Oct 20 / US and Middle Eastern Students Collaborate for Youth Leadership

Yet another successful program…. bringing together young people from 12 different countries.

The Egyptian Society for Intercultural Exchange (AFS Egypt)and AFS-USA organized a 10-day program called “Global Leadership in the 21st Century: Identity, Diversity, Respect and Opportunity” (GL21!), sponsored by the US Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

In August and September, fifteen US students, 10 Egyptian YES returnees and 20 YES returnees from Algeria, Morocco, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and Yemen met in Cairo to discuss different realities of community service opportunities, develop their leadership skills, and prepare to return to their home communities with a strong will to make a difference. The program was composed of three main parts: 1) a homestay, 2) community service project, and 3) attending an International Youth Forum.

Here is a glimpse of this powerful experience:

1. Homestay:
Participants were hosted in 6 cities: Cairo, Giza, Alexandria, Ismailia, Port Said and El Menya, where they stayed with host families. During their homestay, they met with AFS returnees from different parts of the country and participated in a leadership workshop, where Egyptian returnees shared their experiences of volunteering and organizing community service projects. The participants then worked together on developing recommendations for future leadership endeavors, especially in the volunteering arena, and those recommendations will be compiled into a toolkit.

2. El Gammaleya Heritage Community Service Project:
Talk about spirit, volunteering, making a difference and contributing to the community…. all this was done, and even more! In collaboration with local NGO Friends of the Environment Development Association, the group actively led a project to clean and decorate three of the oldest schools in Cairo, located in the historic El Gammaleya district. With trees to be planted, paint buckets, and brushes in their hands, our participants truly left their “prints” on the schools, leaving a lovely gift for the students as they start their school year.

3. International Youth Forum:
For the last part of the program, the participants joined over 500 young people from every continent at the International Youth Forum organized by the Suzanne Mubarak Women’s International Peace Movement. The focus of the conference was “The Power of Youth for Peace.” The GL21 participants were very prominent in the panels that were organized on such themes as Youth Development and Understanding Ourselves, Appreciating Others.

The students are now back in their home countries but continuing their collaboration on various service projects to be implemented in their home communities.

We are proud of our YES alumni and volunteers for making this program a successful one.

Click here for additional program photos and original article.

Also see YES Alumni Explore Cultural Heritage Leadership Skills