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

What does being healthy mean to you? 

Do you think about food? Or do you think about exercising and going to the gym?  

Any of these answers are correct; however, being healthy is not only related to what you eat, how you look, or whether you go to the doctor or not. Being healthy also requires having a healthy mind.  

"Healthy mind in a health body” was the focus of the post-IDEAL workshop project that Dea Shehu ’17, Xhonatan Mehmeti ’19, and Redi Bizhuta ’21 planned in Vlora from July 8-9. 

This year, alumni participated virtually in the IDEAL workshop, exploring topics such as mental health, environment, peacebuilding, public health and public opinion. Each topic was presented to the alumni by mentors, who went through their own application process to make sure they were well prepared and capable of preparing the curriculum, providing the information and managing the sessions.  

After the IDEAL workshop, participants are challenged to come up with a project idea and plan for a community or target group of their choice, and they can plan whether they need the grant for the project or not.  

“During the IDEAL workshop, I noticed how much information there was that I wasn’t aware of,” Xhonatan said. “This made me think of my peers, how they could have access to information, but still not talk enough about it or how so stigmatized some of the topics in Albania are. There was no doubt that my project was going to touch upon these certain topics. It was a necessity and hopefully it will be carried on by the new alumni during their upcoming projects. The new alumni, Greisi Lipi '22 and Suelv Sulo '22, showed a lot of interest and they interacted during the sessions, indicating sparks of new ideas on how to help in improving this issue in their communities and between their peers.” 

The first day of Xhonatan’s project took place at American Corner Vlora, where Xhonatan presented about the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on individual health and on society with the help of Redi Bizhuta ’21. Fifteen people attended, out of which four were YES alumni and 11 were volunteers from the public interest non-profit Vlora Youth Center.  

The topics presented included the pandemic, general public health issues such as cardiovascular disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, as well as mental health topics like borderline personality disorder, panic disorder, social anxiety, phobias and more. These were some of topics that were covered by three mentors during the Public Health and Public Opinion sessions at the IDEAL workshop.  

“During the presentation I also covered the topic of reproductive health and rights, since this is a topic that is considered a taboo in Albania and a lot of issues related to reproductive health arise due to the lack of information,” Xhonatan said.  

After the presentation and discussion, participants enjoyed lunch in each other’s company and later continued the discussion.  

On the second day, the project continued with yoga on the beach. 

“Doing yoga at Vlora’s beach is something new that I’m not sure many people have heard of before,” Dea said.  

It is only recently that activities from other cultures and religions, such as yoga, have been introduced to Albania, Dea notes. 

“When I presented this idea to the participants of the workshop, some of them were excited, but most of them were skeptical. Partly because they didn’t know what it [yoga] was, and partly because they didn’t want to be made fun of by the community. Still, they were willing to try. When we got to the beach, I did a little presentation about what yoga is and the benefits it has for mental health. After that, we discussed different ways to improve our mental health. Since most of the participants were from Vlora, we also discussed the mental health benefits of living by the sea. After that we proceeded to do some light yoga exercises. Once we started they seemed to really enjoy it. One of the participants even wanted to be the yoga instructor. Everyone ended up loving it and we all had a great time.” 

Dea chose this method to discuss the topic of mental health because through yoga, one does not only relax, but also exercises, stays active, and takes care of one's mind and body, and there is no better place than the beach for a project like this.  

The activity concluded with a healthy brunch, where everyone got to sum up their “healthy mind in a healthy body” workshop participation and thanked the alumni for the information they shared, for the activity and the great time they spent together.  

The goal of this activity was to raise awareness and to educate the youth on the importance of mental health, public health, how the two are intertwined and how both affect each other. The alumni want participants to remember to prioritize a “healthy mind in a healthy body,” feeding both one’s body and mind. 

The following alumni were mentioned in this article: 
 

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

Desara Gjini (YES 2018-2019, Albania, placed by YFU in Bloomington, IN)  

Elisa Kaliqi (YES 2019-2020, Albania, placed by World Link in Visalia, CA)  

Greisi Lipi (YES 2021-2022, Albania, placed by AFS in Washington, DC) 

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

Suelv Sulo (YES 2021-2022, Albania placed by Aspect in Bremerton, WA) 

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