“I hope that while I’m here, I can be a better person and gain as much experience as I can about being an American,” Eja Hamid said. “Hopefully, I can take some of my experience here and bring it back to my community in Indonesia.”

In early August, Hamid traveled over 9,000 miles away from his home in Pontianak, West Borneo, Indonesia, a city of just over 250,000 people,  to his new home in Chicago. Hamid did so as part of The American Field Service (AFS), an international non-profit organization that “provides international and intercultural learning experiences to individuals, families, schools, and communities through a global volunteer partnership.”

Currently, Hamid is living with Max Lazarre ‘24, Alex Lazarre ‘25, Erik Lazarre ‘25, Mom, Jennifer Ames and Dad, Paul Lazarre.  The Lazarre family has hosted multiple au pairs as well as a past Parker AFS student. “We enjoy sharing with and learning about people from other cultures,” Ames said.  “In addition to learning about other costumes and traditions, we like learning about foods from other countries.”   

Hamid joined the Ames family for a weekend in Colorado before the school year began where he got to mountain bike, swim, and white-water raft with them.  “We hope to give Eja a truly American experience while he is here,” Ames said. “He has a very positive attitude and is willing to try everything.

Hamid has never been to Chicago before and was very pleased when he found out he would be living here for the year.  “When I first got an email notifying me that I would be placed in Chicago, Illinois, I was very happy,” Hamid said.  

Hamid lives in a city just miles north of the equator.  Although he has never seen snow before in his life, living as close to the equator as he does, he is able to balance eggs upright.  Among many other reasons, Hamid is happy to be living in Chicago now, as he hopes to see snow before he leaves. “There’s a lot of reason why I joined the AFS program,” Hamid said. “Snow is one of them since my country doesn’t have snows and I’ve never it.”

Among that, Hamid hopes to immerse himself in American Culture as well as meet a lot of new people while he is here.  “I’m looking forward to everything, yes, I mean everything. The food, the weather, the school, the friend, the family, just all,” Hamid said.

The Parker AFS committee a group comprised of three junior girls and one sophomore girl have already planned many events to welcome Eja into the school, including a welcome lunch and a Morning EX.  “We are going to try to do everything in our power to ensure that this year is the best year for Eja,” Alex Carlin, AFS head, said. “We want to make sure he is represented well and learns a lot about Parker and Chicago. 

At home, Hamid is apart of his school’s English club, Debate club, and Science Olympiad team.  Hamid enjoys cooking for his family back home and hopes to share that love with his new family here.  “Cooking is really fun for me,” Hamid said. “One of the main reasons I love to cook is because I can share it with my family.” 

While in the US Hamid hopes to learn a lot of new things about the US and the new culture.  “I hope that I can introduce my culture to a lot of people while I am here,” Hamid said. “I hope that I can broaden my understanding of culture outside of my own and raising my awareness while also learning how to be a global citizen.”