YFU Exchange stories
stories

In 2021 Youth For Understanding (YFU) celebrated its 70th anniversary. YFU started as a volunteer initiative created by Rachel Andresen and John Eberly to give adolescents a new perspective of peace and the prospect of a brighter world. With the goal of repairing relationships damaged during World War II, the first group of students left Germany to go on their exchange to the United States 70 years ago. This was the beginning of YFU, and since then, more than 270,000 students have gone on exchange with YFU, opening minds for a better world.

For each student, host family, and volunteer, the YFU intercultural exchange has opened a new chapter in their lives. This involvement has allowed them to experience first-hand the beauty of diversity and embrace it with empathy and understanding. It has been a new chapter that welcomed new experiences, amusing moments, lifelong friendships, cultural learnings, and people coming into their own individuality in the world around them. YFU is made up of each of these individual experiences!

The virtual storybook is a humble attempt to grasp the impact that YFU has had on individual lives for more than 70 years.

Thank you for your stories!

To open the Virtual storybook use "fullscreen" mode in the bottom right corner. 

Share the Storybook with fellow YFUers or print it for your home library! 

DOWNLOAD THE VIRTUAL STORYBOOK HERE

YFU FRIENDSHIP STORIES

VIRTUAL STORYBOOK