John Mhando loves music, dancing, snow and french fries, which is what you would expect of any American teen — but he is from Africa.

Mhando hails from a village in his home, the United Republic of Tanzania, on Africa’s eastern shore. The country has the largest concentration of wild animals in Africa, sandy beaches and the continent’s highest peak, Mt. Kilimanjaro.

Mhando was selected by his school in Tanzania to be one of only two students to participate in the exchange program and Lisa Leach, a former Spanish teacher at Central Kitsap High School (CKHS), said her family picked John to stay with them.

“I heard of a Norwegian foreign exchange student here and I was fascinated because I have Norwegian ancestry and had been researching Norwegian genealogy,” Leach said. “So I wanted to get a Norwegian student, but that didn’t work out. We found John from Tanzania and thought it might work out better.”

Greg Leach, Lisa’s husband and John’s host father, said he was impressed by John’s profile.

“You could tell he was a very sincere, nice person,” he said.

Matthew Leach, Greg and Lisa’s son and Mhando’s host brother, said he was actually the person who picked John.

“I’m very interested in African culture,” Matthew said. “In fact, we all are. Since we couldn’t find a Norwegian student, we started looking at African students.”

Lisa said the family wanted more than just a person who needed a place to stay.

“The particular student we were looking for would be one who wanted to be part of our family,” she said. “Someone who was interested in getting to know us and being part of our lives. We wanted a family member and John has certainly become a family member.”

Not only did John fit that profile, he was very humble and willing to do whatever.

“He talked about how he could live in any conditions,” Lisa said. “He has seen from the worst to the best and is adaptable to any conditions.”

Lisa said John was exactly the kind of person she wanted around her family.

“He is a hard worker,” she added. “He is very dedicated to his school work and everything he does.”

Matthew said John was very quiet and reserved when he first arrived, but his personality soon began to show.

“After a few months, he really broke out of his shell,” he said. “He is a firecracker.”

Lisa agreed and spoke of her favorite time of the day, when the kids cleanup after dinner.

“John’s job is to wash the big pots and pans,” Lisa said. “He turns on the music and starts dancing around while he’s washing the dishes.”

“He loves Mariah Carey,” Greg added.

Mhando said many aspects of American life are similar to his country, but certain differences do exist.

“The educational system here is very different,” he said. “There, we have six years of high school where here you only have four.”

Fortunately for Mhando, he was able to play his favorite sport from home, futbol, known as soccer here in the states.

“I played on the varsity team,” he said.

“And they made it to the playoffs,” Lisa added.

Joe Vlach, assistant principal at CKHS, said he has fond memories of John practicing in the mornings.

“He was up every morning on the track playing soccer with some of our other students,” Vlach said. “He has just fit in incredibly well.”

Cultural differences, including things like eye contact, which in Tanzania is considered disrespectful, made interaction difficult so adjustments had to made by all parties, according to Vlach.

Mhando is excited to be returning home to Tanzania, but is looking to come back to America later to pursue a college education and his dream of helping his people as a doctor.

When asked what he will remember most, Mhando’s reply was simply, “The people. Everyone has treated me so well.”