HISTORY of AFS

The proud history of AFS (formerly the American Field Service) dates back more than 90 years, to 1914 in Paris when the American Ambulance was founded in conjunction with the American Hospital at Neuilly to assist in evacuating the wounded from the battlefront during World War I. Then, in World War II, volunteer ambulance drivers again rescued the battlefield wounded in Europe, Syria, North Africa, India and Burma and also helped to liberate concentration camp survivors at Bergen-Belsen. After experiencing the devastation of two world wars, these young ambulance drivers, not much older than our AFS students today, met to discuss what they could do to help stop the devastation of war from happening again. They believed, as we believe today, that if people know and understand each other, it makes it a lot harder to fight one another. They formed the American Field Service (AFS), dedicated to promoting peace through student intercultural exchanges.

In 1947, AFS awarded 52 scholarships to students in 10 countries. Today, AFS exchanges more than 11,500 students world wide, offers 128 programs in 44 countries, and has one of the largest volunteer based networks in the world.