By Riola Morina (YES 2017-2018, Kosovo, hosted by PAX in Appleton, WI) 

On November 12, the first official training was held for the new crew of YES volunteer City Representatives in Kosovo. Volunteer City Representatives (CRs) are leaders within the alumni community who help improve their communities through organizing volunteering and community service projects and helping and encouraging others to do the same. This year the team consists of Edona Lubovci (YES 2018-2019, hosted by American Councils in Burleson, TX), Lisa Ramizi (YES 2018-2019, hosted by Aspect in Port Orchard, WA), Shkurte Berisha (YES 2017-2018, hosted by AYUSA in Tacoma, WA), and Riola Morina (YES 2017-2018, hosted by PAX in Appleton, WI). 

The training was led by Kosovo’s Alumni Coordinator, Visar Zeka (YES 2014-2015, hosted by AYUSA in Prosper, TX), who introduced us all to the CR role and made sure to explain all the details of how to build from an idea to the full implementation of a project. 

CRs serving for the second year made sure to share their experiences with the new CRs. After talking about projects from the past, the discussion shifted to brainstorming and sharing new ideas that we would like to bring to life in our communities. Inclusion, school clubs, and informal education are some of the areas we identified where improvement is needed, or where we can at least have a positive impact. Visar also reminded us about annual alumni activities like a Thanksgiving potluck dinner and a Secret Santa gift exchange and donation drive. 

At the end of the training, we reviewed what we had learned by playing an online Kahoot quiz with questions about our responsibilities and opportunities.

We definitely left this training full of gratitude, ideas, and motivation to implement our ideas.

Photo: Riola in Washington, DC, during her exchange year.