Do not Wait for Change, Create it!
This has been one of the best years of my life ... for real, I mean it. It has not been perfect and I have had my fair share of setbacks, challenges, heartbreaks you name it, I've experienced it. However, being the optimist that I am I choose to focus only on the positives and use those to propel me forward.
This year I have lived more of my dreams than any other year that I have been alive. By now you should know what most of those are, at least that's if you follow my blogs. As I speak I am sitting in a hotel room in South Bend, Indiana
a place I have referred to as home over the past four weeks. Strange, as when I heard I was placed in South Bend, Indiana for my YLAI fellowship, I literally had to resort to Google to help me. For some reason I had missed this part of the US in all my years of traveling here. Well I have come to appreciate life here and all the experiences I have had. Being in South Bend has made a number of my dreams become reality but those are for a different blog.
I am extremely grateful to the US Department of State and Meridian International for this unique opportunity to have been named to YLAI Fellow in the 2017 cohort. It is an honor and a privilege.
# City-hub Placement Notre Dame, Indiana
My city hub is Notre Dame, Indiana and when I heard I was going to be a Visiting Scholar at such a prestigious University I was blown away. University of Notre Dame is # 18 among National Universities in the U.S. and boasts one of the top college football teams, which I got to see first hand from the tailgate experience. I have been able to dialog with well learned Professors, PhD candidates , attend Entrepreneurial Insight Sessions and Entrepreneurship Institute sessions (yes there was a difference). I will be a much better entrepreneur when I get back to Jamaica because of the lessons learnt (Thank you Melissa Paulsen). I didn’t know that I would have been lucky enough to have my own bicycle for the time I would be here, too bad it was often too cold to enjoy riding around the city. I did manage to ride a few days when the weather permitted. Melissa Paulsen and Jennifer Krauser made an amazing team in executing their roles as #city-hub hosts, Thanks guys!
#Host Placement; Goodwill Industries of Michiana
I believe that I was perfectly matched with an organization that does similar work to Good Deeds Foundation called, Goodwill Industries of Michigan. Waking up each day didn’t feel like work because I was going there to do what I love with persons who share my passion of helping others. It is so interesting to learn that the challenges people face here in the U.S. are the same as those we face in Jamaica and the solutions we use can certainly create change. I have gained a wealth of knowledge and I am bursting at my seams and cant wait to get home to share, implement and execute what I have learnt to create change in my country.
Then there was Chicago the big city! Pitch day was one to remember as we got a chance to explore a little of downtown Chicago and met with a brilliant team from the Chicago Council on Global Affairs before heading to our pitch competition.
The advantage of being in the crossroads state is that it connects to so many more exciting cities, Indianapolis, Chicago and Michigan City were just a stone’s throw away with lots to explore.
I would not trade this experience for the world and each time I am asked how has my fellowship been, my answer remains the same, it has been AMAZING. The people I have met and have met with such warmth and have been so receptive and so willing and eager to help and share their knowledge. I have never experienced anything like it before. This experience has certainly validated my work and what I strongly believe is my purpose here on earth. I am forever grateful to the opportunity. I have been afforded being here. “I look forward to the way my life will continue changing and I am looking forward to changing more lives because after all, we do not wait for the change, we create it!”.
Kiddist McCoy, 2017 YLAI Fellow. Jamaica.
