YES Alumni Activities

Update: Muawiya Adamu

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:40:12 -0500

Muawiya Adamu of Sokoto, Nigeria, was a YES5 student in 2007-2008. While in Iowa, he attended Adel High School.

Some of these pictures were taken during a computer training session at the IRIS alumni center in Jalingo.

The center has coordinated with the National Directorate of Employment in order to train youths and interested students on computers for a period of three to four months. The training normally runs from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. every day of the week. So far, we have trained 15 candidates.

The other pictures are from a Nurul Islam nursery and primary school where I visit every Monday to entertain and teach the kids.

Those are some of the places i've been spending my time doing in addition to sweeping Gra Mosque every Friday and clearing of grasses at the Jalingo main graveyard once every month.

Update: Tasim Harun

Fri, 9 Oct 2009 14:08:31 -0500

Tasim Harun from Moshi, Tanzania, was a former Youth Exchange and Study (YES) student. She spent the 2007-2008 academic year in Grinnell, Iowa.
Tasim (now 19 years old) is helping HIV victims in the local hospital in Moshi. She takes them food, helps them bathe and provides them with comfort as they struggle with their illness. When a patient dies, she helps to contribute to their funeral costs.
She has all but adopted a local orphan in the community of Mkombozi. The young girl’s name is Jackline, and she is 7yrs old. Tasim buys clothes for her, takes her places and just reminds her that she is not alone in this world.
Tasim also volunteers to clean up roads in the community and encourages others to keep the environment clean.
In addition, she started working with mentally disabled children at a school near her home. She teaches them to write and just reminds them to enjoy life. (Keep in mind that she is doing all of this at the same time she is going to school. Wow!)

Abubakar Audu: My Second time in Iowa

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 12:24:32 -0500

Abubakar Audu studied in Iowa with YES3 in 2005-2006. During his first time in Iowa, he lived in Cedar Rapids and attended Washington High School. Now, Abubakar attends the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls. He is studying electrical engineering.

When I left Nigeria in August of 2005 to come to the United States, I was nervous about what I was going to experience. The United States had been at war with some of the Middle Eastern countries since late 2001.
Adding impetus to my nervousness was the fact that all of the American movies that ever got into the interior of Nigeria at the time were all action films. Action movie actors such as Chuck Norris, Arnold Swartzenegger and Van Damme among others were and to some extent still are popular movie stars.
However, the skyscrapers, cars and the high tech electronic devices that were depicted in those movies seemed awesome. So a typical view of America in interior Nigeria at the time was that of a tumultuous society that had so much to offer and depended on such power to do whatever it wanted and get away with it; yet a country where everybody is rich.
After that first trip, my nervous tensions were removed.
I was a high school student during my first trip to the U.S. I went to Washington High School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
There are many surprises for Nigerian students coming to study in the U.S. These surprises include, but are not limited to the challenge of homework, movement around the school to find your classes, studying among white kids, variety of classes the school offers, difference in the methods of teaching and the use of modern learning materials.
These challenges are difficult, but can be overcome. Studying in the U.S. can be very exciting and rewarding. I now attend the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
Typical of America, there is always something new.
As a university student, I have kept my relationship with my former host parents, but I do not live with them. In fact, having a university host family is optional unlike when I came as a high school student. Then, I stayed with two sets of host parents and relied a lot on them for decisions and advice. Decision-wise, things are a little tough now.
Most people I knew before said my English has improved. They appear to understand me better unlike before when I had to explain much of what I said to get a message across. I attribute this improvement partly to my first trip to the U.S. and partly to the fact that I have more experience giving speeches, listening and teaching.
It took me less than three days to adapt to American food, language, culture and educational system unlike on my first trip, when my exchange student friends and I had troubles differentiating hot dogs from real dogs; when everybody appeared to be mumbling words so quickly we could hardly attach meanings to them. The first time, it took me over five weeks to fully adapt and up to about two months to begin to be able to understand conversations fully.
Both of the two families I stayed with during high school are happy to have me back. I visited my first host family, the Eck’s, on Saturday, August 29th and the Healy’s on Saturday, September 5th. Both families are happy that I came back and treated me as their son who has been abroad for three years!