By Annie Yap
Continuing the Volunteer Sharing Series (VSS), our speaker for September was Datuk Yasmin Yusuff. Now a member of the AFS Malaysia Board, Datuk Yasmin is an AFS returnee to USA 1972-73.
Titled “My AFS Year – The Beginning of Everything”, she led the audience through her life journey from the time she went on the program, the challenges she faced while on her exchange experience, to joining the entertainment circle of acting and singing to the present day, where she volunteers for Caremongers Ampang Division. A cause that she is very passionate about, Caremongers is a community-based organization that fundraises food and tends to the needs of the poor and destitute. Members have travelled as far as the interior of Sabah to carry out their good deeds. She also shared how her AFS experience provided her an advantage in her win for the Miss Malaysia Universe crown in 1978 and onward to the international level competition in Mexico. She emerged 2nd runner-up for “Best Traditional Costume” – the one and only contestant from Malaysia to have achieved the accolade thus far.
More than 40 participants, both AFSers and non-AFSers, attended the virtual event. The entire session lasted around 90 minutes. It ended with the Qs & As which she handled deftly and with honesty. Yasmin expressed relief too that none of the questions were too personal in nature!
