Earlham Echo

April 2, 2024

Two exchange students, Mohinur Abdurakhamova from Uzbekistan and Janiya Sain from Kazakhstan, are living in Earlham for the 2023-24 school year. Mohinur is staying with the Tom and Laura Anderson family and Janiya is staying with the Russell and Eliza Dobbins family.

The pair are here as a part of the Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX) program. FLEX began in 1994 with the idea to ensure long-lasting peace and mutual understanding between the U.S. and the countries of Eurasia by enabling young people to learn about the U.S. and Americans firsthand, and to teach Americans about their countries.

FLEX is a highly competitive, merit-based scholarship program funded by the U.S. Department of State that operates in Armenia, Azerbaijan, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. Over 35,000 students compete annually in multiple rounds of testing to earn a FLEX scholarship, which provides for them to spend an academic year in the United States living with a volunteer host family and attending a U.S. high school.

Mohinur was born in the ancient city of Bukhara, but moved when she was 4 to Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, which has a population of just under 3 million. Janiya is from Kyzylorda, a city in the south-central region of the country with a population of 272,000. Moving to Earlham was certainly a big change for them.

“When I came here it was my first time living in the country,” said Mohinur. “It’s actually pretty good. I love it because it’s pretty quiet here. So my host sisters were like, ‘You have to move to the country because it’s better than the city!’ The thing I don’t like about living in the country is that everything is far away. You have to drive everywhere.”

Mohinur also said that being able to see the stars in the sky was one of her favorite things about ‘country life.’

Janiya describes Kyzylorda as a “small city.” So what did she think when she arrived in Earlham?

“It was a culture shock for me because I was not used to it,” she said. “I had been to smaller places sometimes when I visited my mom’s relatives in villages. But it’s real fun (in Earlham). You know each other from kindergarten here. All people know each other and are really good neighbors.”

American culture is present in both Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Both girls mentioned that they have watched and enjoyed many American movies, while Janiya specifically mentioned that she liked the Netflix show Stranger Things.

My sister is fond of American vibes and old movies,” said Janiya. “We watched the movies together, and I was dreaming about American schools because it’s interesting classes and not really strict.”

Movies weren’t the only things shaping the girls’ ideas of what life in the United States was like.

“My dad was here a lot of times,” said Mohinur. “He said that in America there are a lot of kind people and they don’t judge you like some people do in my country.”

 Their lives in America have been full of fun events and surprises. When Mohinur attended her first Cardinal football game last fall, it was not what she was expecting at all.

“I was like, ‘Oh, wait. What’s happening?” she said.” You call it soccer and we call it football. I was watching the game and thinking, ‘Oh, it’s not football.’”

When Mohinur was volunteering at the Sweet Corn Festival in Adel last fall, she tried the delicacy for the first time and was immediately smitten.

“We have corn in my country, but in Iowa, this corn was the best,” she said. “When I tried it, I was like, ‘Oh my goodness. It’s really good! I have to take some corn to my family.”

Mohinur also mentioned that another ‘new food’ that she likes is macaroni and cheese, and also enjoyed going to McDonald’s and Starbucks, which they do not have in Uzbekistan.

Janiya added, “I like that here you eat different countries’ foods. Like spaghetti. Or other stuff.”

She also mentioned that she liked her host mom’s cooking, especially loaded baked potatoes and rice with broccoli and meat.

Most exchange students that we’ve talked to in recent years have said that school in their home countries is more difficult and much less fun, and Mohinur and Janiya also mentioned this. After a short adjustment period, both girls have settled into a nice routine at school.

“At first it was pretty hard because of the language barrier, but then it was better,” said Mohinur. “The teachers are kind and they teach so good. I was also kind of surprised when I saw Mrs. Knight because she was so kind, so sweet. Because our principal is so strict. Super strict. So I thought she was going to be strict, too, but she was so nice. It was a new thing.”

Janiya added, “School is really easy and it’s really interesting. For example, nowadays I’m really interested in United States history. And art classes. In Kazakhstan, when you become a high school student in 9^th grade, we start to prepare for exams that we take in 11^th grade. So we don’t have PE or art classes. Only required classes.”

While classes at Earlham have not been difficult for the girls, the extracurriculars have been more challenging for them.

“I tried volleyball in the fall,” said Janiya. “But after one week, I said, ‘I just I can’t do it! It was so hard!”

This spring, Janiya is a member of the Cardinal track team.

“At first I thought, ‘It’s just running.’ But, no. it’s really hard! But I chose track because I wanted to feel the vibe of sports in America and the vibe of teamwork. It’s going really good.”

Mohinur is also out for track.

“Track was my first sport,” she said. “It was a hard decision to choose it. It’s hard; and stressing. Not really, but kind of. But I still enjoy it. I’ve never ran a lot. It was my first time running every day.”

Like Mohinur’s first football game, she also got a bit of a surprise when she signed up to ‘play piano.’

“At first I thought it was going to be individual, me and teacher,” she said. “But they said, ‘We have band.’ I was scared because I’ve never been in band. I thought, ‘I can’t do band. What if I make a mistake or something?’ And they were like, ‘It will be fine.’ And I enjoy it now. I’m so glad I chose band.”

Janiya hopes to attend university in Kazakhstan, but isn’t ruling out studying in Korea, Germany, or Italy. Mohinur is considering taking her parents advice and studying in the U.S., and is leaning toward applying to the University of Iowa.

More about Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan

Kazakhstan is the largest country in Central Asia and the 9th largest in the world. Between its most distant points, Kazakhstan measures about 1,820 miles east to west and 960 miles north to south. It is bordered by Russia to the north, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and China to the south, and the Caspian Sea to the west.  The population is a little over 19 million. The capital, Nursultan, and Almaty are the two largest cities with 1.9 million inhabitants. Kazakhstan became a Soviet Republic in 1925 and achieved independence in 1991.

Uzbekistan is landlocked, lying mainly between two major rivers and bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest and north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east and southeast, Afghanistan to the south, and Turkmenistan to the southwest. The population is over 37 million. Tashkent is the capital and largest city, with 2.5 million inhabitants. The Soviet government established the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic as a constituent (union) republic of the U.S.S.R. in 1924. Uzbekistan declared its independence from the Soviet Union on August 31, 1991.

(Sources: CIA World Factbook and Encyclopedia Britannica.)