Sari’s graduation at Magoffin County High School
In 1999, Sari Ollikainen graduated from Magoffin County High School as a foreign exchange student from Tuulsula, Finland, near Helsinki, and this past week she brought her family to her “American home,” having stayed close to her host family for the past 25 years.
Faye Ealey didn’t set out to host a foreign exchange student, but she will tell you, “The Lord worked it out.”
At a chance meeting at a church in Johnson County, Faye ran into a woman over the local exchange student program who had the Finnish high school senior with her, asking Ealey if she knew a family who would be a good fit for Sari. While she had a good host family from the beginning, in her short amount of time she had to be a foreign exchange student, she wanted to see more and have more experiences. And that night, Faye fell in love with her.
Faye’s husband, Phil, also met Sari and the three quickly became family.
“We took her to 20 states, she rode horses in the Rocky Mountains,” Faye remembers. “Phil and I always say Sari changed our lives and totally opened the world up to us.”
This recent visit to America was Sari’s fifth trip back to the states since her time as an exchange student, bringing her parents over with her on one of those trips, and the Ealeys flying over to Finland to spend two weeks with Sari and her parents there. Faye and Sari have gone on cruises and other vacations together.
“I consider this my second home,” Sari told the Independent. “Faye and Phil are my kids’ American grandparents. I’ve been all over this world and this is the best place.”
While she’s been back to Magoffin many times, this trip was her children’s first trip to Eastern Kentucky, with Sari bringing her husband and three children to see her second home and some of her favorite people.
Sari’s son fishing with Phil
“My son loves fishing with Phil,” Sari said, noting that he won the award for longest distance traveled to the Casting For Kids fishing tournament at Paintsville Lake.
“We’ve just been going around seeing people and going through my memories here,” Sari said. “We’re already planning our next trip.”
While she was here, Jeff and Keisha Bailey threw her a surprise party with some of her high school friends. Julie, another foreign exchange student the Ealeys hosted, and husband John, along with their three children, had them all up to their home in Pikeville for a great meal and fun day with them.
To get here, Sari’s family took a 2 ½-hour flight to Amsterdam, then flew into Chicago, picking up a car and driving to Magoffin from there, with her son and two daughters, ranging in age from 5 to 11 years old, but Sari said the trip still went smoothly.
“It actually went quite smooth,” Sari laughed. “They show cartoons on the plane, and we brought games and drawing books, so it really was no problem.”
Sari said she remembers this area for the time she has been able to spend with her favorite people.
Phil, Sari and Faye in Michigan 24 years ago
“In high school, I remember history class, and of course our senior trip and the prom since we don’t have those in Finland. I traveled a lot with Faye and Phil, taking me out west, then down to Florida and a lot of different states. Phil and I rode horses in the Rocky Mountains and Phil bought a horse for me to ride here. I learned to waterski.”
While the sights and experiences have been memorable, the people, particularly Faye and Phil, are what bring her back here time and time, again.
At church
“They are the biggest-hearted people in the whole world,” Sari said. “They treated me like their own daughter. I got to see things and experience things and I just love them. They’re special people and that’s why we’ve kept in touch all these years. When I talk to other people who were also exchange students, they’re always so surprised we’ve stayed in touch. It’s very rare.”
Faye credits it all to God, even saying Sari led Phil to be saved and baptized.
“Phil and I always wanted to have kids, but I guess the Lord didn’t give us kids because he was bringing me a daughter from Helsinki, Finland,” Faye said.
Yuliya (Julie) and John Blackburn
Keeping Sari also led her to hosting a Russian exchange student, Yuliya (Julie) Tumanova Blackburn, Faye and Phil’s other daughter, who is now a U.S. citizen and lives in
Pikeville. Julie has been living in the states since she was 16. Yuliya’s (Julie’s) three children call Faye and Phil “mamaw” and “papaw” and Sari’s call them “mummola,” Finnish for “grandparents.”
“I would advise anyone, especially people with children, to host an exchange student, but it always depends on the student, of course. Sari and Julie have been God’s greatest blessing to us.”
Editor’s Note:
James David Arnett
In 1999, I was in James David Arnett’s sixth-grade class at Oil Springs Elementary. One day he came in and told us we’re going to have a guest speaker, a foreign exchange student from Finland. She told us about her culture. We went across the hall to the one computer in the school that was hooked up to the internet and looked up radio stations in her hometown to hear the music there. We talked about the foreign exchange student program and her experiences getting to come to another country. It sounded amazing and absolutely impossible to this truck driver’s kid, but she encouraged us to look into the programs.
When I received the message to look into doing a story on the exchange student from the ‘90s who was visiting her host family, it blipped my radar. I saw her picture and knew it had to be the same girl. Then, when I called Faye and Sari, I just had to ask if she had ever spoken at Oil Springs. They couldn’t remember going to that school, but then I mentioned Mr. Arnett and Faye lit up.
Come to find out, he was a childhood friend of Faye’s, and she says James David and his wife, Tamra, were more like family to her.
Stefan Hamm, Faye and Sari when they visited with Stefan in Germany 14 years ago.
About 14 years ago, Faye and Tamra went to Europe and visited with Sari and Stefan Humm at his home in Germany. Stefan also graduated with Sari from Magoffin County High School when he was an exchange student here. Stefan named his first son Phillip, after Faye’s husband.
Mr. Arnett was one of those rare teachers who really shape your life. I can look back at that time 25 years ago and know because that year happened, I am who I am now. While I can barely remember last week, so much about that year is etched into my brain, including that guest speaker (whom I now know was Sari).
Faye says the Lord made it all align for this story to come across my desk, and I can’t really argue with that. Thanks for bringing back memories of a much simpler time, sitting in Mr. Arnett’s class, talking about life while he snacked on peanut butter and crackers.
Another little fun fact, James David Arnett’s nephew, Chris Meadows, is now the superintendent of Magoffin County Schools.
We’re all more connected than we’ll ever know, but it’s nice to have an actual reminder of it sometimes.
Safe travels back to Finland to Sari and her sweet family.
