Is AFS contagious?
You could be forgiven for thinking that it is, when you meet the Frew/Robb family.
Starting with granddad Ron, the ‘AFS bug’ was passed on to his daughter Jenny, and then again to Jenny’s daughter Juliet.
Ron Frew, USA 1959-60: The first of three generations to go on an AFS experience
I left small town Ohakune, small country New Zealand in 1959 to spend a year in California USA – at that time the most desirable state in the most desirable country on earth. It was where they made the movies we grew up on and the home of Rock’n’roll.
After a splendid 3-week ship voyage through the Panama Canal we arrived in Miami and I’ll never forget seeing hundreds of new Chevrolet Impalas on the wharf – more cars than I’d ever seen before in my life. I then boarded the first plane ride of my life to California, landing in San Francisco in an August rainstorm.
My new family picked me up from the airport and we left San Francisco on a 6 lane highway and drove toward Dixon, where I was to spend my high school year. Soon we were on a 2-lane highway, then it was 1 lane each way, then a single lane, then a farm track where shortly we encountered Mexican farm hands stuck in a flooded, normally dry creek bed. I was definitely not going to Hollywood.
Eventually, we got to the farmhouse, passed aged farm buildings and entered the ranch house where I was to spend an incredibly happy and rewarding 10 months of my life. My American parents were well-educated people – Smith College and Stanford – and their home library was sufficient for me to do Stage 1 English by correspondence from Victoria had I ever gotten around to it. Dixon High School was small town agricultural California, one of the USA’s most productive farming states. People were incredibly kind and welcoming to me. The US at that time was reasonably egalitarian and very prosperous with a can-do attitude, a sizable middle class and Republicans and Democrats mixed freely.
My family consisted of Arley, Peter and Susan and my US parents Olin and June Timm. I formed a very close bond with June during the year and we corresponded on an almost weekly basis on a range of subjects for the next 10 years after I came back to NZ, and then less frequently until her death in 1980. My AFS sisters and brother have all visited my wife Peggy and I several times, as have 70 other high school friends and family associates I met in California. I’ve been back many times both singly and with my family as have our children and grandchildren. It has been bloody marvellous.
I would like to record my undying gratitude to those AFS volunteers who have kept this life changing opportunity open to many NZ teenagers. For me it gave me self-confidence, it meant I went to university which I would not otherwise have done. In business it taught me the value of scale and ambition. It taught me the value of family and maintaining friendships. Two years ago Peggy and I were visited by George Vogal and Kathy Well, two classmates from Dixon High School 65 years ago. That is what AFS has done for me, our daughter Jenny (Brazil 1991) and granddaughter Juliet (Argentina 2023). Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Jenny Robb (nee Frew), Brazil 1991: The Second Generation
Growing up in an AFS friendly household meant that going on an exchange was on my radar as an option from a young age. My dad had an amazing exchange to the USA and my childhood memories include having lots of different AFS interactions in our home, as well as plenty of USA visitors from my Dad’s own exchange, especially his host family who basically became like family for us as well. We have visited them and they us, and they keep in touch even in the next generation.
I was determined I wanted to go to a non-English speaking country on my exchange, and my four choices were Brazil, Argentina, Chile and the Czech Republic. I went to Brazil and had a very eye-opening exchange.
When I applied for AFS for 1991 for my 6th form (yr12) year, the school I attended in NZ were not supportive and thought I would mess up my academic life. I was fortunate because of my dad’s exchange that he knew this would not be the case, and that the experience I would gain from doing an exchange would far outweigh this. I firmly believe the exchange actually helped me focus my career choice and academic journey.
As well as going on AFS, we have hosted, been support families, been a base for AFS students wanting to go skiing and been volunteers for AFS.
It is a privilege to go on AFS, and I am proud to be part of a 3rd generation AFS returnee family.
Juliet Robb, Argentina 2023: The Third Generation
Growing up I was always fascinated by the stories my Mum and my Grandad would tell me about their exchanges. It blew my mind that they both decided to spend a year away from everything they knew.
Going through high school I discovered that I wasn’t very happy at school and I decided I was going to drop out of school, (I had no plans for what I was going to do). Through many conversations with my parents and family I decided I would look further into an AFS exchange! I applied for a few countries, and the rest is history!
I got to meet my Grandad’s host family when I was younger, which was such a cool experience.
I was also fortunate enough that my own family and my Argentinian host family met each other too!
The months leading up to my exchange were full of nerves and reservations, but thankfully I had my Mum and my Grandad who had both been in my shoes at some point. I am sure that I was definitely influenced by my family to go on an exchange and I am so very grateful for them!
Every experience is different, you never know what is around the corner so I would say jump right in and try it out!