Exchange students are eager to share their culture and language, but they don’t expect to do so in a hospice center. Yet for Benedetta Pasquinuzzi and Allana Greaff, that’s exactly what happened.
Benedetta from Italy and Allana from Brazil, are spending their exchange year in Michigan. Their host mother, Ashley Gutowski, is a hospice staff member, and when her coworkers learned that the girls speak Italian and Portuguese, they invited them to bring hope to a special patient.
The patient, an American man whose parents and grandparents were from Italy, grew up speaking Italian. And through his business travels, he visited Brazil and learned some Portuguese as well.
Host mom Ashley says, “I spoke with his wife, and she was sharing that he was really missing hearing the Italian language, and when I mentioned that I was hosting an Italian student, we worked out a time with the rest of the hospice staff for us to come in and speak to him.”
Bennedetta says she was a little nervous to speak with someone in such a unique circumstance, but it was totally worth it.
“I knew that he couldn’t talk very long, but when I started talking in Italian, and I saw him start smiling, I was like…. Wow! I was really happy to help him that much just by talking in my native language. The staff said he hadn’t spoken for a long time and was not interacting with people, but when I started talking, he was interacting with me and talking and it made him and me really happy”.
The staff was delighted. The patient hadn't spoken to anyone in weeks, but he lit up when he heard Italian from Bennedetta and Portuguese from Allana. His wife and the nursing staff were in tears as they saw his smile and heard him talking once again.
The girls spent nearly an hour there, sharing stories of both Italy and Brazil in their own languages. They talked about their home cities and countries, and everything they said brought a smile back to the man’s face. The hospice staff said it was the most interactive he had been in months.
When asked what they would tell students considering going on exchange, both girls had a similar encouragement.
Bennedetta says, “I would say to do all the experience that it is possible for you to do. It may be scary, or you may be a little nervous to do it… but sometimes it can end up being something that can help someone… a lot.”
Allana agrees, “Try everything you can. Do every experience that you can because if you don’t, you will regret it later. You can impact someone’s life just by speaking your language. It’s crazy. But it’s a good crazy.”
We would echo this advice to those thinking about opening their home to an exchange student.
If you ever wonder if cultural exchange can really make an impact for good in the lives of others, let this story serve as an emotional reminder that it absolutely can! And sometimes all it takes, is starting a simple conversation.