Bee Bee Ong
Volunteer and Host Parent
“In 2015, I started my AFS Journey from hosting a student from France, Clement. [] In 2016, I went to visit him and attended EFIL. In 2019, I stayed with his family (my turn to be hosted) and I had gathered so much of memories with him and his family. I really missed the moments there.
[…] After 2 years hosting experienced, I ventured out and wanted to explore more courses and activities through AFS. So, what I did was flew to Italy to attend EFIL in 2016. After the trip, I hosted more countries and still keep the connection with volunteers and also the exchange students.
What I learnt the most through hosting students, I get to know more culture of each country, I become more open minded and willingness to open my house to more students.
In 2016, I sent my son for Exchange in Switzerland. He had two lovely host family. He passed through the journey with all kinds of ‘hiccup’ and ‘obstacles’. He learnt to see himself more depth and become more independent. I see the changes in him. In 2019, his host sister came to visit him in Malaysia. Until today, my son still to keep in touch with his host family in Switzerland. In 2018, I sent my daughter to Denmark for exchange. She also went through all kinds of challenges. Luckily, she had a lovely host family. she is very closed to them and they treated her as one of their children. Her exchange journey was a great one too. In 2020, I wanted to send my youngest son to France for 6 months exchange but it was cancelled due to covid pandemic.
In 2020-2021, I started to collaborate with more countries through zoom meet and google meet. I connected my students with overseas students through webcam. We collaborated more than 7 countries which I never dreamt of it. But, it happened and the students and parents do like it. So, the enrollment for this year spiked up as well. Most of the parents told me, they do see the changes in their kid. Even though they didn’t travel to other country but they do learn the culture well.
Lastly, I would like to thank AFS Malaysia, Klang Chapter Mrs Bernard and Mr Collin for their guidance, AFS Host Family support, AFS exchange students and AFS Volunteers. Without all of you, my lifestyle would be different and plain. Thank you for accepting me.”