4-H has a long and distinguished history of providing Kentucky youth and families with the opportunity to bring the world to the doorstep! Through international exchange programs such as LABO and UTREK, Kentucky 4-H families can experience the Japanese culture by hosting someone in their homes. We are currently looking for these dedicated families who are willing to open their hearts and homes to one of our exchange program youth from Japan. The LABO program places Japanese youth who are between the ages of 12-15 while the UTREK Japanese youth are between the ages of 15-17. LABO Youth are picked up by their host families in Louisville on July 22, 2009 where they will begin their four week home stay. UTREK youth are picked up in the Lexington area on June 26, 2009 and are in the home a little over 3 weeks. Both groups and are returned to Louisville on August 18, 2009.

To qualify as a host family you need to have a youth who is within two years of age of the Japanese child hosted. You also need to complete a background check, application process and reference review. Many families chose to host multiple years after participating in this wonderful program. We are also looking for individuals, couples or families to host our adult chaperones. One parent shares the following about this wonderful program:

…My husband and I value diversity in education. While academics are fundamental, there is so much more to “educating” our young people. Establishing values and principles to live by is critical to the foundation of our society – we need people who have strength of character. One area of character development is doing our best to understand and accept people of different ages, gender, and cultural backgrounds. Our family has absolutely valued and appreciated the mutual benefits of participating in the international programs – of establishing new friendships and, even, new “family” members. We have learned from each other the different struggles of our respective nations, as well as appreciating certain aspects of each other’s native country. We value aspects of life differently, thus we live life differently. Yet with all our differences — young boys and girls, men and women – we all laugh, cry, love, and need to be loved. Our family has experienced the joys of opening our hearts, if just for a little while, to love another human being from a completely different culture — to make them a part of our heart and home. And to have the privilege of weeping when we must say “…good-bye.” Yes, the tears mean we’ll miss them, but they mostly represent the fact that we know we have had the honor of being loved in return, no matter how different we are. Lourina, 4-H Parent and Volunteer

Contact Mark Mains (mmains@uky.edu), Extension Specialist for more information or to apply today!