learned that his mother had died. o Ottawa has 3 or 4 out-bounds per year and a similar number of inbound exchanges. What is different between this and a package tour, a resort or B& B? o It is not regimented like a bus tour o There is no commercial relationship with the person with whom you are staying like a B&B.

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o There is no pampering as you find in a resort: you are one of the family where you stay and you see their world through their eyes, and pitch in as one of the family. When you go to resort in Mexico you get pampered and you see poverty in the streets that offends your sensibilities. What you do not experience is a middle or wealthy class of people who live behind walls which contain elegant haciendas and who are the people who run Mexico. Staying with them is an experience you cannot buy at a travel agency. o Friendship Force concentrates on faces and not places—if you want to see Manhattan: go to the Hilton and take a city tour in a bus. If you want to meet a New Yorker, join the Friendship Force. How does Friendship Force finance itself? o Each club has a membership fee that covers local administrative costs, insurance and some international costs. The Ottawa fee is $32.00 per year. o Each time we take a trip out each person pays a fee of $US 115 per week to a central office in Atlanta for administration o Everyone pays their own airline tickets. o No money is paid to the hosts either way but we inject $US75.00 each into a fund for the receiving club to spend on entry fees places visited and for group entertainment. o Each outbound ambassador pays a fee of $35.00 CDN to cover costs in organizing the exchange. If not all spent, the balance is returned to the travelers. o On inbound exchanges, all Ottawa members pay their own costs at any parties etc. and pick up incidentals like gas, parking etc.

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