By Mirsela Gorani (YES 2013-2014, Albania, placed by AYA/AIFS in Pamplico, SC) 

For those of you who think the YES experience is over after your exchange year, let me convince you otherwise. The fun, the activities, giving back to your communities, and the “real work” continues after the amazing experience in the U.S.  

One great learning opportunity for alumni is the IDEAL workshop for alumni from southeast Europe, which occurs every year. Normally the workshop takes place in person, but due to pandemic restrictions, the workshop took place on Zoom and each country organized their own in-person event.  

IDEAL stands for: Identify challenges, Develop a better understanding, Establish plans, Act, Lead by example. 

To be part of the IDEAL workshop, you need to be a YES alumnus. Once the application process is over, you will receive an email if you are selected. Each country’s coordinator will make sure to provide the materials needed for the workshop. 

This year, seven YES Albania alumni attended the IDEAL workshop from March 17 to 22 together with other YES and FLEX alumni from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia. 

During the online portion of the workshop, which was held on Zoom, the alumni spent most of their time in thematic groups, exploring the following topics: mental health, environment, peacebuilding, public health and public opinion. Each year, the topics are selected by alumni themselves, through surveys and idea gatherings before the IDEAL workshop takes place. Each day started with the country groups getting together and discussing what they learned, how the sessions went, and sharing project ideas.  

After the virtual portion of the workshop, five of the seven participating alumni traveled to Tirana, Albania, for the in-person portion of the IDEAL workshop. They stayed at Doro City from March 25 to 27. Throughout the in-person event, the alumni worked on their community project ideas, planning the budget and expenses needed, as well as submitting project proposals.   

On March 26, the alumni invited Kristi Kola as a guest speaker for the topic of mental health. Kristi works as a psychiatrist at University Hospital Center “Mother Teresa,” and he had prepared a presentation about thinking errors, stigma, and more.  

On March 27, alumni invited Lorela Lazaj, who works at the Regional Administration of Protected Areas of Vlora. Lorela held a presentation on Zoom about protected areas of Albania. Alumni then visited Bunk’Art, a former Cold War bunker, which is now an underground museum. 

The real work starts after the workshop is finished, since everyone needs to come up with a project idea and plan for a community or target group of their choice. Everyone must submit a project plan; however, alumni can choose whether they need a grant to complete their project or not. The project proposal will be reviewed and, if approved, then the alumni can carry out the project with given funds.

Sefeda Lazaj ’20 participated in the mental health sessions during the workshop, and she then implemented her follow-on IDEAL grant project on May 10 in Vlora, at "Institucionet Arsimore Jopublike Elite.” Twenty-two students participated in the session titled,“Mental Health Awareness,” learning about topics such as mental health issues, stigma, thinking errors, as well as ways in which we can improve our mental health.  

“This project was important for my target group and community because mental health in my country is considered a ‘taboo’ topic, meaning that people might often feel ashamed to talk about their mental health and feelings in general, not necessarily mental health issues,” Sefeda said. “There is a lot of social and self-stigma, which results from lack of information about this topic, and I felt that it was important to share what I learned during IDEAL, so that I could help to decrease the amount of stigma around mental health, even a little bit. By the end of the workshop, I feel like I addressed this need because of the positive feedback that I received from the participants, saying that they felt safer to discuss mental health and that they better understood what mental health really is, and the significant role that it has in leading a healthy and happy lifestyle.” 

Aleksis Satka ’19, who participated in the topic of public health and public opinion, held the “Endometriosis Awareness Workshop” with the IDEAL 2022 follow-on grants at Moikom Zeqo Library in Tirana, on May 13. Participants learned about the clinical aspects of endometriosis, which is a condition where tissue like the lining of the womb starts to grow in other places, such as the ovaries and fallopian tubes. The participants learned how to spot it, where to seek help and proper medical care, patient rights, and sexual consent. 

“I chose endometriosis because, as a medical student and young woman living in Albania, I have experienced firsthand the impact of the lack of information on topics like the female reproductive health and the female body, so I intend to keep focusing on this topic and spreading and increasing my knowledge and support,” Aleksis said. 

We are looking forward to seeing the project Krista Spahillari ’20, a participant on the topic of environment, will implement in Përmet, titled “TotEally Plastic Free.”  

Dea Shehu ’17, participant on the mental health topic, together with Xhonatan Mehmeti ’19 and Redi Bizhuta ’21, participants in the public health and public opinion, have worked on a group project, which will be implemented in Vlora and will include mental health and public health sessions, as well as fun activities at the beach for the participants.  

The following alumni were mentioned in this article:

Aleksis Satka (YES 2018-2019, Albania, placed by PAX in Lehi, UT)  

Dea Shehu (YES 2016-2017, Albania, placed by ACES in Elkhart, IN)  

Krista Spahillari (YES 2019-2020, Albania, placed by CIEE in Kearny, MO) 

Redi Bizhuta (YES 2020-2021, Albania, placed by AFS in Puyallup, WA)  

Sefeda Lazaj (YES 2019-2020, Albania, placed by Aspect in Broomfield, CO) 

Xhonatan Mehmeti (YES 2018-2019, Albania, placed by BFF in Cary, NC)