2024-25 Ambassador Application and Agreement for Any Journey

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A Friendship Force Journey offers an opportunity for people from different cultural backgrounds or traditions to share their lives with each other in the spirit of friendship. The success of the experience depends on the extent to which participants are welcoming of one another, willing to build friendships and promote mutual understanding, and able to maintain openness and flexibility in adapting to unforeseen situations.

The following information is needed to help Ambassador Coordinators select Ambassadors who reflect the diversity of their community or region and are sincere global citizens. Detailed information, including accurate health and mobility information, helps Host Coordinators and Ambassador Coordinators match ambassadors with host families and construct a program that provides the most enriching experience for you. You will be required to meet in person or virtually with the Ambassador Coordinator and to provide references and other supporting documentation. You also will be required to attend, in person or virtually, a pre-journey orientation session to learn in advance about the culture you will be visiting.

Each applicant must complete and sign the Application and Agreement.

To which Journey are you applying? *

Please list the Journey number or the full name of the Journey if you don't know the number.

Please enter the email address of the Journey Coordinator if you know it. *

We can send a copy of your application to the coordinator if you supply this information.

Your Name as it Appears on Your Passport *

Name you prefer to be called

Your Email Address *

Passport number

Country of issuance

Passport expiration date

Address *

Please include your City, State, Province and Country

Home Phone *

Cell Phone *

Gender *

Date of birth *

YYYY

Friendship Force Member Number *

Found under "My Profile" once you log in to www.my.friendshipforce.org. If you don't have a member number you will need to create one by signing up for MyFF. If you don't know your number, just type N/K (not known) and we will find it for you.

Occupation *

Hobbies and Special Interests *

If there is a free day in the Journey program and the following options are available, please choose which of these would most interest you: *

visiting a museum or gallery

walking or hiking in a park or around a neighborhood

visiting your host’s extended family

shopping

exploring on your own

other

Required

Have you participated in a home stay (or similar) before? *

Yes

Do you smoke? *

Yes

Do you mind if your host smokes inside the home? *

Yes

Are you comfortable with pets living inside the host’s home? *

Yes

Participation in a Friendship Force home-stay may require a greater level of physical activity than an Ambassador is accustomed to, such as carrying luggage, climbing stairs, riding public transportation, and walking longer distances, among others. Are you capable of these activities? *

Misrepresentation of capabilities could result in being dismissed from the program. We are happy to accommodate people of all abilities but need to know in advance what the limitations are.

Yes

If no, please elaborate, indicating explicitly what types of physical activity you cannot perform (e.g., climbing more than one flight of stairs)

Would you be able to participate in a day program if it required you to walk, in total: *

1 mile

3 miles

5 miles

Required

If the day program is demanding, but there are built-in sitting breaks, are you able to be on your feet – walking up to three miles, standing for up to three hours – in a variety of weather conditions? *

yes

Do you have any particular dietary, health, medical or allergy issues that require special consideration? *

yes

If yes, please specify (e.g., vegetarian, allergy to penicillin, allergy to animals, high blood pressure, sleep apnea). Ambassadors may be required to provide supporting medical documentation to be accepted on the Journey.

Please provide a reference that your Ambassador Coordinator or FFI may contact to verify your ability to participate fully in this journey, preferably the last Ambassador Coordinator you traveled with. The reference should not be a family member.

Reference Name *

Reference Email *

Reference relationship to you *

Who should we contact in case of emergency? *

Emergency contact's email *

Emergency contact relationship to you *

The mission of Friendship Force is to promote global understanding across the barriers that separate people, with hosts and ambassadors acting as “citizen diplomats.” Please briefly explain how you -- in a situation unrelated to Friendship Force -- have taken steps to overcome barriers or to perform citizen diplomacy. This might have happened in your community or in your travels. *

Ambassador Agreement

AMBASSADOR AGREEMENT

Friendship Force International was founded in 1977 with a single mission: to promote global understanding across the barriers that separate people. A nonprofit organization, Friendship Force International is active in more than 50 countries, promoting friendship and goodwill through an extensive program of homestay exchanges. In consideration of his/her/their selection, the person signing this Agreement ("Ambassador") agrees to the following:

1. The Ambassador Fee entitles the Ambassador to participate in a specific Journey and covers only the items specified in the itinerary. The schedule of payment of Ambassador Fees must be observed.

2. The Ambassador recognizes that connected with any travel there are risks of loss, damage, and injury to persons and property, and the Ambassador is willing to assume and bear those risks. The Ambassador also recognizes that he/she/they is/are responsible for failure to comply with any law of any country visited. Therefore, the Ambassador, in consideration of his/her/their selection by Friendship Force International, agrees to and does hereby release, indemnify, and hold harmless Friendship Force International (which shall include the directors, officers, and employees thereof, as well as its volunteer workers) from all claims, actions, and causes of action based upon or by reason of any loss, damage, or injury to the Ambassador's person or property, arising out of or in any manner connected with any aspect of the Journey program or by reason of the Ambassador's failure to comply with any law in any country in which he/she/they may travel in connection with the Journey program. Friendship Force International shall have no liability or obligation to return the Ambassador to his/her/their home community if the Ambassador should miss the return trip due to illness, injury, failure to report to the airport at the prescribed time, or for any other reason.

3. All Friendship Force Ambassadors are required to secure adequate travel and medical insurance to cover emergencies during the program. This requirement can be fulfilled through the Ambassador’s existing insurance policy if it covers international travel, including emergency repatriation, or through a separate travel insurance policy. All travel will be subject to regulations and limitations contained in the ticket(s) issued to the Ambassador.

4. Any request for cancellation of this agreement must be made in writing to the local Journey Coordinator and forwarded to Friendship Force International. IMPORTANT: If an Ambassador cancels more than 60 days before departure, FFI will refund all FFI Ambassador Fees and Host Club Program Fees paid. If an Ambassador cancels 60 days or less prior to the departure, FFI will not refund the ambassador fee paid. If FFI cancels a Journey, all FFI Ambassador Fees and Host Club Program Fees paid will be returned to Ambassadors.
If this agreement is not for a club-to-club Journey, please consult your FFI Regional Support Manager for cancellation and refund policy.

5. Friendship Force International may cancel this agreement if it is unsuccessful in establishing an program which satisfies the goals of Friendship Force International for any reason, including cancellation of or unacceptable changes to the airline arrangements or failure of the local committee to recruit the required number of Ambassadors. In such cases, the Ambassador Fee will be refunded except the $25 portion designated as non-refundable.

6. If Friendship Force International is making travel arrangements for your Journey, any price increase for transportation will be passed on to the Ambassador until the time that the full Ambassador Fee is received by Friendship Force International. After that time, no increase will be passed on to the Ambassador, except in the case of carrier or routing changes beyond the control of Friendship Force International.

7. The Friendship Force Ambassador hereby agrees to follow the provisions stated above and: a) to accept travel arrangements as arranged by Friendship Force International, where applicable b) to participate fully in the homestay, c) to pay the Ambassador Fee when due, d) to accept the decision making authority of the Journey Coordinator during the Journey, and e) to accept that the Journey is a public event and that the photograph and name of the Ambassador may be used by the local and national media and Friendship Force International in its publications.

8. Upon acceptance of the Ambassador into the Journey program, this Agreement shall become effective and binding upon Friendship Force International and the Ambassador, and shall be governed by the laws of the state of Georgia, USA. No representations, or statements, whether oral or written, other than those contained herein, shall be binding on Friendship Force International. In the event the Ambassador fails to abide by any of the terms and conditions of this agreement, Friendship Force International may terminate this Agreement without any penalty or liability to Friendship Force International.

Ambassador Pledge:
My main objective as I join this Journey is for cultural understanding and friendship. My health is good enough to keep up with the group activities planned and I know I will be responsible for carrying my own baggage.

As an ambassador, I am aware that my actions reflect on the club and the country from which I travel. I promise to conduct myself in an exemplary manner. I understand the Journey Coordinators (both Host and Ambassador Coordinators) of this Journey have been given authority by the Friendship Force headquarters to lead and conduct this Journey for the best interests of all parties concerned. The Journey Coordinators have the authority to remove any person from a host home who is not in compliance with the goals of Friendship Force International. In case there is a need to use hotels as auxiliary housing, or a need for a single room on the add-on part of the Journey, I will bear the expense.
I have read the Ambassador Agreement provided with this application and accept its terms.
I hereby agree to secure adequate travel and medical insurance for the duration of the Journey.
I certify that I am 18 years of age or older and have completed this application to the best of my knowledge and believe it is true.

I have read and understand the text above:

- I agree to pay on time

- I understand the cancellation policy

- I agree to conduct myself in an exemplary manner.

- I agree to obtain adequate travel insurance.

Yes

I have questions about the text.

By typing your name below, you indicate that you agree to the terms of this document.

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