The Iowa Council for International Understanding is hosting 10 visitors through USAID’s Community Connections program, and we need your help to provide home stays and ensure that our visitors have a great experience in Iowa!

The visitors that are coming are farmers, government officials and veterinarians from Turkmenistan, and they will be in Des Moines July 28th- August 18th to learn about advanced livestock technology. Their program is structured around professional meetings around Ames and Des Moines mostly, but also includes some cultural events, a volunteer activity and a weekend trip to Chicago.

While the professional training component of the program is very important, the thing that sets this program apart is the home stay opportunity. We have 10 visitors, and they stay in home stays for the bulk of their time in Iowa (July 29th- August 17th, except for their trip to Chicago on August 13th and 14th). Home stay hosts can host visitors for the whole duration, or (more commonly) for just a portion of the program. We do ask for a minimum of 3 nights/home stay, to minimize disruption for the visitors. Home stay hosts are responsible for feeding the visitors breakfast and dinner, and for transporting them to/from the Quality Inn and Suites (by Wells Fargo Event Center) each day. Some food stipends are available.

The cornerstone of the Community Connections program is citizen diplomacy—changing the world through person-to-person communication. Home stay hosting creates cross-cultural friendships that last years. This is an excellent opportunity to meet people from an area of the world where it’s rare for most citizens to even meet an American, much less travel to America for three weeks. I hope that the you might be interested in this opportunity, and I am more than willing to answer any questions- Contact Ashlee at ashlee.stoddard@iciu.org
www.iciu.org