Maine news, sports, weather | Kennebec Journal, Augusta, Maine

Exchange student's starvationclaims become bitter dispute

BY KEVIN WACK Blethen Maine Newspapers

BY KEVIN WACK

Blethen Maine Newspapers

The dispute between a foreign-exchange program and the family of a Maine high-school student who says he was starved by his host family during his time in Egypt has grown increasingly bitter since it made headlines around the world last month.

Both sides in recent weeks have tried to bolster their own arguments and to raise questions about the other side's story. The new information is not conclusive, but it sheds light on some of the questions that were raised by earlier reports.

At the crux of the quarrel is why Jonathan McCullum, who stands 5 feet, 9 inches tall, dropped to 100 pounds during his stay in Alexandria, Egypt.

McCullum's family alleges his host family barely fed him during more than four months in Egypt. McCullum, 17, of Hallowell, lived with a family of Coptic Christians who spend much of the year fasting, which means they subsist on a diet free of meat and fish. The McCullum family alleges that AFS Intercultural Programs, which placed Jonathan with the family, failed to respond appropriately to the boy's deteriorating condition.

AFS denies it did anything wrong. The nonprofit organization -- one of the nation's oldest exchange-student programs -- has responded to the family's allegations by hiring a Boston public relations firm. The firm released photographs that show Jonathan McCullum eating and cooking during his time abroad, and made public e-mails that were sent by McCullum in which he says he misses his host family's cooking. McCullum arrived in Egypt last August, planning to spend his junior year of high school abroad, but cut short the trip earlier this year after his parents became alarmed about his weight loss. He flew home on Jan. 9. By that time his weight had gone from 153 pounds on June 21, 2007, to around 100 pounds.

The dispute with AFS became public last month, when the McCullum family gave interviews to two national media outlets. They blamed AFS for what happened to their son and said they were considering filing a lawsuit.

McCullum himself has blamed his weight loss on stinginess by his host family, and not just its religious customs. He told The Associated Press that he was never served breakfast, and that for lunch he was given a small piece of bread with cheese and cucumbers. For dinner he ate beans, vegetables and sometimes fish, plus a snack of bread later in the evening, he said.

McCullum also said that his host family stopped serving him meat once the fast began. He said the Egyptian family felt they were spending too much money to support him.

In an interview with the AP, Shaker Hanna, the host father, denied the teenager's claim that he was underfed, saying the family prepared him special meals during the fasting period. He also said that the American visitor was constantly exercising.

"The truth is, the boy we hosted for nearly six months was eating for an hour and a half at every meal," Hanna said. "The amount of food he ate at each meal was equal to six people."

Shortly after McCullum returned to Maine, he exchanged e-mails with his Egyptian host family, expressing goodwill and saying that he missed their cooking. The e-mails were released by O'Neill and Associates, the public-relations firm hired by AFS.

"I miss the Egyptian food too much and I want to go back and take some with me," reads one of McCullum's e-mails, sent two days after he returned to the United States. "I was hoping you could send some recipes soon so I can start cooking."

"I miss you ALL too much and I want to go back to Egypt," McCullum wrote the following day. "I can't wait to make the beans! I was also wondering if you knew how to make Baba Ghanoush?"

Neither McCullum nor his parents, Elizabeth and David, agreed to be interviewed for this story. Elizabeth McCullum referred questions to Bob Stolt, the family's Augusta lawyer, who said the e-mail correspondence released by AFS was initiated by the Egyptian host family, and that the host family stopped responding when the teenager alleged that they mistreated him.

Stolt released e-mails from the McCullum family that show they became concerned about their son after seeing pictures of their gaunt son on the online networking site Facebook, and after exchanging e-mails with one of his teachers.

In a Jan. 4 e-mail to Elizabeth McCullum, the teacher wrote: "Believe me he is in bad shape. If you remember the anorexic twins that were on TV a while back, well, he looks like one of them."

The following day, an Egyptian doctor concluded that McCullum was "in very good condition and there is no need for alarm," according to an e-mail released by the McCullum family's lawyer.

Two days after the doctor's assessment, the national director of AFS Egypt, Sherifa Fayez, concluded that "the case is being followed well by our support coordinator and volunteers in Alexandria with attention to detail" and that officials wished McCullum would stay in Egypt "but he seems to have his mind made up unfortunately."

When McCullum did return to Maine, he ended up being hospitalized for nearly two weeks. He now weighs around 120 pounds, having so far been unable to regain much of the weight he lost, according to his family's lawyer.

Stolt provided a letter written by David Bellows, a Brunswick psychologist who evaluated the boy and concluded that he was not suffering from an eating disorder.

"Jonathan displays none of the fear of gaining weight that is characteristic of anorexics," the letter says. "In fact he is presently intent on gaining weight to return to his normal weight."

The family's lawyer said he believes that the boy might have been suffering from so-called Stockholm syndrome, in which a victim comes to identify with his captor.

But Andy Paven, a senior vice president at O'Neill and Associates, the public-relations firm hired by AFS, said that McCullum was not a captive. In fact, he said, the boy moved about the city freely.

"He was out and about," Paven said. "He was using the 'hot spot' at the local Starbucks."

Paven said AFS is dedicated to kids and has therefore been unwilling so far to fight back against the boy's allegation as forcefully as it should. He released a statement from Margaret Crotty, president of AFS-USA, which reads: "We have conducted an internal investigation and have become aware of significant evidence that directly refutes the claims that were made public over the last weeks. We have chosen, however, not to discuss this situation further in public out of concern for Jonathan's well-being."

The two sides don't even agree on how much weight the teenager lost during his time in Egypt.

McCullum weighed 153 pounds at a pre-trip medical examination conducted on June 21, 2007.

Paven, who is representing AFS, noted that several weeks passed between McCullum's medical examination and his arrival in Egypt, and argued that the teenager lost some weight before he left the U.S.

Stolt, the McCullum family's lawyer, countered that the boy's weight loss occurred most precipitously during a 55-day fasting period that began in mid-November.

Paven questioned why McCullum would not have simply bought food elsewhere if he was not getting enough to eat at home. A typical Egyptian meal can be purchased in Alexandria for less than 50 cents, he said.

But Stolt said that the teenager became very protective of his money after spending a lot of cash early in the trip and being told by his father in Maine that what money he had left would have to last until March. Stolt also alleged the host family confiscated food that was found in the house during the fasting period, since it posed a temptation.

Apart from the question of what caused the teen's weight loss, the McCullum family is alleging that AFS did not respond appropriately to their son's health crisis.

In a March 2 statement, AFS defended the way it handled McCullum's time in Egypt.

"AFS conducts monthly contacts with participants through local volunteer liaisons and through AFS staff members," the organization said in a statement. "These visits and contacts clearly took place; we have no evidence that Jonathan ever indicated he was not provided with an adequate amount of food."

But the McCullums' lawyer, who said that a lawsuit is still a possibility, disputed that claim.

"AFS provided him with no one to assist him, no one to look in on him, and AFS lied to the parents when they called and questioned his condition," Stolt said.

It is unclear how often American families have serious complaints against AFS and other foreign-exchange programs. The State Department tracks complaints involving foreign students brought to the United States, but not those involving U.S. students who go overseas.

AFS was founded in 1919 and formerly known as American Field Service. Each year, more than 11,000 students, young adults and teachers participate in its programs, according to the AFS Web site.

"AFS has a good reputation. They've been doing it for a long time," said John Hishmeh, executive director of the Council on Standards for International Educational Travel, an industry group of which AFS is a member.

Danielle Grijalva, director of an advocacy group called the Committee for Safety of Foreign Exchange Students, said that international cultural exchange is a good idea, but the industry is not providing adequate oversight, and AFS is no exception.

"I think sloppiness and greed has somewhat taken over," she said.