Host Family Guidelines

Host Family Guidelines

By participating in this program, you are an important part of citizen diplomacy and furthering global understanding between the U.S. and other nations. Your timewith the participant(s) may be the single most influential aspect of their five-week stay in the U.S.

Thank you for your contributions to this effort.

YSEALI Professional Fellows Program

The Professional Fellows Program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State. This program brings together emerging leaders for intensive fellowships designed to broaden their professional expertise. The Professional Fellows Program is a component of YSEALI: the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative. Launched in 2013, YSEALI consists of bright young leaders aged 18-35 years from the Southeast Asia region.

The Mansfield Center’s YSEALI Professional Fellows Program engages young Southeast Asian professionals from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam, who work to strengthen civic engagement and women’s empowerment. These participants work closely with their fellowship coordinators and fellowship organizations to improve their leadership capabilities and professional skillsin order to effect change in their home communities and countries.

While host families do not take part in planning the day-to-day professional activities of the fellows, host families are the most critical aspect of the other goal of Professional Fellows: to learn about American culture and society. Southeast Asian fellows become immersed in American family life and participate in community activities that build meaningful relationships and connect them with the heart of American society. This is often one of the most meaningful parts of the Professional Fellows Program for the fellows, and we thank you for investing yourselves and family in people-to-people diplomacy.

While the Mansfield Center arranges the fellows’ program outside the fellowship and host family dates, you will work most closely with the fellowship host. The fellowship host is responsible for the fellows’ schedule and communicating logistics during this period, so we encourage you to be in touch with him/her directly regarding questions about the schedule. Apart from the fellowship schedule, there may be special events or opportunities for the fellowship cohort arranged by the Mansfield Center, in which case we would be in direct contact with you.

Tips for welcoming your Southeast Asian Fellow(s):

• Welcome the participants into your home as members of the family. Host families have had a huge impact on our program participants and many participants stay in touch for years to come. Please include them in family activities and be sensitive to their hesitation to be assertive in joining in group or family activities. Homestays as well as American culture are a new experience for them, and they will be unsure of the boundaries of participating in your activities. Please imagine how you would feel in a new country far from home and embrace your guest, connecting her/him with your friends and family and providing opportunities for her/him to attend cultural activities and events. Please also facilitate her/his transport to these events by either providing a suggested walking route, bus route, or a possible ride.

• Fellows in the first cohort (spring)arrive in Missoula on April 27 and will depart from Missoula May 27. After an initial orientation, the fellowship starts May 2 and is completed on May 22.The homestay period is May 7 – the night of May 22.Apart from the homestay period, the fellows stay in the Missoula Comfort Inn University on 1021 East Broadway. The fellows leave Missoula for Washington D.C. on May 27 and depart for their home countries on June 3.

• Fellows in the second cohort (fall) arrive in Missoula on October 12 and will depart from Missoula on November 11. After an initial orientation, the fellowship starts on October 17 and is completed on November 6. The homestay period is October 22 – the night of November 6. Apart from the homestay period, the fellows stay in the Missoula Comfort Inn University on 1021 East Broadway. The fellows leave Missoula for Washington D.C. on November 11 and depart for their home countries on November 18.

• Please ask questions about their work and fellowship, give advice, and be supportive. You can act as a tremendous resource and ultimately aid in theirunderstanding of the issues involved in their program. The objectives of their program are both to learn about civil society issues in the U.S. as well as to learn about U.S. society and culture.

• Make household expectations clear right from the start. This includes guidelines with your family members, pets, early morning and late night access, food considerations, household chores.

• Be sure to give your guests a thorough explanation of how your house operates on the first day (shower, faucets, bed,water, laundry, etc.). Do not assume that anything is obvious. Please also recognize that many of these fellows come from urban areas and be sure to assuage any concerns they may have about rural locations, issues of safety, and issues of nighttime darkness and quiet. Those from such capitals as Bangkok or Hanoi may be intimidated by quiet, open spaces.

• We provide a token stipend of $10 per participant per night to assist with groceries, laundry, increased cost of heat, etc. We ask that you consider theparticipants part of your family and treat them as you would a family member. Help them shop for groceries so they can prepare their own breakfast and packed lunch in the morning (resources for Asian food in Missoula include the Good Food Store, Vietnam Noodle, Orange Street Food Farm, Albertson’s, and Wal-Mart). Help them with the resources to be able to pack a lunch, such as Tupperware, utensils, lunch bag, cooler pack, etc. Include them in dinner mealtimes and talk about sharing cooking chores. Be sure to discuss dinner plans and your expectations for meals together or your interest in knowing their schedule so you can adequately prepare for their presence or their evening out. She/he should also be considerate in letting you know her/his schedule, but please be sure to ask if there is any confusion. If a family meal is not being served, please let the fellow know what food is available for her/him to prepare her own meal. You may wish to serve them small portions of food at first since the taste may be unusual, being sure to encourage second helpings if they appear to like the food.You may find that they wish to eat white rice every day or they will not feel full.

• Please remember that this weather will be extremely cold for them. If you have any clothes they can borrow, please share your warm clothes. Please consider raising the heat a bit warmer than you would otherwise. Please be sure they have sufficient blankets and even a spare hot water bottle if you have one to help them keep warm at night. You may also wish to offer to escort them to secondhand stores to seek additional clothing (though we expect to stop at Secret Seconds during their orientation). Be sure to make your expectations about the thermostat clear. This is one of the only problems we encountered with home stays with the group that came in our first group in April 2012. One woman put the heat up to 80 degrees repeatedly, which did not endear her to her hosts.

• Each fellow is expected to have her/his own room (unless he/she shares with another program participant) and access to the internet – either by using her/his laptop in her/his room or by having access to your computer. She/he will likely be interested in using Skype to communicate with friends and family. Please let us know if this would be a problem for you in terms of privacy or lack of technology (such as no microphone on your home computer). She/he does not need her own bathroom but please let her/him know what the bathroom schedules generally are for members of your family and where he/she can keep their things. As they will be unlikely to use suitcase space for towels, please share your towels with them.

• It is acceptable to invite them to religious services but please do not proselytize your religion or make them feel that they must attend services with you. We only raise this as it has been an issue with some families in the past.

• It might be helpful if you speak a little more slowly, not more loudly, to your guest(s) to facilitate understanding. While all of the fellows speak English, there are varying levels of ability within the group.

• The fellowshave ample funding and have been informed that they should pay for their own meals, entrance fees, et cetera when going out.

• Some (but not all) Southeast Asian guests will not be as eager for outdoor adventures as Montanans. In their cultures, free time is often spent with family, cooking, and relaxing. Strenuous physical activities like hiking may be intimidating or uncomfortable for them. This is something you should discuss with them before planning an activity. Outdoor recreation is an important part of Montana culture and something that we encourage you to involve them in, but please introduce them by choosing less intense activities. Please also note that some Southeast Asians do not swim.

• If a problem arises due to their misunderstanding of your routines, please be open. Remember that Asians tend to be less confrontational and less willing to ask questions than a typical American.

In case of any problem, question, or emergency, please call

Kelsey Stamm Jimenez at 406-531-9137