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75 Years of Fostering Intercultural Understanding

EIL's Anniversary Celebration in Berlin

Brattleboro, VT (June 5, 2007) – In 1932, Donald and Leslie Watt took the first Experiment group to Switzerland. There were 24 young men and two leaders in charge of a camp with German and French speaking Swiss boys (girls were included in the 2nd year). The hope was that the boys would teach one another to speak their respective languages, but in the end that idea turned out to be a naive one and the inevitable happened. The boys, out of necessity, spoke the language they knew and ended up forming cliques, which eventually became a hindrance to the camaraderie Watt had envisioned. Unfortunately, according to Watt, he had created a situation for misunderstanding.

And eventually in 1933, these problems were addressed when the second Experiment in International Living took place in Germany. The camp was replaced by the homestay where each participant lived with a host family and was expected to speak the language of his or her hosts. Thus began the homestay, which has ever since been considered one of the most effective means of fostering international and intercultural understanding.

Now, The Experiment in International Livingߞworldwideߞis celebrating the 75th anniversary of this first experiment in international living. What began with one group of young men has grown into a worldwide network of organizations committed to Donald Watt's original vision of building mutual understanding and respect. This network, known as Federation EIL, is comprised of independent national representation in 23 countries. World Learning (including the US Experiment in International Living, SIT and World Learning for International Development) is the member organization in the USA. Federation members gather annually for a General Assembly. The 2007 assembly took place in Berlin, Germany from May 1 - 5 with 22 of 23 members present.

On May 5th in Berlin, all members of the Federation EIL gathered for a celebration hosted by the German Experiment. During this week, Experiment Germany also hosted the Federation's annual General Assembly meeting and an International Volunteer Program with over 30 participants from 10 different countries. The volunteers worked at the Kreuzberger Kinderstiftung, a non-profit association that supports deprived children in the Kreuzberg section of Berlin where they organized a Kinderfest with food and games from their home countries. This section of the city is home to many immigrants and with an extremely high level of unemployment and dependency on social welfare.

On May 5th another celebration took place at the Hamburger Landesvertretung with about 350 people in attendance. Speakers included Engeline Kramer, Chair of the Board of Experiment Germany; Kevin Hickey, President of Federation EIL; Hans-Jochen Schmidt, Head of the Division of Foreign Culture and Educational Policy, German Foreign Ministry; and David Murdoch, Chair Emeritus at World Learning and Honorary Consul for Germany in Pittsburgh, PA. David Murdoch was there as the official representative of World Learning.

Federation EIL also honored three members of the Experiment family for their decades of service and many contributions to international educational exchange. They were Alvino Fantini, SIT Professor Emeritus of the Department of Language Teacher Education (USA), Kamil Toros (Turkey) and Agustin Castellon (Chile). For more information on the Federation EIL, visit the organization's Web site.

Read an interview with Chair Emeritus and former trustee David Murdoch in which he discusses his experiences with EIL and the 75th Anniversary.

For additional information of this event, read the press release from the German Embassy (in German).