Testimonials

Personal Statements by YLTP Participants
After the Katrina Relief Summer 2006 YLTP:

YLTP has changed my outlook on how life works in a community setting. It has taught me about socializing, and how to be real with people. It has made me more aware of my own insecurities and how they play a role in my relationships with others. It has reminded me to follow my passions, and that in following them, being challenged doesn’t mean to give up. It means to go into the growth. I’m walking away with a new definition of family and friends. A true understanding that home is where the heart is. A re-united trust in humanity and great desire to be of service to and for others.
~Anonymous         

I’ve learned that beyond all our external differences, we are all the same inside. We hold beauty, compassion and love. We are all messengers of light. I feel blessed to have been a part of this.
~Tatiana, New Mexico                   taticob@yahoo.com                                                                                         

YLTP has blown my whole world open like nothing I could have ever expected. I was hoping for some insight into myself and in fact what I got was an unequivocal understanding of who I am, where I am and what I am. In a nutshell, it changed my life in the best way it could have.
~Tim, South Africa                       irishsaffer@hotmail.com

The YLTP experience has been one of intense ego busting and boundary pushing. I have learned to my great surprise that I am capable of being a fully immersed part of a smoothly functioning , completely integrated team…. Indeed my personal boundaries turned out to be largely of the mind and I got to see through this by direct experience. The people on YLTP are among the most amazing I’ve ever met. Sincere from day one, hardworking, life-loving, community-committed people dedicated as much as I was to making the community work to a degree that I never thought was possible.
~Angela, Chicago                          angelahabr@yahoo.com

The last two weeks has reminded me of how powerful of a spirit I have inside. This reminder is priceless, making me confident that if I just listen to my heart and spirit, it will take me to great places which I desire to discover.
~Austin, California                         sssforlife@hotmail.com        

YLTP has given me the space to heal myself, to acknowledge areas of weakness/blockages in my life and access new tools to cleanse and nurture my growth as a being of divine love. I have seen how my ego can separate me from loving unconditionally, from dancing freely, from expanding my creativity. I’ve seen that at any moment, others will support me or fear me and that I must keep on moving, keep loving, keep being.
~Binahkaye, Washington DC          binahkaye@gmail.com

YLTP pushed me out of my comfort zone, it helped me to be real and give up my old identifications / ego….. This was an extremely positive experience for me and I don’t think that I even realize the extent of my growth now. I do feel like more of a leader, more comfortable taking charge. Now I feel more comfortable trusting my gut.
~Phillip, Texas                                mertz.phillip@gmail.com

In the late summer of 2006, I was in New Orleans visiting as a volunteer for the International Association for Human values (IAHV). I worked with a team of young adults conducting stress and trauma relief workshops to hurricane Katrina victims and the people of New Orleans. Almost a year after disaster, a major part of the city still appears paralyzed and every object, living or inert, spoke a thousand words!  One of the projects we worked on was a summer camp  for a low-income housing community adopted by IAHV. We took care of kids abused by their families and surroundings, offering them quality time by giving love, care and affection their naive hearts searched for. Spending time playing, doing art workshops, stress-relieving exercises like breathing and making them nutritious breakfast & lunch made a fulfilling day! Working with those kids was fun; they were simply adorable. I was talking to them and they were curious to know more about me. There’s so much going on and not many of us care to make a difference. I was proud to be a part of this project. With IAHV’s stress and trauma relief programs, many have found a reason to smile, keep their minds at peace, and regain focus and energy. After the course, people simply say WOW, I feel so good! I needed this.
~Rashmi, California

I’ve realized how self absorbed I’ve become, and trapped by my pre-conceptions, how this mind of mine has been spinning it’s gerbil wheel for some time now. I have seen how some of the games we played and the songs we sang made me involuntarily happy, and how absurd it is to cling to misery, sorrow and self-pity. I’m taking with me a commitment to daily practices which bring all this to light and show me how to get out of the small mind….I’ve gotten in touch with  good energy, and am more aware of the importance of doing service in whatever capacity I can.
~Dan, Boston                                     danselikowitz@hotmail.com

In these two weeks I would be taking home a more grown person…..I have broken walls in myself that have been there for years, walls that have hindered my persona and my spontaneity. I am so grateful for that. My longing for my higher self is simply longing for my very nature, and it takes no effort at all because now I know that I am that which I seek and long for.
~Stephanie, Georgia                          lakshmi1@aol.com

YLTP created a safe environment for me to let go of my inhibitions and just be myself. The love and support I got from the group is priceless.
~Anonymous

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