YFU
On the day the students left for home, hundreds of people - host families, teachers, and students from their schools - turned out to say good-bye. The students left with suitcases of new clothes, lifelong friends, and understanding. Rachel realized it was impossible to hate someone (or even a country) you actually know and understand on a family and community level. This was the basic concept of Youth For Understanding. Rachel was YFU's founder and first executive director.
The YFU program began at a very grassroots level and it evolved and snowballed into a giant organization in the twenty five years she was at the helm. What began with a small group of students from one country ended up a vast and global network of peace and understanding. She called the kids student ambassadors.
She was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973. She championed volunteerism, local politics and empowerment programs but she also relished in having a lot more time with her family and with her piano and her gardening. She also continued to travel extensively abroad and in the states. When she was 78 she even rode the mechanical bull at Gilley's Club, wearing a cowboy hat no less, while visiting her eldest son.
Read more about this topic: Rachel Andresen