Photo: YES Student Houssam Metni from Morocco with Ian Murphy, Theologian

By Houssam Metni, YES 2014-2015, Morocco

My exchange year could not have started any better! As soon as I arrived to my host family's home, we were already preparing to leave for vacation to Ohio the following day. We spent a week at “Catholic Family Land” from August 9th – 16th, which is hosted five times a year for Catholic families. Catholic mass and other religious activities were scheduled in the morning, and lots of activities for young people were scheduled in the afternoon and at night. There, I met plenty of people my age, and told them about my exchange program.

Everyone was very interested and kept asking me questions about the YES program and my religion since I was the only Muslim there. It was a pleasure for me to give answers; I felt like I was achieving the goals of the YES program: to share yourself, your culture and personal stories with Americans.

The last night of the weeklong event, however, was the most special. Mr. Ian Murphy, a staff theologian, came to see us in our age group (14-17 years old) at a special gathering room. He spoke to us about Catholicism and encouraged young people to confess their sins in front of the others. It was a very emotional night, and almost everybody confessed and was crying and praying. I felt that this would be a great opportunity for me to take part in the conversation and speak about the similarities between Islam and Catholicism.

Everyone was fascinated, especially Mr. Murphy who was extremely happy to listen to me while speaking about God. I remembered him saying these words that I will never forget: "You're in Heaven; God bless you." I took a picture with him and decided to write this story.

It was certainly a good start to my exchange year and an event that I'll cherish for the rest of my life. That's why I would like to thank the program for giving me such a great opportunity to learn about other religions. As a messenger of peace and understanding between different cultures, I would like to take advantage of this opportunity to express my hope for peace in the world, especially between different religions. Peace won't be impossible unless we keep in our minds one key word: respect.