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-------- Original Message --------
Subject: RES: Rotary -- Bath, Maine
From: "Simoni Rangel"
Date: Wed, February 07, 2007 4:01 am
To: <dgrijalva@csfes.org>
Cc: <Dickersoneb@state.gov>, Marciam@brasilemb.org

Dear Danielle,

Thank you very much for everything that you did for Marina. I am sure that she will never forget you.

People as you make the difference and change my mind when I think about American people, because she suffered a lot, last weeks, I am trying
to convince her to remind just the good times and good people. You can not image how did I suffer being so far. I do not wish it for any other mother.

Here in Brazil things are really different!

I am so disappointed with Rotary and I regret so much everything, because Marina’s dream became a nightmare.

One again, thank you for everything! GOD BLESS YOU!

Keep being like this, because you make the difference being so SPECIAL and HUMAN!

Regards,

Simoni Rangel
---
June 12, 2006

Taking Action on Youth Exchanges

I read the story of the Vacaville exchange student and want to relate a similar story of a student in Washington state. My youngest son spent last year
in China. While he was there his good friend's host family had him over for dinner, let him spend the night and hosted him several times for dinners at
restaurants. He developed a close relationship with the Chinese host brother and when he came as an exchange student himself to a small northwest
Washington town we had the opportunity to return some of the favors.
 
In the course of conversations with him and after dropping him off at his American host family's home we were most concerned about the quality of his
experience while participating in the foreign exchange program. His host family lived in a very small two bedroom home. They had a very large indoor dog
and a 7-year-old son who shared the same bedroom as the 18-year-old Chinese student. The young child would wake at night crying and was enuretic.
The house was a mess and the dog, the time my wife was inside, had a large cow bone on the living room floor. In order to provide a quiet place for the
student to study, since the TV dominated the living room and was on whenever the family was home, the young son had a Playstation going all the time
in the shared bedroom it was decided that a table in the laundry room was a solution to that problem.
 
When I contacted the coordinator and requested that this situation be revisited I was told that since I had no standing legally they would not even consider
my request and forbade the student to have further contact with me or my son even going so far as to confiscate his personal laptop computer through which
he and my son exchanged e-mail. I was totally at a loss as to where I could turn for some help.
 
I Googled 'exchange student protection' and contacted MS Danielle Grijalva the director of CSFES (Committee for Safety of Foreign Exchange Students).
She was very helpful insisting that I contact the State Department immediately in order to insure the exchange program didn't sent the student back to China
immediately based on the 'probation letter' which he was coerced into signing. She was kind enough to take action and very soon the situation took a turn for
the better. The probation letter was rescinded, a new host family was found, his computer was restored and we can have contact with him again. I am certain
that without MS Grijalva and CSFES this young man would have been back in China today.
 
I would not have believed how high handed, autocratic and unfair this exchange program was. I suspect most exchange programs are not run like this, but there
are large amounts of money involved and I think, from my experience, that many organizations are looking more closely at their bottom line than at the welfare of
their students. DAN VANDERKOLK
---
July 10, 2006
 
Dear Ms. Grijalva                                                                          
                                                      
I am very happy to hear from you and Kwangsoo that he is fitting in well
with his new host family members. It is evident in his remark that he has
had more fun in the week with the XX family than six months he spent
with the XX family. In my opinion, the case of Kwangsoo is summarized
like this: "A misfortune turns into a blessing." or "This is a case of good
coming out of evil."

This result could be possible by the fact that all concerned including
you took into consideration Kwangsoo's well-being first.  Especially if it
had not been for your timely advice and guidance, he might have not been
rescued from the care of the XX family. Kwangsoo had no choice but to
leave the US. When I talked to you on the phone to seek for your aid, my
hands were tied. However, concerted effort of you, Pastor Jung and local
policeman could take Kwangsoo out of the XX custody in the end.  

You may take a pride in your job. Kwangsoo told his mother a few days
ago that he would like to do a job similar to yours in future, because he
was deeply impressed by you who voluntarily work for foreign students in
the need of urgent help without reward. If I have a chance to go to the US,
I will surely visit you to thank for the work you've done. I would like to
call you a good Samaritan. May God bless you and your family all.

Sincerely yours,
Hyungsuk Huh
Kyungsook Kim
---

July 07, 2006 at 3:13 pm
 
Hi Danielle, Thank You for all your help in this matter. Mr. Gustafson is still unaware of the seriousness of the situation, as Tamara has a serious history of ASTHMA! 
 
You absolutely have mine and my husbands' permission to help us in getting our daughter safely home. Let us know if there's more we need to do on our end. Furthermore, she arrived more than "a few days ago", and every minute with allergens aggravating the Asthma is unacceptable.
 
Thank You so much for your professional, caring help. You have been a Godsend!!!!
 
Sincerely, Colleen
---

Host families need help    (North County Times)

We thank you so very much for the May 28 report by Alexandra Deluca reporting on the excellent and timely accomplishments of the efforts by Danielle Grijalva.
Danielle is our heroine! In the current condition of providing safety for exchange students worldwide, as well as our children here at home, we thank her. We know Danielle and her work well and the proof she shares shows the need for federal rules. This is necessary to protect students in the homes of every host families.  The very fact that the rules are in force is a huge step toward protection. The $50 fee is very well spent to be sure the host family is equipped to provide safe and appropriate care for the students.

We applaud the efforts of this young mother of three adorable children of her own. Her husband supports her in every way, and so do we. Thank you again for the delightful color picture of Danielle. Your paper does a great job to alert families, organizations as well as the many predators among us. Danielle is truly sincere and outstanding in every way.

MARALYN and CARL JOHNSON
Rancho Bernardo
---
July 6, 2006

Report on my nine months in Oklahoma

I decided fairly late that I wanted to spend a High School year as an exchange student in the United States of America. It was already July 12, 2005. But the German organisation TASTE said that everything would be fine and the only thing that could happen would be that I would fly later. I got a whole bunch of paperwork to fill out like my hobbies, my interests, if I would mind living in a smoker family, on a farm or with pets. I also had to write a letter to the host family I didnt even know yet. My parents also had to do that. My dad works in a different state and is not that often at home and my moms English is terrible, so she wrote everything in German and I translated it for her. I am terribly scared of dogs, so I wrote in my letter that I would like a family without dogs or just one or two that live outside. On the other hand, I really love cats. Well, and with a lot of effort I designed a page with a lot of pictures of me (which I liked J I thought that I worked good).

You probably noticed that this process took a while, my family and me spent altogether two weeks on it and we were working fast! Since my vacation had just started, I was able to spend my whole day working on this stuff like the paperwork, the visa, my passport. It took a whole month of my vacation to get everything done. For the visa, we had to drive to Berlin. As soon as I got it, I called TASTE and told them, a day later I got my flight. The date was set for August 26.

My parents werent able to pay all the money at once but TASTE allowed them to always pay a little bit. But until Christman everything had to be paid. Altogether, my parents had to pay 6,975.00 to TASTE which included them finding a family for me, the flight and stuff like that but excluded the money I would need in the US for the daily need like school materials, clothing and stuff like that. My parents also had to pay 85.00 and $100.00 for my visa to the American embassy.

I also got some paperwork on August 3, I think, were I found pictures from my host family and house, information about them, their address and their phone number. We had some conversations over the phone but you probably know that most people always seem nice on the phone. But nowhere was to be seen that they were smokers! Nowhere it said how many dogs they had and that they lived in the house.

It said that my host dad would be self occupied but he turned out to be out of work! The picture of the house was a wrong picture! But I will come back to all that later TASTE told me that as soon as I would be in the US, their partner organisation Global Insights (GLI) would take care of me. I had already called my Area Representative once. If I recall her name right, my first Area Representative (AR) was Sherri Gaunder.

So I strated the biggest trip Id ever done in my life on August 26, 2005. I love flying so I didnt think that the flight may be a big deal. Well, there was a delay in the flight from Amsterdam to Memphis. When I finally arrived in Memphis, my next plane was gone. Technically, they should have brought me to a hotel but they kept me and some other kids who were traveling alone in the terminal. My dinner was a Sprite and a sack of chips. I had to spend the night in the so called kids club where I got a blanket and a pillow! My bags didnt arrive, they had been forgotten in Amsterdam. So already my first night in the US was a horror trip for me who just wanted home at that time already. First, they didnt even let me make phone calls. I needed to tell my host family that I wouldnt be at the airport that night and my parents that everything was fairly okay but I wasnt there yet. When I finally got to call, my host family was already gone, nobody answered the phone and I wasnt able to get a hold of my parents.

My dad called me at some time in the night, my AR did, too.

The next morning, I got a nasty fast food breakfast. After that I was brought to the next plane and finally flew to Oklahoma.

Later, my parents tried to complain because of all that but they didnt get any money back.

I arrived at the airport and hoped that my host family would be there but they werent. The husband of my AR and my host sister Katie were there to collect me. I didnt sleep well that night but I thought that now, everything would be fine. I was looking forward to living nine months in America. (At that time I still thought I would be there for ten months, thought, but I decided against that in January 2006, I just wanted to get home as soon as possible.)

So I was pretty shocked when we arrived at the house that looked nothing alike the one I had seen on the picture. I think there were two dogs outside and three inside, two cats also inside. The house was a complete mess. The grandparents and the three children were there, but not my host parents. Cloths were everywhere. Old food was still on the kitchen counter. I was sharing a room with Katie that room was a mess, too. I thought that this couldnt be. If Id had the opportunity, I would have liked to drive back to the airport and fly home. Later, I was told that my host parents had been on a funeral.

I was still shocked from the way the house looked and smelt. The three dogs and cats didnt care where to go to the bathroom. I was so scared of those dogs. One of them always went into Katies and my room to sleep there. He snored terribly. Other dogs went to the bathroom underneath our bed (we had a bed where one bed is near to the ground and then you have a ladder to climb up to the upper bed which was where I slept).

Well, so like I already told you, the host parents were smoking, the dogs in the house. Why did I do all this paperwork if nobody looked at it? The host family told me that the AR had shown them everything and I was the last exchange student that was looking for a family, so they just took me without looking at anything except my picture. That really disappointed me. I mean, that was so much work just to make sure that I get a good host family where I will fit in but it seems like they let me do it just for fun. They also told me that the AR gets money for the students he or she is able to get over so that made me think that I was just here because somebody got money for me coming over! And the information about my future host family? So in general I didnt know they were smokers. I didnt know that the little brother had ADHD (I think thats what it was). I didnt know my host dad was out of work, how many dogs they had and that three of them were living in the house and all this stuff! Nothing was fitting!

The host family, that were the host parents (the mom was a police officer), Katie (10), Wade (8) and Chayenn (3 or 4). Katie and Wade were not the children of my host dad but Chayenn was one of his own so he loved her more then the other two and made them feel it. My host mom was really nice but not that often at home. Whenever she was home, she slept because she was tired. I really liked Katie, she was really nice and I felt that she had wished for to be loved so much more. Because Chayenn was a original child from my host dad, everything she did was all right and she got always right.

They even took the claws from the cats (as Katie told me) because Chayenn got scratched from a cat earlier while she was hitting the cat but the host dad thought that it was all the cats fault.

Not that much time passed and I got a new AR. They told me that Tammy Davenport wasnt living as far away as Sherri Gaunder but I had never even seen her anyway, I didnt even talk to her once, always just to her husband.

I also noticed that my host family had a lot of money problems. They told me that they got told I would buy everything on my own like food and pay them the gas if they would drive me somewhere. But how was I supposed to do that? I was supposed to get $200 a month, but I still had to pay a lot of food on my own, so my parents send $300 a month which adds up to be about $2700 for the nine months total! All the stuff I needed I had to buy on my own like the food. We never had milk, bread or any kind of juice. I bought it  - but then, everybody used it! I told Tammy about it but she said that this is normal, that stuff like milk, juice, bread, is not common in American families and if I buy it, I should be nice enough to share with my "family". She always used the words "mom", "dad", "sister" and "brother" for my host family but it didnt feel that way for me. If something went wrong and I asked her something, it was always my fault. One time, she thought that I just didnt spent enough time with my host family I think it was sometime at the end of September and that weekend, I was going to a football game and to a fun park with two girls. I wanted to make friends because up to that time I had always just worked in the house of my host family. But Tammy told them I wasnt allowed to go because I had to spend more time with them. I was really hurt at that point because everything was my fault if I asked her! So why should I even ask? From that time on, I always called my parents. They helped me so much more during the whole year than Tammy did. They were always there for me, even on the weekends, even on 06:00 a.m. in the morning or 22:00 p.m. in the night! I never had to be scared to call when I did Tammy, I was because I didnt really get that time thing. So my parents had to pay a lot of money because I wasnt feeling good most of the time I just wanted it all to be over!

My host family thought that I was kind like an AuPair, looking after the children, cleaning the house and stuff I did all the laundry, I cleaned the kitchen, I cleaned the childrens rooms, I cleaned the living room, I did the dishes and then they wanted me to cook with them.

One of the very bad experiences was when Wade opened the looked bathroom door while I was in the shower. I was really mad and shouted at him because he had seen me naked. Even if he was just 8, it still made me mad. I dont want anybody to see me naked if its not somebody like my boy friend or my real mom, people I love. But did Wade get punished? Nope. I was the one who did everything and dang had I been a bad girl to shout at him, that was what I got back. The host dad screamt at me. He did that pretty often. But like I said, it was all my fault.

Every Wednesday, they went to an auction in town which started at 06:00 p.m. and most the time was over around 11:00 or 11:30 p.m. Most the time I had to go with them althrough I didnt like all the smoking in there. It made me sick but nobody took interest in that. I was glad when we got homework on Wednesdays. Then I did my homework until 07:00 p.m., showered after that and went to sleep early. (I had to ride the school bus, so school was out at 03:00 p.m. and I got back around 04:00 p.m.)

My host dad wouldnt let Katie and me use a clock to wake up in the morning, he wanted to wake us up but most the time he overslept and just because Katie or me woke up just in time we always made it to school. One day, when he overslept, we didnt wake up in time but nobody would drive us to school.

Even on the weekend, Katie and me never got to sleep longer than 09:00 a.m. if we were lucky. Most of the time we had to get up at 08:00 a.m.

One of the TASTE people once showed up at my school to ask if everythings okay. I told her everything but she said that this is alright, Americas just different than Germany and thats it. I would get used to it.

Tammy even told me that she could (and probably would) send me home if I insisted on changing that family because everything was my fault as she said!

The host dad also opened my mail once and the host family wanted me to believe in God although they knew before (or they would have known would they have read my paperwork or application, whatever you want to call it) that I didnt believe. They didnt go to church though.

The thing that scared me the most was that the host dad was hitting Katie and Wade. Katie cried a lot. I told Tammy that but she said that this is just spanking and its normal but my hist dad had such a temper

that I was scared to death just to do one thing wrong. I felt that when I would do something wrong he would have such a bad temper that it wouldnt matter that I wasnt his child pretty much the same situation

Katie and Wade were in. Because Tammy always told the host family what I told her, I called my parents, told them how scared I was and that I just wanted to go home and be safe again. In that period of time, my nightmares started. First, I "only" dreamt that my dad would die or some other person I love, but it got worse night by night. I was near desperation, just wanted to get out.

The money situation got worse, too, day by day. So the host family ended up giving back the TV and the car they had. They also had to move out and move into a small little house that was very old and broken.

Yes, it was unlivable. We had one week to make it livable again. So this week, after school, I always had to walk right to that house and help building, cleaning, painting it. It was very, very small, I think it had three rooms and they were so small that just Katies and my bed fit in our room! They wanted Chayenn to sleep there in the bed with us, too. But Katie and I as well as her grandparents were against that. This week, we worked until 01:00 a.m. in the morning everyday! I was so tired I havent been before in my life. I think one time we even worked longer. It was like a torture for Katie, Wade and me because the next day we had to get up early to go to school again where the host parents and Chayenn were able to sleep in.

Whenever Katie fot hit I stayed with her. I feel so sorry for her, she is so nice and sweet. I would wish for her that her mom would have more time. Well, but I got more and more scared and nobody would do something.

My parents told me that if I was too terrified I just shouldnt go back or something because they were scared for me, too. The host dad was collecting guns and stuff which made me even more scared.

One day, when Katie got hit another couple times, I was too terrified to do anything. Her grandma picked her and me up and we stayed there for the weekend. I called Susie, another AR, because I couldnt go back, I would rather go home to Germany than back to this house. I was so surprised when Susie actually did everything she could for me! I really almost wuld have stopped this year. Katies grandparents kept me for a day.

That evening, Tammy called. She was mad and told me again how everything was my fault, that I brought so much bad things to that family and stuff like that. I was already feeling some kind of empty and scared but she made me cry for so long and so much I didnt know a human can cry that much. I called my parents and told them that I want to go home immediately. I didnt care for anything, I just wanted to go back to people that love me.

I crashed. All Tammys accusations weight so heavy on my heart, I just couldnt carry it..

The next Susie called again and said that I needed to stay at a friends house or something because this wasnt good for the family. I could understand that but I didnt have any friends. I still had the number of one of the girls and called one of them. She and her mom were okay with it and picked me up that day with one of my suitcases Susie said first just to take one. The grandma that brought them from the little house of my first host family because the host dad was so mad that he cussed at me and other stuff she wouldnt tell me. I am pretty sure he told her he would kill me. I was still so terrified.

The only people that did something for me in that time of need were Susie, my parents and the founder of TASTE, nobody else would listen. I am so thankful for those people!

I still had nightmares for the next two months. I was kind of paralysed, I dont know I was really scared of everybody and everything. Usually I talk a lot but I was very quiet. Tammy apologized and told me how sorry she was but I couldnt give her any more trust. I am a person who hardly gives trust. But in Germany TASTE had told me that we should and could trust the ARs, but after the first host family, I just couldnt trust her again. It was simpossible.

So now I had a new host family. The host mom and the 16-year-old daughter. First, we lived in the trailer house of her boy friend because their house had burned down. After Christmas, we moved. The host mom had her own tire shop and so was not that often at home. My host sister went to church very often, always twice a week or more often. On Sundays, the host mom cooked and I stayed for the "family dinner" while my host sister prefered to go to church. Her hobbies were her church, her car, TV, computer and going to the movies, so we went there a lot. But that was it. What I enjoyed was the road trip we did in Spring break to Nashville. Just the drive back was horrible cause we drove nine hours without a break and I was carsick the next day. I get car sick very easily but my host sister thought I played it! That made me made. I wasnt feeling good at all. But I enjoyed the two days in Nashville and the trip through Tennessee.

The bad thing was that my host sister loved to listen to very loud music in her car with which we had to drive to school or whereever we were going. I told her that it hurt my ears but she said that it was her car and she was driving so I should be quiet. I had to live with it. In her room, she played very loud music, too.

My room was next to her mothers room. My host mom couldnt go to sleep without the TV, so I always heard it up to 01.00 a.m. and it started again when she woke up. I have a light sleep, so I had to wait every night until the TV was quiet. This was why I prefered to sleep on the floor in the living room because it was a lot quieter there even though the computer and the refridgerator were pretty loud, too.

Some day I noticed the ringing in my ears but I thought it would go away over night. The next day it was still there. So I asked if we could see a doctor. I called my insurance to ask to which doctors I could go but they could only give me two numbers. The first doctor hadnt had an answering machine and did never answer his phone, the second was in vacation for two weeks. So I didnt get an appointment. This was at the beginning of March before our road trip. I was able to convince my host mom to bring me to a normal doctor because I couldnt sleep with the ringing in my ears; it drove me crazy. But the doctor said that this would just be allergies and go away by itself. That was it.

After the road trip, the ringing had gone worse and I really wanted that ear-nose-throat doctor appointment. I called as soon as I could, but the appointment was a week later. When I finally got there, I just got told that I had a tinnitus and he could do nothing against it. The only thing that might help would be some sort of medication called "Arches Tinnitus Formula" that I could buy over the Internet. He told me to buy four times 100 pills so that I would take them for four months. But I would have to order the medication over the Internet. Well, I didnt have a bank account anymore in the US. I just had one in Germany and couldnt use this one. I used to have one in the US but after I changed families, my first host dad tried to get the money from it and canceled my card and stuff like that. So I paid the $126.75 to the mom of my best friend Kylie and she paid with her account. This was a bunch of money but the medication didnt really help. It just didnt get any worse but it didnt get any better either, so I still got very less sleep every night. But my host family told me that I wouldnt need to go to the doctor again and even the doctor said he couldnt do anymore when I gave him a call.

I had to pay my host sister gas money for everything like driving to the ear-nose-throat doctor or for getting a shot. One time for example, I needed to get a shot because the school wanted me to and my ost mom told my host sister where she had to drive but the I think it was a Walgreens or something pharmacy said that they didnt give shots but I still had to pay my host sister $30 for that trip! So I was always glad when for example Kylies mom or my hos mom drove me somewhere because then I didnt have to pay for it. I told my host mom that my host sister took money like that from me but she just said that as soon as my host sister would have her new car, I wouldnt have to pay anymore Well, I probably paid abput a hundred dollars like that.

I would also like to mention some positive aspects like my best friend Kylie and her family. They were always there for me I wish that they would have been my host family!

But my host mom was really nice and let me stay there often because she saw that I enjoyed Kylies companionship. We did a lot of stuff which I am grateful for! I regret that I met her so late.  Another positive aspect it my friendship with Heather Hill althrough we met rarely but she was so nice to me and had always an open ear.

The last very, very positive friendship was the one with Todd and his mom who made a scarpbook with me, brought me places and took me in sometimes as if I would be a family member. I am so grateful for those people because even though they didnt have much to live they were so nice to me that I enjoyed helping whereever I could and talking with them about Germany, myself and all the other stuff that mattered or not J.  Well, so my nine months were almost over. I had booked my flight in January. First, I got told I would fly June 18, but that was way to late for me and my parents got TASTE to get a new flight for me May 28. In my handbook that I had it said that 3 to 1 day before departure we should call the airline and confirm the flight. I called two days before since this was the middle of 3 and 1. But I got told that it wouldnt be possible for me to fly on May 28! I would have to fly on June 2! I was shocked. I just wanted to go home, the whole time I was looking forward to May 28 and now they told me I couldnt even go home in time?! I wasnt able to call Tammy, nobody answered her phone and since it was a Friday, I couldnt reach TASTE either. I have to admit that in my panic I forgot to call the main office of GLI. I wrote in the message board from TASTE and hoped they wuld answer. I called my parents. It was night in Germany but they called the travel agency the next day. They told my parents that everything was already confirmed for May 28. I should call my AR and ask her if she could drive with me up to the airport and get the ticket a day earlier just to be sure. So I called Tammy but she didnt have time. I asked my host mom and she drove me up there. We got everything confirmed and I hoped everything would be alright the next day.

TASTE never answered in the message board or my email. Not before May 28 and not after. That seems to me like they didnt care. My dad got an email that everything was my fault because I called the airline too late but it said in the handbook that I had to call between three and one day before departure! So what did I do wrong again?

I was so glad that everything was alright with my flight even though I had to wait six hours in Amsterdam for my next flight. The only thing I wanted was going home which meant "be loved again" for me! There were some complications in Amsterdam, though. First, they wouldnt let me on the plane because my ticket somehow was not in the system and I got so scared that I would have to stay in Amsterdam for another night and not get to see my family again! The whole Memphis thing again But I was lucky, I got to get on the plane in the last minute. The whole last flight ( one hour) back to Hannover, I smiled. I was so lucky. It was the best moment in my whole live as soon as I saw my family again.

I tried to write this report as detailed as possible but nine months are a lot of time as you know, so I probably forgot to mention some stuff which I hope is nothing serious Thank you for reading all this!

I have to admit that I had positive experiences and even though I didnt enjoy the trip to the US as much as I thought I would, I am glad to have met Kylie! My only real problem is that tinntitus. Here in Germany I went immediately to an ear-nose-throat doctor who told me how bad the American doctors had treated me everything was so obvious for him! I had water in my left ear which he got out, so the pressure I suffered from was gone. But he also had to tell me that a tinnitus can be cured if you do something against it immediately which nobody did in my case. He told me that he was very sorry but I would have to live with this for the rtest of my life! You know, there was nothing in my life that I enjoyed more than my silence and America took this from me I really dont know how to handle that.
---
January 9, 2006

My name is Isabela xxxxxxxx and I was an Ayusa exchange student from Brazil in Texarkana, Texas.

I had a lot of problems during the almost six months that I lived in America.

When I first got there, it was really upsetting. Since going to America was my biggest dream, I was expecting something better than it actually was.  When I got in my host family's house I just could not believe. The house was dirty and all messed up. They had boxes in the middle of the living room and dirty clothes on the kitchen's floor. The bathroom was nasty. The toilet was broken, so every time that I would sit on it, I would fall and make a huge noise.

They weren't used to cook, so some times I had to order pizza to the whole family, otherwise I would be starving.  The girl, my host sister, would sometimes go out with me, but never take money with her. So, I always had to pay things for her. I remember one time that we went to a baseball game in Dallas, and everything was very expensive there. I had to buy to her since lunch until ice cream and bottles of water.

After some time, staying in that house became not only nasty and boring but also expensive.

The girl, also, would stay the whole day talking to her boyfriend on the phone and would tell me that I really had to go with her to his house, because if I wouldn't go, her mom wouldn't let her go either. I would go because I wanted the girl to like me. In his house, they would go to the bathroom and stay a long time there leaving me alone.

The worst fact that happened over there was that I used to share the room with the girl. The room was already a big mess and at night, all of the four dogs and three cats would spend the night with us, with the bedroom's door closed.  The girl, who used to smoke, would smoke inside the room at night, so her parents wouldn't see.

Since the second day that I was in America, I started to call my parents in Brazil every day because I was very scared. My parents started concerning about all those things to the Organization in Brazil ( STB – Student Travel Bureau ). They started to call Ayusa and telling them to remove me from that house.

By that time, I went to talk to my C.R. ( Shelly Walsh ). She knew the family and had seen the house before.  Since she was the C.R., I believe that she should have checked the conditions of the house before putting a foreign student in there.  But it seems like she didn't. So, I talked to her and told her about all of those problems. I was told by her that I could not move to another house, that it was Ayusa's rules and that I would have to stay in that house for at least 15 days trying to make it work out.

During those 15 days, I called her lots of times, telling her how unhappy I was.  She wouldn't move me.

After those days, while my father was telling me to come back to Brazil so we would sue Ayusa, she decided to move me.

She putted me in another house. The house was good and everybody would treat me well there. I was able to hang out with some friends; I met some new
people and would go some places with my host sister.  It was fine there.

After some time, a friend of the family started going to the house, and since he was a cool guy, we got friends. I was having a really good time because
I had a big American friend. He would talk to me, help with my English and invite me to do things with him and friends.  We used to hang out with my host
sister and her friends all together.

Since the school started, the C.R., who is also an English teacher at school, started to tell me to stay away from the guy. She used to tell me a lot of bad
things about him that other people used to tell me that it was not true.

Then, she started talking bad about my family: that they were not respecting Ayusa's rules and that if I wanted to move I could because there was two
other families that wanted me to live with them. I told her a couple of times that I was fine there and did not want to move.

One day, she called me in her room and told me that I would have to move as soon as possible otherwise I would have to go back to Brazil.  She asked
me if I had the keys of the house, so we could go get my things at that time, that everybody was at work and at school. Of course I said no. So, she asked
me if it was any window at the house, which I could use to get in. One more time, I said no. So she decided to wait for somebody to be home and I could
go get my things.

She called xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  and told him that I had no house to live and asked if they could get another Exchange Student in their house. They said yes.

So, xxxxx went to school to get me and went with me to, until that time, my house.

Shelly Walsh told me that I was supposed to write a letter to Ayusa telling why I was being moved from that house.

So, I wrote and gave to her. She read the letter and told me that what I wrote was not enough.  Then, she told me everything that I was supposed to write,
things like: I was not comfortable there; I was scared of the family, that the host sister would not do anything with me, that I didn't like the guy that used to
go the house…

Since I was scared of her sending me back to Brazil, I wrote the letter. People at school, including xxxxxxxxxx that was there at that time, saw when I wrote it.
I went to the house, got my things and wasn't able to tell bye, thank you or explain something to them. After that, I was not allowed to talk to the family.

After that, I went to the xxxxx house and I was having a great time. I really love them and they helped me every time that I needed. Specially in the hardest time
that I had there.

I started having pain on the upper part of my right leg and my host parents took me to the doctor. I was taking antibiotics. 
 
One day it started hurting really bad and they took me to the Emergency Room. There, the doctor told me that it was really bad and I would have to go on a
surgery.  By that time, the doctors did not know the reason of the infection. After the surgery, they sent the infection to the Lab and they found out that it was
cat scratch disease.  I started to think and the only cat that could have scratched me was the cat of that first family. Then, I asked the doctor and he told me
that the cat infection takes about 2 months to appear on your body. So, it must have been that cats.

I had to stay in the hospital from Sunday until Wednesday. After that, I couldn't go to school because the cut on my leg was still open. We received nurses
everyday at home, in order to change the bandages. I would be able to return to school one week later.

Nienke Verkerk, the other exchange student that lived in the house with us, one day came back from school and told me that people at school told her that
Mrs. Walsh was saying that I was not going to school because I am lazy and spoiled, and did not want to do what the doctors told me to do. This IS NOT TRUE!

First of all, she didn't know because she did not go to the hospital to check on me. Second, the doctors would never let me stay in the hospital if I didn't need to
be there.  She told teachers at school, the Principal and some kids' parents all this kind of things about me, and when she was asked about this she would deny
everything.

What makes me and my parents really mad is that she knew how bad I was in that house, she didn't move me from there on time, so I had the surgery. After the surgery, she kind of 'made fun" of it, telling everybody that it was not serious.
 
Now, I still have a big scar in my leg that I will probably have to go on another surgery.

She said bad things about other kids, including the girl from Ecuador that lives now in her house.  Most of those things are all lies.

One time, I was in my friend's house, Ariane Lodeiro, another Exchange Student from Brazil, and she was also having problems with Ayusa. Her problem was
that Shelly Walsh, once told the family that Ariane would pay a fee to the school so she would be able to study there. She did not know about that fee and did
not want to pay, since she paid everything in Brazil and was going to a Public High School. The host family was really mad at the CR and disappointed with Ayusa. I talked to them and told them about the problems that I also had with the CR and the Company.

About one week later, Shelly Walsh called me in her room, locked the door and started saying that I was about to get a Warning from Ayusa because 'I opened
my mouth". That was exactly what she told me. Of course, by that time, I was not worried about getting a Warning. So, I told her that I do not like Ayusa, that I
don't trust her and that my parents in Brazil were thinking about sue Ayusa, because of the first house story that caused my surgery.

I believe she got scared and started saying that she 'loves me to death" and that I was the most special girl she ever met.

My host mom, xxxxxxx, was knocking on the door and she would not open it.  When I got home that day, my hostdad called Anna Henke to talk about what happened. She was mad at me, telling him that everything was my fault. Probably because of what Shelly Walsh told her.

She continued saying bad things about me, Nienke and our family to other kids and parents.

On my last week in America, we had a Christmas party where I would say bye to everybody. So, I invited all the Exchange Student's Girls to spend the night with us.

When I got there, I asked Shelly where Soraya ( the girl from Ecuador that lives with her) was. She told me she was feeling bad and couldn't come. Then, a lot of American friends asked me why I did not invite Soraya to go. I said that I did. And they told me that Shelly was telling everybody that Soraya was not there because I didn't invite her.

She also told my friend's parents that I was mean.

When I left I got really upset because I would miss everybody. My first week back in Brazil was really hard because I miss my family and friends that I met there. So I was trying my best to always keep in touch with them. I was traveling with my parents when I found a computer where I could check my emails and talk to my American friends. When I opened it, I got a new surprise. Shelly Walsh was telling some people that I was unhappy with the xxxxxx; that they wouldn't me take me to do things with them and that I was jealous of Nienke, because the family liked her better than me. I also know that she told the new exchange students in Hooks to don't talk to Nienke, that she was the 'bad girl".

All the time that I stayed in America, I saw her making up stories about everybody.

I also know that the other exchange students have a lot of concerns about her too.  I am just sending this letter with all the problems that I had because I don't believe she is a good person, neither a CR.  I am trying to help other students that I know that are going to America. I just don't think it is fair that she keeps making her money and don't care about the kids.

I know some more students that had problems with her and Ayusa and said that they would tell their stories if it is needed !!!