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My Year of Learning

Moz Evanildo Yes Group With Flags

Evanildo is one of 14 alumni who will be attending the YES Alumni Social Entrepreneur Workshop in Alexandria, VA from March 20-23, 2017. Look for more on these participants in the coming weeks as they work on changemaking projects!

By Evanildo Bambamba, YES Mozambique 2014-2015, hosted with AYUSA in Arizona

Being selected to be a part of the YES program is one of my greatest accomplishments. At first it was a bit challenging, I was very happy, but at the same time, I was aware of the responsibilities I was holding, but this didn’t stop me from chasing my dreams.

My exchange year was simply amazing; meeting new people and being exposed to a new culture are the things I enjoyed the most. These experiences made me realize how big and beautiful the world is. I made friends from all over the world; from various races and religions. But these differences helped build friendships thanks to everyone’s curiosity about my country and culture. As a result, I become a more open-minded person. I started appreciating the differences among cultures and also learned to respect others no matter their background.

Moz Evanildo And Hfam Hbro Palestine

My year was full of surprises, which had a positive impact on me. One of these surprises is what I call the volunteerism spirit. When I first heard we were expected to conduct volunteer service, I thought it would be very tough, since at that time it was a totally new experience and concept for me. But I ended up volunteering at a homeless shelter, and having the opportunity to cook and serve at the shelter made me realize the importance of volunteering and setting aside ones ego to care for others.

These experiences and skills have continued since I returned home. I have been volunteering to teach English to high school students for almost a year now, using the methods that I learned in my American high school English classes. I’m also using the leadership skills gained during my exchange. My city has serious problems with solid waste, so my friends and I came up with a volunteer-led project called CACO of which the main objective is to teach people from our community the importance of dumping trash in designated places. We select a public place every two months to clean up, afterwards we talk to local citizens about the importance of keeping the public areas clean.

Moz Evanildo Speaking

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