United States Youth Ambassador – Brazil, 2023
“On behalf of the US Department of State and the Youth Ambassadors Team, we are pleased to confirm that you have been selected to participate in the 2023 U.S. Youth Ambassadors Program with Brazil. Congratulations!”
After a long application and interview process, this was the opening statement of the email received from World Learning on behalf of the U.S. State Department. I’d be traveling as an adult mentor with the 2023 USYA Brazil cohort!
When I applied to this program, I did so with the concept of wanting to give back to global learning programming. I’d previously traveled to Canada with Fulbright Teacher’s for Global Classrooms. I wanted to support programming geared toward young people, as this is truly at the heart of global and local change.
The acceptance email was received in March and kicked off another round of paperwork, screenings, pre-departure meetings and for youth participants multiple assignments.
Youth participants, adult mentors and World Learning staff gathered in Washington D.C. from across the United States, on July 5th for pre-departure orientation. On the agenda was host-family expectations and etiquette, potential culture shock and the age old ice-breakers.
Pre-departure orientation by World Learning staff for the youth ambassadors heading to Brazil.
Advertisements
USYA participants pictured above at Catholic University in Washington D.C. met with Naureen M. Nalia from the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs as part of their pre-departure orientation for their upcoming experience in Brazil.
Participants quickly created bonds with one another and we began our second leg of travels, flying from Washington D.C. to Miami for a brief layover and then to Rio Di Janeiro.
After the international flight, we arrived in Rio and headed to nearby hotel for the in-country orientation part of programming. USYA settled in and rested before lunch then we were off! Below are USYA participants enjoying the hotel rooftop before heading out to meet U.S. Consulate officials in Rio.
During this time students met with additional U.S. officials, who spoke to them about situational awareness, in-country protocols and even more real-world experiences from foreign service officers. Officials spoke to participants about the intricacies of living abroad, the benefits and challenges. They helped prepare them for their upcoming experience in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.
Our next day in Rio was spent taking in the iconic sites. Would it be a trip to Brazil without seeing Christ the Redeemer statue? Regardless of faith, the magnitude of this structure is spectacular. The panoramic views from the summit are breathtaking and hearing the languages of the world as you ride the tram and trek to the top is a truly special global experience.
I know one of your bucket list items is to sip a fresh coconut on a Rio beach, yes, it was mine too! And it lived up to the expectation. Rio beaches are beautiful, people relaxing, playing foot volley, volleyball and yes, soccer. The sand is exquisite, butter on your feet.
This website is not an official US Department of State website. The views and information presented are the participant’s own and do not represent the United States Youth Ambassadors Program, the US Department of State, or World Learning.**
The Interplay of Colonialism, Catholicism and Architecture
Prior to the arrival of the Portuguese in Brazil in the 16th century, there were over 2,000 Indigenous tribes (centered around four major language families) on the land, which numbered nearly 11 million in population. Similar to patterns of colonization from the Europeans in North America, many of the Indigenous peoples were killed due to…
![[Sustainable] Art in Salvador de Bahia](https://ahlamyassin.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/img_8673.jpg?w=1200&h=900&crop=1)
[Sustainable] Art in Salvador de Bahia
One of the key takeaways from traveling to a country with no knowledge of the verbal language is that the modes of expression and communication are vast. So often when someone couldn’t find the words to express their thoughts, or we were stuck in a communication barrier, we communicated via facial expressions, proximity in stance…
Salvador de Bahia, First Slave Port in the New World
Walking the cobbled stone path of historic cities is always surreal. It is specifically more poignant when you know you are walking the path of millions of enslaved Africans who were held and sold into slavery for the sugar plantations by the Portuguese. This is the path in which we walked in Salvador, Bahia -…
AFS Host Families in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil
We spent nearly 48 hours in Rio and then got on another flight to Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. This is where USYA participants would spend the bulk of their time in Brazil. We met our host families, yes, even adult mentors and World Learning staff stayed with host families. Staying with a host family as an…
Ahlam Yassin, M.A.Ed. 