BiH Youth Leadership Fall 2014: Back home

The last set of blog posts from students in the Fall 2014 program with Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Fall 2014 Bosnia Youth Leadership Program participants headed home in November. Though their time in the U.S. is over, they will continue to use the skills and experiences they gained here to develop and implement great service projects in their home communities. Read their blog posts about how what they learned in Seattle and Washington D.C. has impacted them so far!

Those special days - by Teodora Pavlović

Teodora

Every day we become richer for one more experience. Every day we get to learn something new. But there are some days that are really special. Days filled with new things, new experiences, and new people. Days when the world has opened its doors to you and showed things you never thought you’ll see. Those are the days you live for and when regular days come, you live in your memories looking forward to new experiences.

My name is Teodora and I recently had a month filled with special days. I went to America!

For a 17-year-old girl, who saw only pictures and movies of America, actually going there is a really big deal. Now I am living in my memories of those special days and I love talking about my time spent there. When I talk about America, the most common questions people ask me are: What was the most interesting thing I’ve done and what was the least expected? I give them the same answer on both.

When you get that call that you’ve been chosen for the YLP program and that you get to back your stuff because you are going to America, things you expect when you come there are: learning new things, seeing places, experiencing the culture and doing lots of different things. But, the one thing you don’t expect, the one thing you can’t even imagine when somebody mentions America - is working on a farm. And guess what? We went on a farm! And, believe it or not, it was great.

As part of the program, we were learning about socially insecure people, about food banks and the whole process of providing food for those people. So one day we were working on a farm and for the first time in my life, I did weeding and planting. I got to see where it all starts and how it ends in the food banks. Even though it was soooo cold, I had so much fun. The smell of fresh soil filled the air it was like we were far away from the hasty city. My boots, and hands were muddy but I didn’t mind.  I enjoyed every minute of it. While I was working, the thing that kept me going was a fact that the plants we were planting will be given to people who can’t provide it by themselves. Doing teamwork, planting trees, feeling back pain and everything that came with it was great.

It is not about the expectations, it is about how you accept the conditions and situations that are given to you and use them as best as you can. Even though I didn’t expect to work on a farm when I go to America it turned out to be so fun and un-ordinary. That was one really special day. In my country, people say that your life has worth it if you plant a tree, build a house and give birth to a child. America gave me the opportunity to accomplish one of those things.

Back to Reality - by Nejra Spaho

Nejra

So, it's been a while since we got back to Bosnia and Herzegovina, but still, it's really hard to just continue my life hereafter an experience like visiting the USA and being part of Youth Leadership Program. Every day I think about Seattle, about things I saw and learned, people I met and those memories are so precious to me, I can honestly say that this trip has changed me completely as a person and that now I see things differently. Before, while I was walking through the streets of my city all I saw were just streets, but now I always think about what can be improved and what it would be possible to be changed in here.

I now that we had a chance to do a lot of things but for me visiting Real Change newspapers were something that made me think about issues that are so obvious but people are trying to hide them. The difference between Sarajevo and Seattle is that in Seattle people are really trying to solve their problems but in Sarajevo people are not aware of how big some problems are and they are just hiding it. I really want to be a person who will change at least some small problems and before this trip, I was telling myself that I can't do it but now I know I can do everything that I want and I just can't wait to start.

I will never forget this experience and I will be thankful for it for the rest of my life. Everything that we've talked about is just running through my head constantly and I honestly hope that it's never going to stop. People I'd met, people for who I thought I won't get along with are now my family, and I really MISS my family. I miss waking up in the room with my roommate, I miss us, all eighteen of us just hanging around and talking about everything, most of all I miss us as a group.

There is one sentence that one of the staff told us at our last dinner that really says it all. "Keep in touch with each other, because only you know what you have been through." And I will keep in touch. Promise.

Saying Thank You to FIUTS! - by Filip Miljković

Filip

Nothing lasts forever, and just like that the best experience in my life ended so suddenly, almost unexpected, it hit me like a train full of emotions. I feel like I didn't even have time to look back one more time, and when you are sitting in an 8-hour long flight, thinking what have you experienced and how big and great people you've met, you start to realize that you are just about to land in Sarajevo.

At first, I was really depressed because I came to a less developed country and believe me you can notice that as soon as you land, but then comes the change and the impact of the program. I saw so many opportunities, possible projects that could help our state, people, maybe even one day the world. Then you start to feel different, the adrenaline rushes through your veins and you want to start doing something right now, at the moment, you want to make the world a better place to live. That made me really happy and satisfied, I realized how much I have changed through the program without even knowing it.

And besides, we were learning about civic engagement, ethical leadership, creativity, cultural diversity and all the other things that make a person a great leader we built a strong, independent group of 18 young people that are willing to work for society and overall something bigger than us. We made a connection so strong that we destroyed all of the stereotypes that we had towards each other right away. In the end we come from two different cities with different cultural and religious perspectives and yet we achieved to manage that.

In my opinion that's the real beauty of this program, working with such amazing people full of different ideas, opinions, points of view and I'm really grateful for that. Thank you to all of the people that are working hard to make this program work and I have the honor to be the last Bosnian participant of YLP to say that to you. Thank you!

Common Ground - by Adna Džanković

Adna

Hi, my name is Adna and I'm one of the YLP participants.YLP is a program that is working on improving our leadership skills and teaching us, young participants how to be productive in our society and make some good changes for our community.

The most inspiring and interesting part of our journey for me was visiting the State Department in Washington DC. We have met very important people there and talked about our country and the problems that we, as a youth, want to change. We talked to people that that work in the office that is in charge of our country that is Bosnia and Herzegovina. They really encouraged us to fight for our goals and to make a better future for our generation. They have got us familiar with how the Department is working and what are their goals which were really interesting and we all got included.

In the end we had a chance to try to solve a world problem diplomatically. We were split in few groups that were representing different world organizations and we had to find a compromise to solve a problem that would affect the whole world. Some of us had a really hard job because we needed to represent countries which goals weren't the same as ours and to fight for something that we are not approving but we really learned a lot from it. We were trying to find common ground and to make a compromise but at the same time to respect each other.

In the end we couldn't find a solution and we realized how hard that job is but we did a really good job because we all respected each other and we were all trying to find the best solution without hurting anyone. I think that we all went out of that building with some new knowledge and ambition to be the change that we want to see in our country.

Coming home - by Kemal Mulić

Kemal

Hi, my name is Kemal and I'm a sixteen-year-old YLP participant from Sarajevo, Bosnia, and Herzegovina.

Coming home was hard for all of us. Splitting apart from our host families and from FIUTS staff was the hardest. Of course, I miss America and all the fun stuff we did there. We all do.

The most interesting part of this program was volunteering for the Food Banks. We did two days of volunteering. The first day we asked for donations in front of a big mall, and the other day we volunteered at a food bank. I was surprised how people in America are willing to help and that they actually care about homeless people. We did a great job, guys from food banks were shocked by how much stuff we collected.

Overall everything was great. America was fun and I loved it. I would love to go back and study there. The system is different, which is really cool and of course, I would love to visit my hosts again because they are awesome.

I still keep in touch with most of my friends from the US and I hope to visit them again in the future. I am looking forward to making a program to change my community in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I gained many skills and I learned how it is to live an average life in America.

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The Youth Leadership Program with Bosnia and Herzegovina is sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the program here.