Services and Utilities

To meet people from overseas, stay at home

HOST is a national charity, founded 13 years ago by the British Council and the Foreign Office, that arranges for foreign students to have a short visit, usually at a weekend, or at Christmas; to a welcoming private home.

There are many thousands of international students at universities and colleges in the UK, who come here hoping to get to know British people, and to explore the local culture and customs. Unfortunately, the majority find it almost impossible to make contact with the real life of the country, away from the campus and the cosmopolitan cities.

Addressing this situation is a voluntary scheme known as HOST, which has been operating for 13 years with the backing of the British Council and the Foreign Office. Conversation, meals, outings and meetings with other members of the family or local community, are the main features of most visits. The openness and friendliness of their hosts are impressions that remain in the memory. A visit can radically alter students' preconceptions of Britain, and help them feel more at home while they are here.

For the hosts, the rewards are the pleasure of meeting lively and intelligent young people and well-informed mature students, from parts of the world that they may already know, or may never have the chance of knowing in any other way. 'Hosting students, as well as being great fun, has widened our horizons,' wrote one host, 'and we hope, enabled us to make a small contribution to international understanding.'

An international student is eagerly waiting...
...to receive an invitation to spend a few days at Christmas, or a weekend at some other time, with a friendly volunteer host in this region. Students come to universities in the UK from all parts of the world, hoping not only to receive an academic education, but also to meet the people and experience the way of life in this country. A HOST invitation is very often the only way they can achieve this. It is also an enjoyable opportunity for local people to offer hospitality to students far from home (and often quite alone at Christmas) and keen to share their own culture.

Most hosts offer just one or two invitations a year, and new hosts are always needed. If you would like to know more, please call Voluntary Regional Organiser for HOST, Ruth Diffey, on 01480 458846, or email diffey@gmchester.fsnet.co.uk diffey@gmchester.fsnet.co.uk

HOST can also be visited at: www.hostuk.org