Feruza

Uzbekistan, 2017

Feruza joined a large student volunteer club in her community and devoted her time to serve as a teacher in an orphanage called the SOS Children's Village. Over the course of two months, she taught groups of 15-20 students in multiple subjects including English, Biology, Public Speaking, and Critical Thinking. In addition, she tried to motivate and inspire the children to believe in themselves and never give up on their goals.

Feruza writes, “I cannot express the love that I felt toward children and [the] satisfaction, [and] happiness when I felt the love back from children, but it was really hard for me to see the unfairness of the life that some children face.” After completing her initial volunteer project, Feruza and her friends in the volunteer club decided to expand their project to reach more children in different regions of Uzbekistan.

Feruza standing among trees during her visit to the USA.
This picture of Feruza was taken during the SUSI program in the USA. The SOS children’s Village in Uzbekistan does not allow photos taken on site to be distributed publicly.

Mission

The Study of the United States Institute (SUSI) on Women's Leadership is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA). ECA’s mission is "to foster mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries to promote friendly and peaceful relations.