PAYLP Spring 2023 Photo Recap

FIUTS was so excited to welcome the Pan-Africa Youth Leadership Program (PAYLP) participants and their mentors to Seattle this past week. During this program, 20 high school aged students and 5 adult mentors develop leadership and civic engagement skills, learn about U.S. history and culture, and build a network of Pan-African emerging leaders, forging bonds between youth from the African continent and Washington State. The participating countries are Angola, Botswana, South Africa, South Sudan, and Mauritius. U.S.-based Student Ambassadors will communicate with African students to learn about one another’s culture, discuss shared topics of interest, and build new international relations.

FIUTS produces this program through a contract with Meridian International Center, and the program is fully funded by the U. S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

Check out the photo recap of their adventures during their time in Seattle!

A visit to Seattle would not be complete with a tour of the University of Washington campus! The cherry blossoms were in full bloom which made for some great photo opportunities!

The next day, it was time for a ferry ride to Bainbridge Island for the PAYLP’s first service project.

For their service project, the PAYLP participants and their mentors joined BI Parks, the BI Pickleball community, Bainbridge Island FC, the BI Parks and Trail Foundation at the North end of Battle Point Park on the horse trail, a lesser-known route around the park. They helped the trails team with trail surface
repairs like widening the trail to set standards, raking trail surfaces, spreading chips, and more.

It’s never too cold for ice cream!

Time for a tour of Seattle, which included a visit to the Seattle Aquarium and the Space Needle!

For their next service project, the PAYLPs visited Food Lifeline. The work they did sorting seeds will help to feed thousands of people facing hunger across Western Washington every day.

FIUTS is lucky to have tons of amazing host families that take the time to welcome visiting program participants into their homes and show them around the Seattle-area.

At final dinner on Monday, the PAYLP participants shared their final projects and celebrated the end of a successful program!

We hope you enjoyed seeing what the PAYLP participants and their mentors experienced during their time in Seattle! Thank you to everyone who contributed to the success of this program and stay tuned for a recap of ‘This I Believe’ Speeches coming soon!