Two Interactors
from Interact Club of Rato Bangala went to USA for participation in SAYS. They
were PE Itr. Aarjit Adhikary and Itr. Shashank Sharma. Itr. Aarjit has shared
about his experience there in US.
South Asia Youth Summit (SAYS) is a highly academic and
interactive youth-leadership program sponsored by the United States’ department
of State which is exclusively designed for South-Asian youths to develop
leadership in young people to transform communities. I consider myself one of
the fortunate Nepali youths to travel to the United States and participate in a
28-day SAYS held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Washington DC. Leaving my
native soil to a country with such widespread development, a country with such unparallel
power and hegemony, yet still, a country which listens to the voices of its
people was definitely a grand honor for me.
My long journey to the States brought me to a state of
morbidity with a little bit of fever and travelling sickness; however, my
health improved drastically after reaching my destination. Maybe it was because
of the dust-free air of the evergreen city of Pennsylvania; the ambiance of
Pittsburgh truly saved my ‘good start’. Moreover, the warm welcome from the
SAYS’ staff members, the delegates from Sri Lanka and Maldives as well as from
my host-family was even more pleasing and delightful.
The three-week experience of Pittsburgh made me realize
that my stereotype of Pittsburgh being an ugly industrial ‘City of Steel’ was
amiss: the reality was much different. Cruising through the bright Fort Pitt tunnel,
one can see the city of Pittsburgh emerge with edifices brightly lit with neon,
gleaming streets and bridges. Furthermore, in the daytime one could clearly see
the vivacity of the beautiful undulating hills by the incessant Ohio River.
Living in Pittsburgh gave me abundant exploring opportunities; however, my
daily schedule usually was occupied with presentations, seminars, high school
and organization visits which were really very prolific, I must say.
Participating in the SAYS’ activities and programs, so
duly and well managed was an exhilarating experience for me. Moreover, I found the
talk programs given by highly qualified professionals to be very informative
and interactive. Working together with the entire team taught me the crucial
role of teamwork behind success. Above all, living together with the team in
Washington DC made me realize that we were not only a team, but a large family
from diverse backgrounds working together to achieve the same goal. Having
learnt so much along with recreation and merriment, I think that SAYS couldn’t
have had been any better.
After successfully completing the program, I learnt
that leadership is not a skill that you acquire; rather, it is a skill that you
develop within yourselves and I believe that SAYS was successful in providing
me the urge and motivation to develop my leadership skills. I am glad that SAYS
brought a significant change to my life; albeit, I still find it incredible
that it took me ten thousand miles of prolonged travel to realize my latent potential
and unleash the true leader in me.
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