yala young leaders Archives

Whose Responsibility is it?

Author: Ma’ayan
Published: December 24, 2024
Categories: in Civil Activism, Conflict & Peacebuilding, Current Events, Education, English, Human Rights, Israel, Israel-Palestine, Latest Articles
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: #thinkactyala, activism, change, coexistence, conflict, discovertheregion, education, family, hope, Humanity, identity, Inspiration, israel, IsraelPalestine, love, MENA, palestine, peace, peace activism, peacebuilding, tolerance, women, womenforpeace, yala young leaders, yalayoungleaders

“You are not an observer, you are a participant.” ― Thích Nhất Hạnh. There is a moment when you can’t sit still anymore. An energy bustling from within you makes you speak or take a step. You are standing in line and hear a conversation you think could be different if you were part […]

Why I No Longer Talk to Westerns About Peace (And what can be done to start talking about it again)

Author: Anonymous
Published: December 16, 2024
Categories: in Conflict & Peacebuilding, Current Events, English, Friendship, Identity, Israel, Israel-Palestine, Opinion and Analysis, Travel
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: change, conflict, identity, israel, IsraelPalestine, peace, peace activism, peace privilege, peacebuilding, sociology, the west, Travel, war, womenforpeace, yala young leaders, yalayoungleaders

While traveling and especially while hiking, sleeping in hostels or guest houses, you talk to all sorts of people. It was mid-April, probably the best season in Northern Spain, and my first meaningful conversation on the Camino del Norte was with an Irish author, just before descending to a beautiful coastal town named Zarautz. It […]

The Change Just Started / A Palestinian refugee between the hammer of pain and the anvil of hope By Sam A, Palestine

Author: By Sam A, Palestine
Published: July 7, 2019
Categories: in Civil Activism, Conflict & Peacebuilding, English, Friendship, Human Rights, Identity, Israel, Israel-Palestine, Jordan, Palestine, Tolerance, Travel
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: AravaInstitute, IsraelPalestine, palestine, Palestinians, peace, peace activism, peacebuilding, storytelling, yala young leaders

After graduating from university in 2015, I spent three years moving around the cities of the West Bank, unemployed and looking for a job or any other opportunity. Given the situation of favouritism and nepotism in my country, all my attempts meant nothing, and I lived three years in a bubble of puzzle and isolation. […]

Video | The Quest against Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) by Bisharo A, Somalia

Author: By Bisharo A, Somalia
Published: February 6, 2019
Categories: in Civil Activism, Conflict & Peacebuilding, Culture and Heritage, Current Events, Development, Education, English, Gender and LGBTQ, Human Rights, Religion, Videos
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: #takeaction, activism, Female Genital Mutilation, FGM, Humanity, inspire change, International day, news, Video, YaLa Africa, yala young leaders

FGM is practiced in Somalia and in more than 28 countries worldwide. It is a harmful cultural practice which will take years to eliminate but it must all start with us, our families and the community showing an effort to stop it This is just one example of the important work produced […]

Chad by Meriem, Algeria (photo-essay)

Published: July 2, 2018
Categories: in Algeria, Art, Identity, Photo Essays, Travel
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: #thinkactyala, discovertheregion, yala, YaLa Africa, YaLa Photo Essay, yala young leaders

Recently, I was lucky enough to be a part of the International Slam Festival in Tchad called N’Djam “s’enflamme en Slam’. It was a very unique experience in which I discovered the REAL AFRICA! I am also African, and the clichés about Africa being a poor, 3rd world country was not apparent to me in […]

Photo Essay | A Quest for Freedom

Author: Firas, Tunisia
Published: April 6, 2017
Categories: in Human Rights, Photo Essays, Tunisia
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: change, escape, freedom, hope, Nature, security, tunisia, yala young leaders

Wouldn’t it be odd, if someday you stepped out of your little corner, out of the mist that’s been invading your existence and just rushed into the world without any precautions or early arrangements? Wouldn’t it surprise you to come across various facts that you’ve been ignoring for so long? How chilling it might be […]

Yala Young Leaders: Five years of changing lives and growing a family of young peace builders by Maroi Ech-Charkaouy from Morocco

Published: June 22, 2016
Categories: in Conflict & Peacebuilding, Current Events, English
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: activism, change, MENA, MiddleEast, morocco, peace, yala young leaders, yalayoungleaders

At the end of 2012, I was feeling down for many reasons: studies, I had no goals in life, I had hardly any friends, but I mainly felt that I was not able to trust anyone. I was basically living day to day waiting for something new to happen. I was once part of this […]

Five years after the Jasmine Revolution- 2 blogs by YaLa Citizen Journalists from Tunisia

Published: May 10, 2016
Categories: in Civil Activism, Current Events, English
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: activism, arabspring, change, jasminerevolution, religion, revolution, traditions, tunisia, women rights, yala young leaders

Tunisian Women Five After Years of the Jasmine Revolution by Marwa Belkhiria, Tunisia Prior to the revolution, the Tunisian woman was a role model for the women of the Arab region. When the newspapers and TV programs would speak about the rights given to Tunisian women in comparison with other countries, I used to feel […]

מלאכי השלום לא משגיחים על העיר הלילהנכתב ע”י זוהר ינקו מישראל

Published: March 30, 2016
Categories: in Conflict & Peacebuilding, Hebrew
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: future, israel, palestine, peace, peace activism, yala young leaders

התלבטנו אם לסגור את הדלת הראשית או לא. שישי בצהריים בשוק לוינסקי, זהו סוף השבוע ותחילת השנה החדשה. במרחק של קילומטר מכאן כמה חייהם של כמה בחורים הגיעו לקיצם. צעיר אחר נכנס לבר ברחוב דיזנגוף בתל אביב וירה בהם למוות. הוא עדיין מסתובב איפשהו. אחותי הצעירה הייתה בקרבת מקום, וליבי ונישמתי נעצרו ל-40 שניות עד […]

Trapped in a dream of equality. By Houda Laabadi, Morocco

Published: January 12, 2016
Categories: in English, Gender and LGBTQ
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: catcalling, genderequality, men, morocco, rape, traditions, women, women rights, yala young leaders

I remember the first time I really thought about my condition as a woman in Morocco. I was in ninth grade and I had just finished reading what is still one of my favorite books today, “Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood” by Fatima Mernissi. What she said about the women of Scheherazade’s […]

What it’s like being an “outsider” inside the Israeli-Palestinian conflict By Aurelia Roddy, United States

Published: December 27, 2015
Categories: in English, Identity, Tolerance
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: conflict, diversity, Friendship, israel, outsider, palestine, peace, understanding, USA, yala young leaders

Just yesterday, I found myself in the middle of yet another Facebook debate, and of course it had to do with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (I know, I know, WHY do I even engage?!). Going into it, I somewhat knew how the conversation would unfold: Me: “Well you know, try to look at it from this […]

Jerusalem by Naima Nas, Egypt

Published: December 15, 2015
Categories: in English, Tolerance
Comments: 4 Comments
Tags: coexistence, egypt, god, Islam, jerusalem, tolerance, yala young leaders

I am almost certain it is not wise of me to attempt this but as I have never claimed wisdom at anytime. I am neither a Scholar nor an expert but as the vast majority of those fighting over the Holy Land are neither, perhaps it helpful to have a glimpse of the Holy from a mere […]

WELCOME TO EARTH by Sarah Perle, Israel

Published: December 9, 2015
Categories: in Conflict & Peacebuilding, English
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: activism, change, independenceday, israel, peace, terrorism, willsmith, yala young leaders

Everyday I open the News, I read and hear about Paris, Beirut, Bamako, Tunis, Sinjar etc. And somehow I keep thinking of “Independence Day”. Not the national holiday, but the extravagant American movie from the 90’s. It was one of my first strong movie experiences. I loved it! I was ecstatic before even seeing it. […]

Tel Aviv-Ramallah-Kigali: a peacebuilding journey, by Sarah from Israel & Hamze from Palestine – video –

Published: December 1, 2015
Categories: in Conflict & Peacebuilding, English, Tolerance
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: coexistence, forgiveness, future, genocide, israel, palestine, peace, peace activism, rwanda, yala young leaders

Together we went to Rwanda and discovered what peace and reconciliation really means. Together we faced our fears and faced each other. Do Israelis and Palestinians have to go all the way to Rwanda to finally believe that peace is possible? We spent 10 days together in Rwanda. And when we say that, we […]

Say Salam, say Shalom, make a change in the holy land… by Mohamed Sheriff, Gaza, Palestine

Published: November 19, 2015
Categories: in Conflict & Peacebuilding, English, Past Special Editions, Tolerance
Comments: 1 Comment
Tags: activism, children, future, israel, palestine, salam, shalom, yala young leaders, youth

I will start with the words of the prophet Mohammed who once asked his followers: “Do you want me to tell you about something you can do to spread love among you?” He said, “Spread the Salam (Salutation) among you.” I now have a new mission in my life thanks to a Jewish child […]

An agnostic Arab girl walks into a Synagogue by Mariam, Egypt

Published: November 19, 2015
Categories: in English, Tolerance
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: budapest, crossborder, egypt, jewsandarabsrefusetobeenemies, peace, synagogue, yala young leaders

An agnostic Arab girl walks into an Orthodox synagogue in Budapest, Hungary. This is not the first sentence of a joke! It’s what actually happened at 7:50 am on October 12th. Okay, I do owe you some kind of explanation, so here we go… I have been interested in Jewish culture for almost 2 years now– […]

Swimming against the tide by Eleen Tibi, Israel

Published: November 19, 2015
Categories: in Conflict & Peacebuilding, English, Identity, Past Special Editions
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: coexistence, identity, israel, palestine, peace activism, SpecialEdition, tolerance, yala young leaders

As an Arab girl living in Israel, I have seen so much racism on both sides of the Arab-Jewish tensions. Observing all of the incitement and militancy made me realize that peace is the best and only solution and that we should all embrace it. So I decided to be a peace builder and started […]

A short dress is more dangerous than a knife, by Houda Laabadi, Morocco

Published: November 19, 2015
Categories: in English, Gender and LGBTQ, Past Special Editions
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: catcalling, gender equality, morocco, tolerance, women rights, yala young leaders

I had just spent what I consider one of the best moments of my life: I went to the concert of one of my favorite bands with a group of amazing friends. It wasn’t extraordinary! It wasn’t life changing. But I felt alive, and that’s all that really matters. I took the tram to return […]

Life is a chance, chase it! by Hannen, Palestine

Published: November 19, 2015
Categories: in English, Identity, Past Special Editions
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: change, life, middle east, palestine, positivethinking, yala young leaders, youth

Between the first breath we take and the last breath, the life in between is full of chances. When we come to this world, it’s our chance to live and live well. When we meet people, it’s our chance to know them and to make friends – to share part of our life with them, […]

Like a woman in the Cairo metro by Ramah Aleryan, Egypt

Published: November 19, 2015
Categories: in English, Gender and LGBTQ, Past Special Editions
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: activism, catcalling, egypt, gender equality, sexualharrassment, women rights, yala young leaders

I graduated from the African Leadership Academy in June 2015. I found that going to college this year was not the right step for me so I decided to take a gap year in Egypt. I still I don’t know if I regret this decision or not. I came to Egypt mainly to be involved […]

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