children Archives - YaLa Press

Heaven on Earth by Bilal Hussain – Kashmir

Published: February 13, 2018
Categories: in Civil Activism, Education, English, Human Rights, Identity, Tolerance
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: #thinkactyala, children, conflict, education, flood, helping, Humanity, India, kashmir, peacebuilding, solidarity, war, yalacampaign

The place that poets refer to in their verses as “heaven on earth” exists in the fairy tales, and in reality is not far from the Middle East. This real life fantasy is the beautiful valley of Kashmir, which is surrounded by snow clad mountains, lush green woods, and innumerable springs. Like many places globally, […]

Can a Smile Unite Us? by Tom Raz – Israel

Published: February 13, 2018
Categories: in English, Human Rights
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Tags: #thinkactyala, brother, cancer, children, dream, family, fightingcancer, hope, loss, makeawish, nevergiveup, siblings, sickchild, sister, smile, thepowerofasmile, Travel, yalacampaign

In the summer of 2007, when I was 16 years old, I said goodbye to my family and flew with my classmates all the way to Poland to see the horror of what racism and discrimination can cause. For those who aren’t familiar with this subject, when WWII began, the Nazis planned to get rid […]

The bright side of bullying by Arij, Tunisia

Author: By Arij, Tunisia
Published: February 5, 2018
Categories: in Conflict & Peacebuilding, Education, English, Identity, Tunisia
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: #thinkactyala, bullying, children, classroom, school, shy, tunisia, yalacampaign, youth

We were in Arabic class. I was in my 2nd year of secondary school and it was one of my favourite classes. I couldn’t help myself from contributing to the various discussions that took place in room 21 of Ibn Rashik Secondary School. I was sitting at the second desk of the right row. There […]

Little brave heart by Iness Belleili, Algeria

Published: December 31, 2017
Categories: in Algeria, English, Friendship, Identity
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: #thinkactyala, algeria, children, crush, ids, inlove, lifelesson, love, school, younglove

My name is Shahine, I was nine and in fourth grade when I had my first crush, a girl named Zayna; we were classmates and I was secretly admiring her very much. Zayna was a very cute girl with big black eyes and fair skin. She used to be a ballet dancer with excellent marks […]

Friends forever by Aya, Palestine

Published: December 12, 2017
Categories: in Conflict & Peacebuilding, English
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: #endviolence, #thinkactyala, children, death, hebron, IsraelPalestine, palestine, warandconflict, yalacampaign, youth

“Friends forever”, that’s what we called each other. We had planned our future since we were in tenth grade, and we planned what we wanted to be in the future. We worked hard on studying for our Al-Tawjeehi exams (the end of high school exams). We used to chat together, sometimes argue and other times […]

A Childhood Lesson, a Lesson for Life by Rania Bennaceur, Tunisia

Published: December 7, 2017
Categories: in Education, English, Tolerance
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: bullies, bully, change, childhoodmemory, children, lesson, lifelesson, orphans, schools, tolerance, tunisia

I was only 6 years old when this happened, and it was the meanest thing I have ever done to a person. I carry its impact with me everyday, and sometimes I wonder if the other person still remembers my face and the hurting I caused. Sometimes, I wish she forgets all about me because […]

Wooden Blocks by Shany, Israel

Author: by Shany, Israel
Published: October 12, 2017
Categories: in English, Fall Semester 2016, Human Rights, Tolerance
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: #thinkactyala, childhoodmemory, children, discovertheregion, enemytofriend, Friendship, goodandbad, Humanity, Ihaveadream, israel, reconciliation, rightandwrong, tolerance

“Our children are the rock on which our future will be built, our greatest asset as a nation. They will be the leaders of our country, the creators of our national wealth, those who care for and protect our people.” ~Nelson Mandela~ Let me take you back to one of my earliest memories as a […]

God’s Gift by S., Gaza

Published: October 3, 2017
Categories: in Civil Activism, English, Human Rights, Tolerance
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: #thinkactyala, children, gaza, Humanity, opportunities, peacebuilding, poverty, youth

Once upon a time, I was in Amman, Jordan waiting to receive the permit from the Israeli side to pass into Gaza after completing my Master studies abroad. I spent six days visiting the beautiful city places until I met the incredible girl called Abeer. Abeer is a Palestinian girl from Nablus who resides in […]

Small acts lead to big changes by Maroi Ech-Charkaouy, Morocco

Published: June 14, 2017
Categories: in English, Human Rights
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: #yalaalumni, children, help, Humanity, kindness children, morocco, solidarity, streetchild

Today, I decided to take my little siblings to the beach. It is Ramadan so the beach was quite empty; there were only a few kids there, swimming and having fun. My siblings easily made new friends, and they started to hangout and play games together. My little brother approached me and asked if we […]

Community Gardens by Lucas, Palestine – photo essay –

Published: April 26, 2017
Categories: in Civil Activism, Education, Photo Essays
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: activism, change, children, community, farming, garden, initiative, local, palestine, traditions, youth

This summer I took these photos of a group of youth volunteers, who were creating a community garden. We worked very hard and we painted with the children, as well as taught them how to plant and care for this garden. Sadly, I’m not there now to see what it looks like. Farming has always […]

Photo Essay | Tribute to Kabylian Women

Author: Belkacem, Algeria
Published: April 5, 2017
Categories: in Algeria, Education, Gender and LGBTQ, Identity, Photo Essays
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: algeria, children, education, family, identity, traditions, women, yalayoungleaders

A tribute to older Kabylian women, pillars of tradition. The Kabyles are an ethnic subgroup of the Berber people, today still living in Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco. They are the oldest known people of Northern Africa. The Kabyles speak a Berber dialect, Taqbaylit, which is a language without script. Since eternity, knowledge has been passed on […]

A Trip To The Past – An inteview of my grandparents- by Noa Bar, Israel

Published: April 5, 2017
Categories: in English, Human Rights
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: change, children, family, grandparents, history, kibbutz, memories, socialism

I was sitting in my room on a Friday evening in my apartment in London. Curtains shut, my bag thrown on the floor as I came back from university with laundry waiting to be folded on my bed. Wrapped in a blanket, I reached for my computer and called my grandparents on Skype. I thought […]

Love and Sympathy by Motasem, Syria – photo essay –

Published: April 5, 2017
Categories: in Education, Photo Essays, Syria
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: children, love, syria, values, yalayoungleaders

Love and sympathy are embedded within us. I went to the zoo many times in my life and I haven’t felt anything special while I am there before, but this time was completely different. Although I went with my cousins who kept on saying to me “Come, let us have fun and take a look at […]

Youth by Mohammad, Palestine – photo essay –

Published: April 5, 2017
Categories: in Identity, Photo Essays
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: change, children, family, identity, palestine, yalayoungleaders

That was the past time and that was the beautiful time. It is the innocence, purity and serenity. When we were children, we calculated the days and years to become senior maturity. When we became bigger we wished to become children again. When we pass the places that carry a lot of memories and stand […]

The Sea by Rania, Palestine – photo essay –

Published: March 27, 2017
Categories: in Photo Essays
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: beauty, children, israel, palestine, sea, Travel, yalayoungleaders

I stood in front of that sea. The atmosphere was so kind and the kindest thing was the sound of the waves. I felt so relaxed, far from all the life troubles. It just takes looking at the beautiful scenes around you. The beauty, the sea, and the sun flirting with each other and the […]

A Woman’s Battlefield by SACHA GORELIK

Published: March 19, 2017
Categories: in English, Friendship, Gender and LGBTQ, Human Rights, Identity, Latest Articles
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: children, family, gender equality, hope, identity, love, women

ISRAEL — Like veterans of war, women will exchange stories of stitches, scars, pain, and heroism. The way men recount their wartime experiences, exchanging tales of bravery and perhaps near fatal operations, is the way women will tell their birthing stories. I would like to share mine…

Childhood in Tunis, by Balkis, Tunisia – photo essay –

Published: March 10, 2017
Categories: in Conflict & Peacebuilding, Human Rights, Photo Essays
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: change, childhood, children, education, hope, MENA, tunisia, yalayoungleaders, youth

These pictures were taken on a Sunday morning in a public open space in Tunis, the capital of Tunisia, where kids can play and enjoy nature freely. Now these might seem like pictures of ordinary kids, but they’re not! If you live in Tunisia, you will notice the stressful situation they live in. First, these kids […]

Refugee Stories by Mohammed El Amine Dekhissi, Algeria – photo essay –

Published: March 9, 2017
Categories: in Conflict & Peacebuilding, English, Human Rights
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: children, Humanity, photography, refugees, stories

“My name is Amr and I want to be a policeman in the future” Every picture has its own story but the common thing that you can notice is that refugee people are people just like us. They have talents and dreams. Despite the fact that they lived war and fear, they are spreading happiness […]

Photo Essay | Beauty in All Forms in Salkhad

Author: Syria by Yazan Orabi
Published: February 6, 2017
Categories: in Civil Activism, Culture and Heritage, Friendship, Human Rights, Photo Essays, Syria
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: beauty, children, syria

My town and its castle: you can see the beauty everywhere in Salkhad, a town located in the south of Syria. There is also beauty and hope everywhere in a voluntary team in my town called “Step”, which helps children and other groups. My friends and I are volunteers and we organized a marathon to […]

SMILING DESPITE SUFFERING, by Islam, Algeria – photo essay –

Published: January 16, 2017
Categories: in Photo Essays
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: algeria, children, mali, photography, refugees

Here is the city of Algiers which is the capital of Algeria. It is about 2,241 km away from Mali’s capital Bamako; this trip it took us a whole week. Myself and the rest of refugees crossed the main deserts of the world with the desire to reach Europe to escape the war and poverty […]

Tag: children