2/13/2006 - Message from Brian Atwood, new Chair of AFS International Board of Trustees
To the AFS Network
I begin my tenure as Chairman of the AFS International Board of Trustees with great humility. I thank my fellow trustees for the confidence they have expressed in selecting me as Chair. I hope it is not misplaced.
I want to thank Victor Oporto for his years of service as Chair. As was reflected in his recent message to the network, Victor is a person of the highest quality, a person who loves AFS and who served our organization extraordinarily well. I look forward to continuing my work with him on the Executive Committee of the BOT.
I see my role as giving the strongest possible support to our talented President Tachi Cazal. We have an outstanding President and senior staff in New York. The best I and the BOT could do would be to encourage Tachi and the staff to live up to their own high standards.
Tachi Cazal was the beneficiary of an AFS scholarship that sent him from Paraguay to Minnesota. I know he is a strong believer that we should increase our capacity to give other young people from the developing world the same opportunity. I will take a direct interest in this aspet of the program. I would like to see a major growth of volunteers, hosts and exchanges in Africa, as well as in South Asia and China.
As a former AFSer to Luxembourg in the heart of Europe, I would also hope that AFS International and the entire network can work with our EFIL partners to strengthen their capacity. The European Union is likely to increase its support for youth exchange programs. We believe strongly that those partners affiliated with EFIL will best be able to fulfill the intercultural learning objectives of the EU.
We live in a world that seems more vulnerable today to violent conflict, infectious disease and environmental disasters. This represents both a challenge and an opportunity for AFS. We need to be ready for any contingency, but we cannot allow ourselves to be overcome by fear of the unknown. Our programs are the best antidotes to the dangers we face and we must assert ourselves with confidence and optimism.
AFS is a complex organization. Its network requires constant attention and nurturing. Perhaps this is why we have a tendency to be so inward looking.
The external world should know us better. We need to find opportunities to tell the stories of our students and to explain the benefits of the intercultural learning experience and volunteer network we have created.
There are many ways to tell our story through tried and true marketing techniques. Some of our Board members have already shared good suggestions for how to better promote AFS. I would offer this: why not start a worldwide petition campaign around a statement such as the following:
“In today’s world where differences among people are too often exploited to create conflict and war, we hold that human similarities are far more important than differences. We, the undersigned, individuals who have lived in other cultures, or who have welcomed people from other nations in our homes, call upon the world’s leaders to strive for peace through intercultural understanding. We urge our political leaders to recognize and act upon our common humanity.”
I am sure one of you can find a more poetic way to express this sentiment. I am more interested in the ways in which a petition drive could energize the network, our alumni and volunteers, as well as individuals from other exchange programs. In the world of the internet, we should be able to collect hundreds of thousands of signatures and show AFS as a leader in the cause of peace.
When I accepted the position of Chair, I told the Board that one of my favorite quotes was from Robert Kennedy’s speech in South Africa. He went to that country to offer support to those who opposed the apartheid system and he challenged his audience with this powerful thought: “Some people see things as they are and ask, why? Others see things as they could be and ask, why not?”
AFSers have acquired the passion and the understanding to become “why not” people. We were born out of the idealism of ambulance drivers who believed that they could prevent war if people just got to know one another. Wars go on, but perhaps that is because not enough people have had the experience we have had. So, why not?
J. Brian Atwood
Chair
AFS International Board of Trustees
Dean
Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs
University of Minnesota
300 Hubert H. Humphrey Center
301 – 19th Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55455
tel: 612-625-0669
fax: 612-625-6351
jbatwood@hhh.umn.edu
www.hhh.umn.edu
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