NORWAY – Rie Nishida was excited to arrive at the Portland airport after a long flight from her home in Osaka, Japan. The 16-year-old was looking forward to spending a year as an exchange student at Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School.
Her excitement turned to panic though, when she realized that her plane had landed in Portland, Ore., more than 2,500 miles from her destination, and she didn’t have enough English to explain the problem to a ticket agent.
Meanwhile, at the Portland International Jetport in Maine, Jane Munn and her family were beginning to wonder why their exchange student hadn’t arrived yet. They had just decided that the problem couldn’t be as simple as a delayed flight when their cell phone rang.
Fortunately, someone had thought to enter the Munns’ phone number into the memory of Nishida’s cell phone.
A Rotary Club member picking up another exchange student in Portland, Ore., had noticed the Rotary blazer Nishida was wearing and the worried look on her face. She called the Munns on Nishida’s phone, demanding to know why they hadn’t arrived at the airport to pick up their exchange student.
Missed flight to Nairobi
The two host families soon realized that they were on opposite sides of the country. Seeing that Nishida was too tired and upset to get on another flight, the Rotarian in Oregon took her home for the night and made sure she got on a flight bound for Maine the next morning. Nishida arrived in safely Maine on Aug. 16, one day behind schedule.
“It’s actually quite refreshing to know there are good people who will safeguard children like that,” Munn said, “It’s amazing how people do that when they travel.”
It was not Munn’s first experience with strangers saving the day for a teen traveling alone. On July 18, her 16-year-old son, Elliott Munn, left for a year as an exchange student in a village in Kenya. His flight was delayed due to mechanical problems, causing him to miss his connecting flight to Nairobi.
The teenage boy was stranded for a night in Amsterdam. His parents’ fears were put to rest, though, when the airline put him up in a four-star hotel and paid for his meals. He then caught a connecting flight the next day, unscathed by his night alone in the city.
Happy for conveniences
Elliott will spend his junior year of high school in Homa Bay Village, Kenya. Although the village itself is poor, he feels very lucky to be in a home with electricity, a toilet and cold running water. He is chronicling his adventures at www.livejournal.com/users/ejmunn.
Nishida has recovered from her upsetting introduction to Maine and is busy exploring before school starts. She has visited Old Orchard Beach and the Maine Wildlife Park in Gray. The Munns have even arranged for her to go kayaking on the Saco River.
How does she like Maine?
“It’s very cold,” said Nishida, who already is sleeping with an electric blanket and a comforter. Osaka, Nishida’s hometown, is at about the same latitude as Los Angeles, and rarely gets any snow.
Even with the cold and the travel mishaps, Jane Munn is excited for her son and for her visiting exchange student. “I wish more kids could do this,” she said. “We just have to be willing to let them go.”
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