During the retreat, alumni did community service at a school in Fuqom!

From December 17 – 19, 2015, AMIDEAST YES staff and the YES Alumni Association held a three-day retreat for YES alumni in the Aden area. The retreat included a series of community service activities, group discussions, training sessions, and fun activities. Eleven YES alumni from the 2013 and 2014 program years attended the retreat.

On the first day, YES alumni, along with a group of English Access Microscholarship Program students, visited an underserved school in Fuqom, a rural fishing village outside of Aden. There, they opened the library and computer lab that they had helped set up earlier in the year. During the setup phase, YES alumni had raised funds to procure the necessary materials, and collected over 1,000 books for the school library through a book drive.

In December’s opening ceremony, alumni organized games for the school students, distributed snacks and gifts, and gave them an introductory course on how to use the computers. Mariam Mohammed, a student at Fuqom School, stated, "I am so grateful for the outstanding work done by your association, it has always been my dream to be able to use a computer and play games on it." Nofel Mohammed, the school principal, added, "The computers were a gift from a donor agency, but the agency’s implementing partner brought them and didn’t do any set up, so they have been sitting there for almost 3 years. Many thanks to this association for setting up the Lab and the Library”.

YES alumni in Aden, Yemen do community service as part of the Alumni Retreat

Later that same day, alumni attended a training session on writing project proposals at AMIDEAST, facilitated by Dr. Iskander A. Sattar, the Dean of the Lebanese International University in Aden. Dr. Iskander presented on how to deliver, submit, and present community service proposals. The workshop was followed by a yoga session, led by the YES Alumni Association president Amr Gamal Al-Alawi (YES ’14). Amr Gamal became interested in yoga while studying in the U.S. as a YES student and formally trained in yoga at a specialized institute in Thailand in December 2014. At the retreat, he taught YES alumni about the origins of yoga, different positions and sequences of yoga, types and different variations of yoga. Afterward, students practiced the sun salutation sequence. Areeg Mohammed (YES ’13) stated, "I enjoyed the practice, and I would definitely ask Amr to teach me more of it." Madiha Ahmed added, "There is nothing more relaxing than the Savasana position that Amr has taught me. Yoga is an interesting practice, and the people of Yemen need to get introduced to it, especially after the tough period of time we experienced."

The second day started with a visit to the Qatar Orphanage Center. YES alumni talked and played with the orphans and distributed gifts, chocolate and coloring books. Following this visit, alumni had a training session with Al-Saqqaf Al-Shaddady, a certified trainer on community service awareness. This session built on a community service awareness training the alumni attended in March 2015. As assigned in March, YES alumni submitted community service proposals prior to the retreat. During the retreat, the alumni presented their proposals and the trainer provided feedback. After all of this hard work, the students relaxed with some traditional and classical games like Karum, Chess, Cards, and Dominos.

YES Alumni in Aden, Yemen play with children as part of the service aspect of the Alumni Retreat

On the final day of the retreat, YES alumni and Aspire interns visited Al-Wahda Educational Hospital, one of the many public hospitals in Yemen that suffers from a lack of doctors and facilities. Alumni and interns began the visit by cleaning the main yard of the hospital. After that, everyone gathered in the Children’s Cancer playroom and played with the young patients, giving small gifts, sweets, and drinks to each. All gift items were purchased with money raised by YES alumni at a bake sale held earlier that month. Dr. Gamal Abdul-Hamid, the Director of the Al-Wahda Hospital, expressed his gratitude to the YES Alumni Association. He stated, "It was such a wonderful visit; the kids were ecstatic and had a lot of fun. We thank AMIDEAST and all those involved for organizing this visit. Please feel free to come at any time."

Alumni and the interns continued their discussion of volunteering and community service activities over lunch, and then attended a final session with the community-service workshop trainer, who reviewed the students’ final proposals and gave them tips on how to present the proposals professionally. To close the retreat with a final celebration, Nasr Al-Rega’ey, an AMIDEAST teacher and Fulbright FLTA (Foreign Language Teaching Assistant) alumnus facilitated recreational activities for the YES alumni. The retreat concluded with a closing ceremony at a local restaurant, where the alumni received certificates of participation.