#FlashbackFriday: YES Student Shares Poem

Our YES students are so often full of vision and talent. This is certainly the case of Aasif Bulbulia, a former YES student from South Africa. Aasif shared the following poem about his identity as a South African in the aftermath of Apartheid.

I Am South African

I am a South African

I am resilient

Apartheid could not break me

It could bash the brain and break the body of Biko

But it could not break me

 

I am a South African

I will fight

For what’s right

Because Apartheid could not break me

Because Apartheid could not break me

Because Apartheid could not break me

 

I am a South African

I will stand up against hate and intolerance

In the struggle against hate and intolerance

In the struggle of my freedom charter

In the struggle of my constitution

In the struggle of my forebears

So that I can be free in the land I call home

So that I can say, with pride

I am a South African

The Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study (YES) Program, provides scholarships for international high school exchange students, like Aasif, from countries with significant Muslim populations to spend time studying in American classrooms and participating in our communities. The program exists to foster international exchange and understanding. Upon returning home, YES students continue their positive outreach through activities such as volunteer work, orienting future YES students, organizing peer mediation workshops and starting small student cooperatives.