Indiana University held Family Day over the weekend of September 22nd and 23rd. Students happily walked around campus enjoying the time with the people they love. However, it brought pangs of longing for some international students who live far away from their families. International students had to push off the loneliness by themselves.

However, in Bloomington, there is a way to find a family. The organization is called  Bloomington Worldwide Friendship. BWF matches international students with Bloomington resident to become a surrogate family. They don’t live together, but they do activities, share meals, and celebrate holidays together.

Andrzej Turkowski, a visiting scholar from Poland, and Kate Kroll, a BWF host, never met before, but thanks to BWF they are now a home-away-from-home family.

Kate Kroll has hosted international students for 45 years and says that it has been rewarding the whole time.  “I’ve enjoyed every minute of it, because it gives me an opportunity to meet people from around the world who become students here at IU, and find out something from their culture, and hopefully they learn something from ours,” Kate said.

Andrzej Turkowski says that BWF helps him go outside of campus and meet people. Andrzej said, ” I find it very valuable to have opportunities to get outside in terms of meeting people outside the university.”

To increase the awareness of the group, BWF holds regular lunch events, where an international students introduce their cultures to Bloomington groups which might become potential host families.

Juhi Deshkar, a Masters student from India and the speaker at the September 21st lunch event, says that BWF helped her find her home in Bloomington. Juhi said, “She invites me for lunch I take her for lunch sometimes, we go to the farmers market. So its like I am trying to find my little home in here.”

MaryAlice Cox, the coordinator of the September 21st lunch event and BWF host, says that she enjoys the idea of creating an individual level of international relations. MaryAlice Cox said, “I just feel like, in a world like it is now it is nice to have, on an individual level, international relationships as good as can be.”

Cynthia York, the President of BWF, says that BWF can close the culture gap between international students and Americans. Cynthia said “I think it gives cultures that may not not have a good understanding between each other, I think that BWF can help bridge that gap.”

The relationship officially lasts till the international returns to their home country, but many stay in touch afterword.

For more information or to apply for or as a host family, please visit the Bloomington Worldwide Friendship website.