By Ramos-Datu Moner, YES 2016-2017, Philippines, hosted by AFS in San Antonio, TX

On September 23-26, 2016, I went to Lafayette, Louisiana with two of my co-YES students, Abdullateef from Nigeria and Hillary from Ghana. We traveled with the Youth Group of Laurel Heights United Methodist Church for a disaster response trip. A few months ago, the state of Louisiana was hit by a storm, causing massive flash floods across the state that damaged houses, buildings, and schools. A children's learning center in Lafayette was one of the affected properties of the massive flash flood. 

When we arrived at the children's center, we cleaned the backyard, cut walls, pulled out the tiles, and performed other tasks. After the cleanup, we saw the product of our commitment to help others, the unity we showed for peace, and our own efforts to make the future of the children and the whole society stand up again. We empowered them to keep believing the essence of life despite any disasters they'd been through. I believe giving hope to the children made a positive impact on their future; I could tell by the big smiles on their faces.

As a philosopher said: Nothing exalts the soul or gives it a sheer sense of buoyancy and victory so much as being used to change the lives of other people.

Make each new day count by helping someone or just making someone smile. YES for peace and YES for hope.