YES Alumni and many volunteers from AFS Egypt, the recruiting organization for the Kennedy-Lugar YES Program in Egypt, stepped up and made sure they were part of the rebuild of Egypt post-revolution. Sherifa Fayez, National Director of AFS Egypt, writes, “Despite the existing uncertainty of what is coming next, everyone is quite excited and optimistic that the next phase in the history of Egypt will be a much better one.”

“We are proud that the revolution was peaceful and kept as such till the very end. This has encouraged everyone to go out and do what they can to get our country back on track economically, politically and socially. The spirits are very high here, at this moment, and we hopefully wish for it to remain that way. We hope to have inspired the world and our plan is to to go forward.”

Injy Osama, YES alumni 04-05, issued a call to action, “now it is the perfect time for us to make a difference as many of us have always done. These actions may seem very small and simple but they are extremely effective.”

Please see the link to the photo slideshow below for YES alumni and AFS volunteers in action. They organized three immediate projects based on local needs: donating blood in response to a call from local blood banks; forming teams to pick up trash from the streets and Tahrir Square; assisting local food banks to put together meals and support for people who lost their jobs or could not find food supplies during this period, and, as a longer-term project, a group was formed to work on raising awareness of basic principles of democracy and the importance of participating in civic life.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/yesprogram/sets/72157626011014301/show/