Exchange student leaves her mark in Clark County

La Center High School sophomore Madina Rakhimzhanova, who hails from Kazakhstan, has experienced a lot in the last eight months.

Last August, Rakhimzhanova arrived in La Center to spend 10 months with her host family, the Haverlacks. In that time she’s been able to experience holiday celebrations, the differences in education and engage in volunteer work.

Kazahkstan, long a part of the Soviet Union until it declared independence in 1991, is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south east. As a tribute to their nomadic culture, yurts are still used during the Nauryz holiday which, according to internet research, has been celebrated as far back as the first millennium B.C.

“It’s in spring when the night and day become the same length. Everything in nature wakes up,”  Rakhimzhanova explained. “We have a lot of competitions like riding horses. On that day we put our traditions back. We put seven things on the table (seven being a symbolic number in Kazakh culture) and every one of your neighbors and friends come and we just have a meal together. We usually have it on a round table so we can see each other.”

Rakhimzhanova was able to celebrate all the winter holidays with her host family.

“The best thing about Christmas was in the morning,’’ Rakhimzhanova said. “I was sleeping as usual and my house sister grabbed my had. She was so excited about the presents. And at Christmas I felt like I was 5. It was so magical. We were sitting in front of the Christmas tree. I just loved it so much.”

The Great Patriotic War is commemorated on the Day of Victory in Kazakhstan. This term is generally used within the former Soviet Union as the U.S. uses WWII, but their war was more concentrated against Germany and its European allies.    

“We have culture and fireworks for that day. We are thankful for the people who fought for our freedom and our justice,” Rakhimzhanova said.

Rakhimzhanova celebrated her 16th birthday with her host family, Jeff and Lisa Haverlack and their 15-year old daughter MacKenzie. It was very different from life at home, where she attends a boarding school in the city of Petropavlovsk, 15 hours away from her family in Makinsk. She visits her parents, Talghat and Zhibek, her 19-year old sister, Kanifa and 8-year old brother, Azat, on the holidays.

With all its rules, boarding school was Rakhimzhanova’s idea. She says she bores easily and boarding school challenges her with greater knowledge and an opportunity to do something new in a new place, similar to how she ended up in La Center.

Although English is taught in Kazakhstan schools, she found the library had an English program led by Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX) alumni that was interesting to her. She continued to improve her English at the library with the FLEX group, who shared what a great opportunity their stays in America were and she decided that would be her next adventure.

While there are classes she misses from her home, Rakhimzhanova would like to see Kazakh schools adopt some American ideas. Back home there is a strong emphasis on math, biology, chemistry, computer sciences and physics. Math is one of her favorite subjects and something she does on her own when she wants to feel better. Rakhimzhanova’s experience in history class has been that American schools focus more on trying to learn what happened through an event whereas schools back home focus more on memorization of dates and leaders. As a result of the value placed on languages, Rakhimzhanova speaks Kazakh, English, Russian and Turkish. At La Center High School, she’s enrolled in German and it is one of her favorite classes.

She points out that she especially enjoys drama class because schools in Kazakhstan don’t have drama, nor do they focus as heavily on sports. She was playing basketball in the winter and is now participating in track.

“I never thought I’d like sports, but I tried something new and now I really love it,” Rakhimzhanova said.

Her volunteer experiences have ranged from the Vancouver Library to working with cats at the Humane Society for Southwest Washington to picking up litter and cutting ivy for Clark County Parks and Recreation. Her favorite activity has been being a part of the Stream Team.

“I never planted trees or worked in the parks and all this is so new for me,’’ Rakhimzhanova said. “I never thought I would like planting trees. It was cold in the morning but I really liked it ... I want to leave a part of me everywhere I go, so I left a part of me here (by planting a tree) and want to do that everywhere I travel in the world.”

Through organizations like FLEX and ASSE International Student Exchange Programs, young men and women have the opportunity to travel to the United States and live among a host family, making lifelong memories. Through ASSE, those same opportunities are afforded to students in America. These programs help to increase understanding and foster tolerance between cultures.

For more information about FLEX, go to www.afsusa.org. For more information about ASSE, go to http://asse.com.