Mai's America

This show upset me. I placed and supervised foreign exchange students for twelve years. During that time, I witnessed many agencies placing the students in any home that would take them, just to garner the fees that are given for the placement of each student. Each one of the students I chose to place became like one of my own. To begin with, I would never have placed a student in a home with non-working host parents and less than ideal family dynamics. The whole concept is to share cultures and learn that we are all part of a growing borderless world. Thank goodness she was of strong character and had a deep desire to learn about America. I just felt bad for Mai, and wished she would of had a better representative/Organization that had her best interests at heart and not their own placement fee as the priority. She had such a strong character and would have been a blessing to many host families. And, a good representative could have assisted her through the college process, possibly finding a host family so she could have concentrated on her studies without the additional burden of trying to work so much. It is my hope that somehow Mai will realize her dream to graduate college, either in the U.S. or Viet Nam. Young people like her are what our world needs many more of.