Ending international program a step backwards: former educator

CORNER BROOK - A former homestay mother of two teenage international students is appalled by the provincial government's decision to phase out the program.

Bertha Gallant of Benoit's Cove took Daniel Ortiz, 14, of Mexico and Dae-san Oh, 16, of South Korea into her home last year. They instantly became a part of her family and they even called her mom. When the boys returned to their native countries at the end of June, tears flowed freely from everybody despite the fact they knew lifelong bonds had been formed.

"I couldn't have asked for a nicer experience," Gallant told The Western Star. "All the children here that hung out with them, I know they all felt the same."

Before the school year ended, Gallant and the two teenagers made a quilt and spearheaded a ticket sale involving a number of area schools - mainly St. James All-Grade in Lark Harbour, where the boys attended school. More than $4,000 was given to the Western Regional Hospital Foundation as a result.

"The fact that we are helping people is good," Ortiz said at the time in an interview with The Star. "It's just kind of saying thank you for all the good experiences we had here."

While Gallant, for health reasons, didn't take in students this year; she planned to do so again. She said they have stayed in touch with the boys - talking to Oh this week about his desire to return - as she does with an exchange student from Sweden, that she took in 18 years ago.

"I couldn't have cared for the boys I had any better," she said. "I did more baking and more cooking for my boys and the things I did, I did for them. If you are going to take those kids, you have to make them part of your family. I felt as comfortable asking one of the boys to do something for me as I did with my own. They are little children that are coming from far away, you have to make them a part of a family environment.

"We had some nice experiences, experiences that I would certainly want again. It was good for us and good for them. It's good for our children, the schools, and good for the community."

Meanwhile, former Western School Board employee Dan Murphy, said phasing out the international student education program is a tremendous loss to the western region.

The retired educator, who oversaw and did a lot to establish the international student program in this district, said a lifetime of friendships and learning experiences for international and local students, their families and homestay families are gone. He also said there's a loss of capacity building within our communities to welcome future immigrants and to support the province's new immigration policy.

He sees it as a backward step, when the rest of Atlantic Canada is moving forward with international relationships.

"The decision to close the program is based on a narrow vision, an inability to connect the dots, and a poor understanding of what student learning experiences encompass and the rational behind an International Student Program," Murphy stated, in a letter to the editor that will be featured in a three-part series beginning today on Page 6. "A step backward in a world where globalization demands that our students become 'internationally aware'."

Murphy said the Western School District's program, which began in 2002, has grown to host more than 60 students. He said the success stories could fill pages.

"The rationale for closure is still unclear and seems to change daily," he said. "...In reflecting on the past three years it seems that every effort was made to look for ways to shut down international education programs in Newfoundland and Labrador rather than support it ...There seems to be a desperation to shut the program down."