Mideast Teens Get Insider's View of America

State Department Program Is Part of Effort to Improve Relations in Volatile Region

Fatemah al-Qabandi, left, Dalal al-Najadi, and Fajer al-Farhan, all from Kuwait, act like American teenagers on holiday in Washington as they photograph themselves. They're wrapping up a 10-month exchange program. (By Gerald Martineau -- The Washington Post)

Sixteen-year-old Ali Assiri's Mohawk haircut doesn't look strange in Las Vegas, where until last week he played guitar in a punk band called The Latest End.

But it's going to look bizarre in Kuwait, where he's about to return after almost a year away.

"They're going to see me as a weird person, but I don't care," he said. "It's, like, my thing."

If that sounds like classic American teenager, it may be because Ali is one of about 650 Middle Eastern high school students who this month are wrapping up a 10-month exchange program in the United States sponsored by the State Department.

Coming from 25 countries, plus the West Bank and Gaza, students in the Youth Exchange and Study Program (YES) stayed in homes across the country, attending local schools and immersing themselves in American life.

The program aims to improve U.S. relations with a volatile part of the world, and the exchange students play the role of young ambassadors. For those from such places as Iraq, Lebanon or Gaza, the American towns they are leaving may contrast starkly with the homelands to which they will soon return.

But few seemed worried about that this week. On Tuesday, about 250 of them toured the Capitol, walking through underground tunnels, passing senators, representatives and aides in dark suits.

"They all look the same!" said 16-year-old Leila Kabalan of Lebanon, wearing big white Jackie-O glasses and fashionable pegged jeans.

"It's kind of a dress code," said Dana Aljawamis, 15, of Jordan.

Many students are going home a little taller and a little heavier, and all are returning with an insider view of U.S. society.

They learned that Americans come from multicultural backgrounds and hold diverse political opinions, that they don't all hate Muslims and they don't all live in mansions.

They learned to be more responsible. More confident, able to handle money, do laundry. More ready live on their own.