Making Sonoma a second home

For Basant Baskharon and Rizna Said, home is only a few weeks away. Their time in America is fast closing, running and trickling to an end. School is over. Summer is here. They and their memories will be home before they know it. For Basant, home is Egypt. For Rizna, it’s Indonesia. In their suitcases, they will pack worn shoes and worn clothes. They will pack souvenirs and smells. They will bring back with them, a little bit of Sonoma, a little bit of California and a little bit of America.
They have been here almost a year, both exchange students with “YES” Youth Exchange Study students on full scholarship from the U.S. Department of State, Education Department. This program was started after September 11 to foster better understanding between predominately Muslim countries and the U.S. Basant says that in this year, she has matured. She has grown from laughing girl in Cairo to more serious girl in America. Rizna on the other hand says she has become more humorous. “I have become more relaxed,” she says. “I used to be an over-achiever, but now I take things easy.” Both have learned a new language, melted and morphed into a second family and discovered that they have two homes now: the second in Sonoma.
The differences between home here in Sonoma and home in Egypt and Indonesia are many – they run a long list. In both Indonesia and Egypt, religion is more prevalent and important. In Indonesia, a country with five official religions, church and state cannot be separated. “Each religion has a representative in the government,” says Rizna. For Basant, her church is where she goes to worship as well as to socialize. The relationship between parents and children is more friendly in America. Instead of hugging and kissing, in Indonesia, a child kisses her parents hands, changes her tone of voice to show respect. Basant hopes to maintain the friendly relationship with her parents when she gets home. Rizna’s family broke tradition by letting her come to America because in Indonesia, a girl doesn’t leave home until she is married. Education too is approached differently in both Egypt and Indonesia. Rizna took 17 subjects in school, all chosen for her by the government. She says it was hard coming to Sonoma High and having to choose only six subjects, but she likes the ability to choose; who doesn’t? In Egypt, the teachers rotate classrooms instead of the students.
Disneyland is one of the highlights of their stay for both Basant and Rizna. Their eyes light up as they talk about it. “It has always been a dream for me,” says Basant. “Since I was a little girl, I wanted to go to Disneyland.” Rizna says, “Disneyland is the happiest place on Earth. The slogan is true.” Among other favorite memories is snow – they don’t get much in either Indonesia or Egypt – as well as Yosemite. Basant liked volunteering at Pets Lifeline, and Rizna says she will always remember the birth she saw up close when she volunteered at Sonoma Valley Hospital.
I ask her what advice she would give to anyone anywhere and Basant pauses. I wait, quiet, as she collects her thoughts, tries to sum up an entire year of new places and people and possibilities. “I now realize,” she says, “that you can’t only think of your own life and country. You are not the only one on the earth and you can’t be selfish. You have to do something good.”
Basant and Rizna will return at the end of June to their countries; with them they will stow another language, another culture, another side of their personalities unearthed. In the fall they will begin school again, Rizna might go to college, she might stay one more year in high school. But here in Sonoma, three new exchange students will arrive, fresh and open-faced: a boy from Brazil, a girl from Hong Kong and boy from China.
For information about hosting a student, contact Jean McQuady at jeanmcquady@aol.com.