By Basil Amaldhoun, YES 2010-2011, Gaza, hosted by Ayusa in Harrisburg, OR

My YES exchange year was a great opportunity for me to gain knowledge and experiences. One of the most important things I learned was the importance of volunteering and how to coordinate community service projects. Now, even though I am back in Gaza, I continue volunteering.

In August 2011, right after I got back from the United States, I began working with the IHSAN campaign, which had been started by college students in order to spread the value of volunteering. I started as a volunteer and, within a year, I became the youngest coordinator and was managing a campaign with more than 70 members. Since joining, I have completed over 500 hours of volunteer work. As part of IHSAN, I have done charity work for the poor, delivered drugs awareness presentations to elementary and middle school students, spent time with children at orphanages and children’s hospitals and coordinated blood drives at colleges in Gaza.

In addition to volunteering with IHSAN, I also do community service projects with my fellow YES alumni, such as teaching elementary school students about the risks of polluting the environment, and assisting with the Access program. We also organized a TOT training called Youth Draw Future (YDF), which taught a group of college students about leadership and social media.

Along with volunteering, another activity that I learned to love from my time on the YES program is debating. I knew that when I returned to Gaza, I wanted to start a debate team to help other Palestinian youth develop their public speaking skills. In October 2013, I started a small debate club in Gaza. Since then, every Wednesday, I have coached 25 participants, mostly college students, in the basics of debate. When I first started the club, I faced a lot of difficulties because there were very few debate books written in Arabic. However, I knew I wanted to give Palestinian youth the benefits of debate, like stronger communication and research skills, so I spent a lot of time translating debate information and tips from English websites. I hope that the debate club will ultimately equip the youth with the ability to look at two sides of an issue and accept different opinions. 

I cannot imagine myself being able to do all of this without the experience I gained in the United States. Going on the YES program was an incredible opportunity for me, which I believe comes with the great responsibility of sharing the lessons I learned with others. In my opinion, being a successful YES student means making the most of the experience, sharing the knowledge you’ve acquired and committing yourself to helping others.