By Diyae ElHassouni, YES 2011-2012, Morocco

The YES program has taught me to be aware of my role in the world and my capability to make a positive change. Spending my senior year in America allowed me to discover countless mesmerizing cultures from around the world through which I realized that differences are made to be celebrated. I was placed in Perrysburg, Ohio, where I witnessed how active people were in terms of giving back to their community. I was inspired by numerous stories that raised my confidence and willingness to work harder for my own community back in Morocco. Since my return, I devoted myself to adventures requiring the skills I gained from my YES experience, and as a result, I began developing a strong personality. Exchanging knowledge and exposing new concepts to the people of my community became a passion; I dedicated my free time and effort to making a positive change around me. Moreover, I was given the opportunity to participate in the TLT (Transformational Leadership Training) workshop held in Rabat-Morocco 2014, and it was with no doubt the push I needed to dream bigger. It provided me with the knowledge on how to be a good project leader and to focus more on sustainable beneficial social impacts.

I grew up in a neighborhood where large families share traditional big houses known as riads and where I have cousins as best friends. My community lives as united neighbors and stand for each other during hard times, as well as cheerful moments like weddings. However, they have always paid little attention to the sanitation of the streets and the engagement of girls like me in society. Strict traditions were followed by all of us living in the neighborhood which has surprisingly created peace and security. Yet, after my exchange year, I came back home with a different eye. I craved for a change to show that peace cohabits with gender equality and respect, and that security would also come from their activeness in making their community a better place to live within. I became more involved and spent my free time thinking of projects to push everyone into being active. One day after another, I started realizing that other communities needed my help more than mine; therefore, I targeted some from the rural areas of Morocco. Consequently, I founded an association called Beyond Roots Intercultural Camp or BRICC with the efforts of an outstanding team of active YES alumni and student leaders.

The BRICC association started as an idea to create a leadership summer camp in one of Morocco’s rural areas. Throughout the year, the association adopted community service projects such as food and clothes drives and visits to orphanages. It culminated in a summer camp that stood out as an absolute success. It was held in Ait Iazza Village in Taroudant, Morocco and aimed to introduce leadership as well as train youth aged fourteen to seventeen to become active in their own community.

Before arriving at the village, a lot of preparation took place in Salé, Rabat, and Casablanca. We held many fundraisers, including a music concert. Each BRICC member had a task and all did a great job communicating with sponsors, buying materials, and working on the camp’s program. Once there, we were all surprised how welcoming and excited the habitants of Ait Iazza were. YES alumna, Fatima Zahra Outznit, who lives there and organized the camp had already notified us of all the enthusiasm. We were welcomed by the head of the library, Fatima Zahra’s family, and the head of the municipality. It was beautiful and motivated us to work harder. The first day of the camp we received more than seventy participants. We chose seventy finalists to work with for five days. The priority was given to the ones who registered first. They performed well throughout the days, and were committed and devoted to all of the activities. Many talents were discovered and many skills were developed. Participants gained a holistic knowledge about America and its culture by trying American snacks, dancing to American pop music, and learning about community service. They were also introduced to the YES program, theatre, leadership, and architectural design. Most of all, they let go of their shyness and became open to expressing themselves as individuals. We believe that the impact we left is long-lasting because we helped them on their journey to self-discovery and made them aware of their role within society and their community by working with them on the outlines of startup projects.

The truth is we thought that we went to teach and mentor the Ait Iazza teens, but in reality, we learned from them. They taught us how to be patient, yet quick problem solvers. In serving these youth, the BRICC team bonded and learned how to respect each other’s opinions while facing daily challenges. These challenges varied from having to rotate the participants from one workshop to another every hour, to communicating with everyone working on the camp. We gained confidence in carrying out a successful camp and next summer we will have another, bigger and better version of the camp.

I was touched to hear testimonies from the participants. They led me to believe we were doing the right thing!

"BRICC leaders taught us how lo love what we don’t like such as art," said a 17 year old male.

"I am a better person, I am becoming a leader," said a 15 year old male and,

"Thank you for choosing to come to us," said a 15 year old girl.

I couldn’t be more grateful to those who believed in us and supported us all along. A big thank you to the YES program for turning us into caring, strong leaders, Thank you to AMIDEAST and American Councils for International Education as well as the U.S. Embassy Rabat for granting us funds and moral support. My appreciation to the Salam Institute for Peace and Justice for the training I received on transformational leadership. The Team work, Innovation, Binding, Uprightness Basketball Association (TIBU) allowed us to deliver their love for basketball to the teens of Ait Iazza, Thank you to Peace Corps volunteer Jeremy Houston for his devotion to the camp. Much thanks to Ait Iazza Village’s authorities for trusting us. Finally thank you to local sponsors such the Copag Company for providing us with dairy products every day as snacks for all the participants.

(Diyae was hosted in Perrysburg, Ohio. Her placement organization was ACES.)