By Fawz Elbeshti (YES 2019–2020, Libya, placed with AFS-USA in Wheeler County, GA)

The person that left Libya in August 2019 is so different from the person I am today. The person who left home was just a 16-year-old girl, who enjoyed writing poetry, volunteering, and being part of the Libyan Scout Association. Allow me to introduce you to who I am now: my name is Fawz Elbeshti, I am a YES ’20 alumna from Libya, and I want to tell you about how my YES year changed me. 

I applied to the YES program in October 2018, which is around this time two years ago, and it was the best decision I have made in my life. My YES year helped me become a better version of myself. Every up and down of my YES year taught me how to be stronger, how to handle certain situations, and to become more open-minded to new ideas and cultures. The Fawz who got her finalist letter in February 2019 is not the Fawz I am now. I always wanted to get out of my comfort zone, discover different cultures, meet new people, and just get out of my little bubble. The YES program gave me the chance to accomplish these goals, and opened so many opportunities for me, both as a YES student and now as a YES alumna. 

During the beginning of my YES year, I was still struggling with culture shock, homesickness, and adapting to a new community and the American culture. However, I was always trying to stay busy, and participated in as many activities as possible. My motto was “never say no” to a new opportunity and to try something new that the “old Fawz” would probably not have liked to try. For example, I did cheerleading for basketball, and that was something I probably would not have done if I was not on an exchange program. I competed with the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) in public speaking and placed second at Regionals! Public speaking was an activity that I absolutely loved, and I hope to participate in more public speaking competitions in the future. Trying new things during my YES year helped me discover new hobbies like soccer, and I was part of the girls’ soccer team at my high school. Even though it was quite tough, I really enjoyed playing with the best teammates I could have asked for. 

Now that I'm back home in Libya, I have been trying to stay busy with several community service projects. I have always wanted to contribute to change and improvement for not only myself, but also my country and the world. The YES program gave me the opportunity I was searching for and taught me so much in just one year. I'm so grateful for everything this program has offered and I'm so proud to be a YES alumna.