BiH Youth Leadership Fall 2014: A whole new world
The third set of blog posts from participants in the Fall 2014 Youth Leadership Program with Bosnia and Herzegovina!
Students and teachers from Bosnia and Herzegovina have wrapped up their time in Seattle and are off to the next part of their adventure! As they got ready to leave Seattle, five Youth Leadership Program participants wrote blog posts reflecting on the most significant aspects of their time here.
Here Come the Waterfalls - by Tijana Cvjetković
My name is Tijana and I'm a sixteen year old YLP participant from Sarajevo. This program started changing my life from its very beginning. I met new people, discovered new things, and most importantly, became a part of an amazing family for these short two and a half weeks.
I remember entering a room full of people I didn't know, people who would host us. I had already talked to my host mom, Sarah, via email, and was super excited to meet them. After they introduced us to our hosts, we had a short presentation and then headed home to spend the weekend with them. I drove home with my host dad and my five year old host brother, where my host mom and baby host sister were waiting for us.
As we drove there I kept thinking about how I'd fit into the family. I had no reason to worry, everything turned out perfect, just as I had imagined it. The kids accepted me like I was a part of their family forever, and my host parents were more than nice.
As the time passed, we became closer. I loved hearing about their day when I came home, playing with my younger siblings, waking up on the weekends and hearing them screaming and laughing... I loved everything about it.
But our time together passed so fast, and before we even knew it, we had had to say goodbye. Our final goodbye was a very sad moment. There were a lot of tears, a lot of "I don't want to leave" and "We want you to stay" and hugs. We had to say goodbye without knowing when we'll see each other again. That was the saddest, but the most heartwarming moment in the program.
As I said, this exchange has been a life changing experience from its very beginning, but it was my host family who made it this special. They changed their lives for these couple of weeks to welcome a new family member in their family, a family member who they loved and appreciated. And even though I'm sad about leaving, I'm more than happy that I've met these amazing people and had a chance to share this part of my life with them.
Thank you for everything!
Diversity is the spice of life - by Anđela Vračar
My name is Andjela, a 16 year old student from Bosnia and just few months ago I was a high school student who couldn't even imagine that one day I would pack all my dreams and wishes in a 22-pound suitcase. A trip from dreams to reality. Thoughts of family, friends, indescribable happiness and a glimpse of fear were running across my mind. I realize I won't be the same person anymore.
I have only been in the USA for 2 weeks but I can already feel the influences of culture and reality changing me towards better. In these 22 days that I have been here, I saw and felt what you cannot experience with the tour guides.
Experiences that I will treasure the most were the 2 days of high school, where I felt like a true American teenager. As you step in the hallway your senses are tingling in this unknown territory, but just as you see the smiley faces, your inconvenience disappears. The differences between the schools in America and Bosnia are so vast that they can't fit into one blog post. From choices of classes, students to the classroom decorations, everything is different. But just being in an American school is like being in a parallel universe.
One of the differences is the interaction between the students and their professors. In the America , I saw a friendly communication of teachers with students, while in Bosnia you can notice a certain distance but filled with the respect.
I was also pretty shocked with not just the number of subjects, but also with their variety. For example in America, students must choose 6 subjects and they study just these subjects during the year, while in Bosnia, students are obligated to have 15-17 different subjects. Many of the subjects in American schools, like theater, global leadership and sewing you cannot find in Bosnian schools due to the lack of space and teachers.
I am really thankful to students and teachers who were introducing me to the American education. As a student from a country far away, I would find it hard to adapt to the new system of learning, but when you have the support of other people, differences disappear.
One more thing that will stay with me are the friends I made those 2 days at school. People from another country, different culture and religion, became the same, yet different.
Opening my eyes to a whole new world - by Vanja Barač
Hi everyone my name is Vanja. I am from Bosnia and Herzegovina, I live in the second biggest city in BiH called Banja Luka. Thanks to this amazing Youth Leadership Program I am in beautiful Seattle. One phone call changed my life completely. I have been here for two weeks already and I've experienced a lot of new things. I try to enjoy every moment. The most fun thing was trying new foods and making new friendships. But not everything that we do is fun, we are not here in vacation we are here to learn and experience new things that can help us improve our community and ourselves.
A couple days ago we were at the Ballard Food Bank volunteering for two days. It was a really life changing experience, it made you realize that you have appreciate life that you're living. I was surprised how that place is filled with emotions and happiness. On our first day my friends and I were split into three groups and we were doing different tasks. My group and I were working on packaging food. I met a lot of homeless people and it really surprised me how happy they are. You can see a honest smile on their faces, they were happy and thankful to us. I talk to a lot of them about their lives and I felt really good because each one of us sometimes needs a person who will listen to our story. We met also a lot of staff members at the bank and they explained to us how their system works so I think that's really good for us because we can apply some things that we learned here in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
On our second day we were in front of a supermarket sharing leaflets to people asking them to donate some food for the food bank. It was really exciting and fun. Some of the people were generous and some of them not but that's okay. We raised a lot of food and some money.
A couple days after we were at Marra Farms volunteering where we were weeding vegetables that will be donated to the food bank. I was really surprised by the system that people in USA have, I think it's amazing and I can't wait to suggest my friends to do the same thing in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is really important that to people have places like this,it can happen to everyone....people lose their jobs, bankrupt, you never know what's waiting you tomorrow. We all appreciate everything that we learned here and I think that we can and we will MAKE A CHANGE. Always remember never give up because even if we fail what better way is there to live?
You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take - by Namik Selimović
My name is Namik Selimovic, I was born in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Thanks to FIUTS (Foundation for International Understanding Through Students), me and 17 other young leaders are visiting Seattle. This trip is slowly ending, and I just don’t want it to end.
When I applied for this program, I wanted to push my limits. And it was uncomfortable at beginning but, after a while you get used to people and speaking English 24/7 which is awesome. Suddenly you realize that you are so far from home, family and friends, but also you have 17 of your best friends in here.
When Ellen and Tom came to Sarajevo, we had a presentation about how to be a good team, and what does one team have to have in order to achieve success. I remember the definition of the team: “A Team is an entity in itself." The team is made out of links, and every link matters equally and if one link fails, everything falls apart. Honestly I thought that it’s impossible to make a team in 4 week period, but I was wrong.
When I came here I thought that I would not be able to trust anyone, but I do now. Everything is possible only if you put your mind into it. If you don’t try new things, and if you’re not trying to make some difference in your life, nothing is going to change. Because you don’t wait for the opportunity to come to you, you go and make one, and then try to use it. Because you have to fail, and fail, and fail until you succeed. You have to look deep down, and ask yourself who do you want to be. Pursue your dreams. “If you don’t build your dream, someone will hire you to help build theirs.”
To end this blog, I want to give a big thank note you to FIUTS staff and volunteers, for making this experience the best I’ve ever had so far.
Memories for a Lifetime - by Lejla Zećo
During the last few weeks I learned and experienced more in Seattle than I had expected. We had an amazing time learning important and interesting things. This program is unlike anything I have ever experienced before, it astonished me every time. Not with all the tours and trips around the city, like the Space Needle, the EMP museum, Halloween, the city hall, Bainbridge Island or with the long lasting workshops, that were all great, but more the way all those components have been linked and put together in a way to have a interesting and at the same time meaningful purpose.
Their purpose and goal to teach us how to, not just lead people, what most might believe, but to become aware of all the issues and assets inside our communities on our own and empathize as well as work with the world and its needs. The FIUTS organization has done a great job in finding ways to engage us in the program as much as possible. They have as well shown a great deal of compassion for the purpose of this program and us YLP members as a team. All their effort have made it hard for me to decide which event has inspired me the most, every event made me smarter, more informed, aware and willing to work hard for a better society.
The stay in Seattle was also very interesting since we embraced a new way of life, different cultures, different beliefs, and a better insight of the history of Seattle. In some moments it was challenging to step out of the “comfort zone” and become more flexible and open for new things but I surely do not regret a single moment of it. I had always wished for an opportunity to spend the time experiencing the life in a different country than my own. I made a lot of new friends from my country and met a lot of very nice people from all around the world that talked about their experiences, goal and dreams. I will surely miss Seattle and all the lovely people I have met that were a great inspiration but I will take with me all I have learned from them and try to use that knowledge and inspiration for further life experience.
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.