I am Janet Sam-Kobba a current YES alumna from Sierra Leone, West Africa. I was part of the YES 2018 batch. The Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study (YES) program has been a life-changing experience for me. As a young girl coming from a Muslim populated country, I used to hear so many things been said about American people and I was left between what to believe and what not to believe. Coming to the US through the YES program and learning about the American culture, living with an American host family, and attending an American school, I was able to decide between reality and false statements. I came to learn how awesome American people are through my host family, especially my host mom, my school, and AFS.
The YES program has been a life-altering experience that I will forever cherish. I was able to learn so much about America, learn about environmental issues and how to help our societies so we can all make the world a better place. With the knowledge I acquired during the YES program, when I returned to my home country my fellow alumni and I were able to write and execute a project where we gave out learning materials and food to the school of the Deaf and Dumb and the school of the Blind in Sierra Leone. We also helped to educate people about the positive things we learned, thereby changing the negative mentality of many Sierra Leoneans about the American Culture.
I am currently a final year student awaiting graduation from Central University, Sierra Leone. Through the knowledge gained from the YES program I have been able to excel in various aspects of life especially in my education, securing a very competitive international internship opportunity from Walk With Web, a Canadian based organization. The YES program gave me a family that I will forever be grateful for and cherish. I have a wonderful host mom who to me will always be my mother and our mother and daughter bond will never be different from that of a biological relationship. I have amazing sisters from different countries and an amazing brother, and I also have a wonderful grandma. Without the YES program I would have never had such an amazing family or learn all the things I did. The YES program changed my life for good and millions of other alumni out there.
I believe there are millions of other students around the world who are just the way I was and who need to learn and experience the things I have experienced and many more, for it is only when we learn that we can grow and together make the world a better place for all of us.
Janet Sam-Kobba
YES alumna from Sierra Leone (2018-19)