Stowarzyszenie AFS Polska Programy Miedzykulturowe

Stowarzyszenie AFS Polska is quite new organisation in Poland, but it didn't appeared from nowhere. For many years AFS was a part of activities offered by Fundacja im. ks. Siemaszki. From the very beginnig it was sure that one day it will be independent association with new structures and activities based on the volunteers. It happened officialy in February 2013. Since then we are independent organisation, developing more and more each year. AFS Polska is a part of bigger international structure established after the WWI in USA. Volunteer ambulance service transformed into international exchange programme - forstering intercultural understanding to help the world to live together. Of course, many years passed but our main goal is still to help to build more peaceful world by promoting understanding among cultures. What's more, our goals are: -spreading the idea of freedom, peace, democracy and human rights -being active in a field of international integration and developing co-operation with communities - developing integration among different countries - providing activities for children and teenagers to encourage them to raise the level of their formal and nonformal education - helping foreigners to integrate with our community - upholding and spreading Polish tradition - promoting cultural differences - supporting of development of local communities - organizing and promoting of local and international voluntary service. Our main targets are: teenagers who are taking part in the youth exchanges abroad, teenagers who where participants in previous years, local volunteers - usually formal AFS programme participants, their parents or siblings. Our main activities are: sending abroad Polish participants of the AFS programme and hosting participants from other countries in Poland. At the moment we are sending around 40 teenagers to diffferent countries and even continents and we are hosting around 30 young people from different countries. They are placed in different smaller and bigger towns all over Poland. Our main office is located in Piekary but we have groups of volunteers in bigger cities in Poland. They help us to take care about exchange students, being their mentors and running different trainings for them. Our activities are based mostly on the work of the local volunteers and without them all of it wouldn't be possible.