‘Let the American Fix It’

Written by Francis Pressly, Iredell 4-H Club member, and printed in the August 1952 issue of Extension Farm-News. Pressly was 1951 International Farm Youth Exchange delegate to Italy.

It was a hot day on the big farm in northern Italy’s Po Valley; perfect for bailing hay, until the hay baler broke down. Then one of the Italian workers said, “Let the American fix it.”

That American happened to be me, an International Farm Youth Exchange (IFYE) delegate from a dairy farm in Piedmont Carolina. Doing as I had been told (“act just as you would at home”), I dug the instruction book out of the tool box and proceeded to locate the trouble.

Soon we had the machine going down the field punching out bales of alfalfa hay. Without firing a shot, a battle against Communism was won, as all the workers around me were Communist.

Not just in Italy, but in 43 different countries, including Turkey, Lebanon, Brazil, New Zealand, and just about all of Europe, 58 farm boys and girls spent six months last year living in the homes of farmers there, working beside them in the fields, singing, laughing, sharing the black bread and borscht and wine, stopping for lunch in the fields, trying to outdo each other wish scythe and flail, chickling together over strange unpronounceable words.

Farm youth from overseas were in the United States, too, and another group has just returned from Latin America, the South Pacific, and India. All of these were participating in the remarkable program conducted by the National 4-H Club Foundation.

The IFYE program is four years old, is paid for without a cent of tax money, mostly by the folks back home. And this is where hundreds of thousands of 4-H’ers who can’t go to foreign countries participate in the program. In some states, they donate a penny for each year of their age to “Pennies for Peace.”

Each state that sends a delegate raises up to $700 of the costs of a two-way exchange—that is, sending a boy or girl overseas and getting a foreign delegate in return. Most of this money is raised through Extension’s 4-H, Young Men and Women’s Clubs, and other rural organizations.

IFYE’s must be 20 to 28 years old, be from farm homes, and “have a missionary zeal for understanding others.” Most delegates are in college, but, after returning from foreign farms, all will take several months off to deliver lectures before returning to school.

One IFYE had 125 talks scheduled for her when she stepped off the boat. The first 90 IFYE’s have given more than 7,000 talks to 700,000 persons, made 823 radio broadcasts, and were featured in 1,6390 newspaper and magazine articles.

This, you see, is a two-way deal. Not only do folks in other countries learn about us, but, just as important, we learn about them.

The IFYE’s unofficial status in foreign countries gave us special opportunities. When I was living with my first farmer host in the Po Valley, I arranged with ECA in Rome to show some American farm movies at my new home. “That night about 400 persons packed into the rice-warehouse along with officials from ECA, American Embassy friends, and the owner of the farm. It provided a wonderful opportunity for people of widely different backgrounds to become acquainted.

We IFYE’s went over to make friends, first of all, not to teach farming methods. There was no coaching of what we should say. Our instructions were “Just tell the truth.”

If only there were enough IFYE’s to reach everyone, I’m sure we could help put the world straight again. Because, after all, it is with the common people that understanding and peace must begin. The words, 4-H, open so many local doors; I hope that someday IFYE will be well enough known to open international doors.