By Joyce Nimely (YES 2016-2017, Liberia, placed by CIEE in Newcastle, TX)

Yumna (YES 2015-2016, Pakistan, placed by AFS in Bethesda, MD) and I participated in the YES Voices Podcasting Workshop from January through March. During the workshop, I was paired with Yumna to record a podcast segment since our projects were similar. While working together, we both discovered that many YES alumni around the world are impacting their community in unique, positive ways. We realized their stories could be an inspiration to other alumni in other parts of the world.

We named our podcast the “YES Inspires Podcast”. The podcast works to highlight the exceptional work YES alumni around the world have done for their communities while motivating younger YES alumni to follow in their footsteps. While in our home countries, we even interviewed two alumni, one from Liberia and the other from Pakistan.

While at the in-person aspect of the workshop in Albania, Yumna and I learned about the importance of teamwork, diversity, and the importance of leadership. From the zoom session to the in-person session of the YES Voices Podcasting Workshop, each aspect created a life changing experience for the both of us. We are grateful to the YES program and our exchange experiences which have shaped us in ways that words cannot describe.