Jan./Feb. 1984 RAIN Page 9 points of view on the issues under discussion. —JF American Field Service International/ Intercultural Programs 313 East 43rd Street New York, NY 10017 212/661-4550 Provides 11-month exchange programs for high school students from 60 countries. Students live with American host families and attend local high schools in all 50 states. Costs to the host family: bed and food. The Internal Revenue Service allows families to deduct up to $50 per month as a charitable contribution. AFS also provides a modest monthly allowance to students. Criteria for host families include curiosity about others, understanding about differences, and willingness to share, love, and occasionally laugh. AFS chapter volunteers assist the student, the host family, and the school. They also conduct orientation programs, arrange visits to places of interest, and facilitate community involvement. As one host brother put it, "Having Samir [from Turkey] living with my family this year has taught me how wonderful this world really is under all its crusty politics." Write for a host family or student exchange application. —KN Youth for Understanding International Exchange Program 3501 Newark Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20016 800/424-3691 Offers six-month (January to July) and one-year (August to July) exchanges for students, ages 15 to 18. American students live with host families in South and Central America, Japan (summer only), Australia, The Philippines, and Europe. Students from these countries can also arrange to stay with American host families through the program. "Costs" to American host families: meals, bed, and tender loving care. The Internal Revenue Service allows a $50 monthly deductible during the stay. Students visiting the U.S. carry medical and dental insurance and attend local high schools. Host families in an area meet occasionally to share and work out any problems. To apply, contact the main office, and a local volunteer will visit your family. I lived abroad for a year through YFU and highly recommend their service. —KN Esperanto League for North America P.O. Box 1129 El Cerrito, CA 94530 415/653-0998 The Esperanto League for North America (ELNA) is the central organization in North America for a worldwide movement to propagate Esperanto, a spoken and written "artificial" international language. Esperanto was created in the 1880s by Polish doctor Ludovik Zamenhof in an attempt to nurture greater international communication through use of a language that was both easier to learn and more linguistically neutral than traditional languages. Though Esperanto has never caught on as a language of world diplomacy, it has enjoyed far greater popularity than the myriads of other artificial languages that have been developed since the late Renaissance. An amalgamation of various European, African, and Asian lexicons, Esperanto is used today by an estimated one million people in over 90 countries around the world. It ranks among the 30 to 40 most used literary languages. (The library of the Esperanto Association in Great Britain, for example, has a collection of more than 20,000 titles.) Over 100 periodicals are published in Esperanto, including an international newsmagazine, Momto. Esperanto is an easy language to learn. Proponents like to proclaim that the streamlined grammatical structure of the language allows many people to master the basics without a teacher in less than one month of study. The recommended starter books for aspiring Esperantists are Teach Yourself Esperanto by John Cresswell and John Hartley (available from ELNA for $4.95 ppd.) and The Esperanto Dictionary by John C. Wells (available from ELNA for $6.50 ppd.). ELNA, which has 600-650 members, is the best source of information on Esperanto in this country. Besides offering over 1,000 titles in Esperanto through its book service, it also publishes a bimonthly newsletter, circulates a membership directory, and has an international travel service. (One of Esperanto's most intriguing uses is as an aid to globetrotters, and ELNA can supply a booklet listing Esperanto speakers throughout the world who are willing to put up travellers free of charge.) Both ELNA and the World Esperanto Association (of which ELNA is an affiliate) put on a variety of activities during the year. In 1984 ELNA will hold its annual congress in Portland, Oregon, July 14-19, and the World Esperanto Association will meet for its annual congress in Vancouver, B.C., July 21-28. Detailed information on these congresses and on other Esperanto activities is available through
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