The Light - An Alumni Publication Winter 2014/2015 | Page 9

the world together — to live together — we learn
to appreciate diversity and tolerate ourselves and
understand our differences.”

“Exchange programs bring different
countries of the world together – to
live together – we learn to appreciate
diversity and tolerate ourselves and
understand our differences.”
Returning home, Waziri was pleasantly
surprised. “My family was very impressed. They
thought I would have forgotten about my culture,
would not practice Islam and all of that. She added,
“I learned a lot of positive things. I became a
change maker…but I still pray five times daily as a
Muslim. I still wear my hijab as expected, and I still
respect my culture and values.”
She was also pleased to hear from family
members who initially didn’t want her to go. “My
auntie, before I go, she said ‘no, you cannot go on
this’, and now she is like, ‘I myself can send my kids
if this is how the exchange program is…it doesn’t
change someone’s culture or religion.’”

Waziri to a number of volunteer opportunities. She
said, “even though they expect me to do this, I am
learning something from it, and if America can pay
for me to come here and spend one year, why not
do this for America?”
When she returned home, she said to herself
“this is a very great part of American culture. If I can
complete more than 200 hours of community service
to America, why not do it in my own country too,
and bring change to my own country?”
Seeing a need for dialogue and understanding
between Muslims and Christians, Waziri applied for
a YES grant to address politically- and religiouslymotivated violence in the afflicted region. Partnering
with a major soccer club, Waziri and her peers
created a project called Football for Peace. Read
more about this project here.
Stories compiled by John Favazzo from an interview
with Waziri when she visited the YFU National
Office in 2014.

THE CHANGE MAKER

Youth exchange opens eyes and changes hearts.
Waziri described exchange as “a life-changing
experience that I think every youth that has a dream
of making changes should participate. You will
realize who you are, what you want to be, and
what you can do as an individual.”
The concept of community service is not
widely embraced around the world. In the
case of Waziri, she didn’t know what
to expect. “I honestly didn’t do any
community service back home
because it wasn’t popular in
my country.” YFU, as a
requirement of the YES
program, introduced

YFU

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