oPEninG hEr homE

Caz resident hosts Palestinian, bulgarian exchange students

By kAtE hill Staff Writer

Since mid-October, Cazenovia resident, business owner, and activist Pat Carmeli has been hosting two foreign exchange students, Medhat al-Rubei from Gaza City, Palestine, and Andy Topchiev from Sofia, Bulgaria.

al-Rubei, who turned 16 last May, is a junior at Cazenovia High School (CHS), and Topchiev, who turned 16 in December, is a sophomore.

The students came to Cazenovia through Greenheart Exchange, a nonprofit organization that offers cultural exchange programs in the United States for people all around the world.

Carmeli, who owns the Pewter Spoon Café and Eatery on Albany Street, got involved with Greenheart after her daughter Dana mentioned that she kept seeing appeals for someone to host a foreign exchange student from the Gaza Strip.

Carmeli lived in Israel from 1992 to 2004 and, while there, became an activist for Palestinian human rights. She has continued that work in the US and is a founding member of the Syracuse-based group Justice for Palestine.

“We hold events, sponsor speakers, show films, [and] have discussions with the aim of educating others about the inhumanity of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands,” said Carmeli.

Having never heard of Greenheart or considered being a “host mom” before, Carmeli contacted local Greenheart coordinator Catherine Jeannin, who lives in Erieville.

When Jeannin explained that the organization was looking for a host family with kids, Carmeli figured she was “off the hook.” Several weeks later, however, Jeannin was still in