By Muawi Adamu (YES 2007-2008, Nigeria, hosted by IRIS in Adel, Iowa)

After an amazing week serving as an alumni mentor for the YES Civic Education Workshop and making new friends, I was excited to spend another week in the U.S. reuniting with my host family, friends, teachers, and the Adel, Iowa community. I travelled early on a Saturday morning from Washington, DC to Des Moines, Iowa to meet my host parents, who were eagerly anticipating my arrival. The hugs they gave me upon my arrival to the airport reminded me of the hugs I received ten years ago when I returned to Nigeria after my exchange year. It was truly an emotional reunion!

We arrived in Adel in the afternoon after a quick stop at a grocery store. Adel is the town I lived in as an exchange student over ten years ago, but now I return as a YES program alumnus and a medical doctor. As far as how life had changed for my host family, I was greeted with a beautiful new coat of paint on my host parent’s house and welcomed by two cats I had never met before.

In the evening, I paid a visit to my host grandpa who is recovering after being seriously ill. He is undergoing rehabilitation in a nursing home. I couldn’t believe how excited he was to see me, and he was very proud to introduce me to all of the patients and staff in the nursing home. A few days later, he took me out for lunch and we went shopping for my girlfriend.

One of the biggest highlights of my return was seeing my friends and teachers. So much has changed in the past ten years. Tyler is bigger and has a daughter. Joel is taller and better at soccer. Sam is religious and much funnier. Principal Lee Griebel has less hair, yet looks much younger. David Reel is getting married. Brett Campbell joined the military. And many others have left town. During that week, I tried to do as much as I could with my host family and friends. I also experienced the snow, rain, and sun of Iowa once again. 

I had many enjoyable experiences with my host parents during this short visit. We saw Black Panther at the movie theater, visited my grandpa at the nursing home, and my host mom made arrangements for me to give a presentation to a group of Drake University pre-med students on the health care system in Nigeria and my experiences as a medical student and doctor. We had a great time visiting the Des Moines University Simulation Center, where one of the nursing staff gave me a tour. I also had the chance to observe my host mom’s students dissect mice brains in her lab.

My return to Adel DeSoto Minburn High School after ten years was awesome. The principal from my exchange year is still there and has done great work improving the school. He was excited for my visit and very proud of my achievements. Almost all of my teachers have either retired or left the school, but a few were still around like Mr. Buchman (American Government), Coach Shields (Soccer), Coach Whisner (Physical Education), and Mr. Goodale (Math). The school currently has four exchange students who were very excited to meet and ask me questions. They all appeared to be doing very well in the community.

On the last day of my visit, after having breakfast at the nursing home with my grandpa and his friends, I went to IRIS’ office in Ames, where I was interviewed about the program. Afterwards, we drove to the airport in Des Moines. 

My time visiting and reuniting with my host family (The Christensens), my friends, teachers, and community was sadly very short, but only because I have responsibilities back home and patients to care for. However, this visit has once again reminded me of the kind of lifetime relationships the YES program enables us to have.

As I write this from the Emergency Room of Federal Medical Center Jalingo, one thing keeps running through my mind: I feel lucky to have been a YES student, a YES alumnus, part of the Christensens’ family, and part of the Adel community in the great state of Iowa.