yalacampaign Archives

Seasons by Hicham Azair – Tunisia [Photo Essay]

Published: March 6, 2018
Categories: in Culture and Heritage, Photo Essays, Tunisia
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: #thinkactyala, discovertheregion, landscape, morocco, photography, seasons, yalacampaign

The beauty of this place situated in my hometown “Ribat Elkhir, Morocco”,makes me memorize it in various seasons and compare the scenery. Nothing in this life is stable, everything is relative. As the photos show the same place but not the same view, humans can be changed suddenly, this changes can be observed in the […]

From Bad Encounters to Good Encounters by Omer, Yemen

Published: March 6, 2018
Categories: in Culture and Heritage, Education, English, Human Rights, Identity, Yemen
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Tags: europe, fear, islamophobia, muslim, peacebuilding, racism, roommates, Stereotypes, understanding, yalacampaign, yemen, youth

This story is from the experience I had when I went to Germany for a one week academic program at Bremen University about four years ago. I had two roommates in my hotel room and we were all from different regions and different social and religious backgrounds. One was from Romania and the other was […]

How to create change by Raghda s. Elziyadi – Libya.

Published: February 14, 2018
Categories: in Civil Activism, Conflict & Peacebuilding, English, Human Rights, Libya
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Tags: #thinkactyala, civilsociety, education, empowerment, libya, schools, students, yalacampaign, youth

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?” This quote was on brochure […]

The history of Nabeul City, by Wassim Najjar – Tunisa [Photo Essay]

Published: February 13, 2018
Categories: in English, Identity, Photo Essays
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Tags: #thinkactyala, belonging, Culture, discovertheregion, history, monument, nabeul, tunisia, yalacampaign

I have chosen to show you the most famous and symbolic monuments of my city. These pictures represent our past, the roots of Nabeul. The gate arc which was the door of the city, the pottery jar with the gigantic tree planted in it, and the giant orange plate. For us,these monuments were there from […]

Memories of University Challenge by George Dabies – Palestine

Published: February 13, 2018
Categories: in Education, Human Rights, Identity
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Tags: #thinkactyala, lifechanging, major, nursing, palesstine, studies, university, yalacampaign, youth

I’m writing now to tell you a story which had a major effect on my life; this story talks about the moment I changed my major when I was at university. I have been interested in English literature all my life, I swore up and down that I was never going to change my major, […]

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 […]

Diversity is our strength by Eman, Palestine

Author: By Eman, Palestine
Published: February 5, 2018
Categories: in Culture and Heritage, English, Human Rights, Identity, Palestine, Tolerance, Travel
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Tags: #thinkactyala, canada, diversity, inclusion, peacebuilding, tolerance, understanding, yalacampaign

It was the first time I went to Canada. Although there are many beautiful things, there is one phrase that increased Canada’s beauty for me, “Diversity is our strength”. When I go to the park or store or restaurant I see people from many different backgrounds: Chinese, Arab, African, European, Mexican, Italian….But they are totally […]

The bright side of bullying by Arij, Tunisia

Author: By Arij, Tunisia
Published: February 5, 2018
Categories: in Conflict & Peacebuilding, Education, English, Identity, Tunisia
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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 […]

Photo Essay | Synagogues, by Andrew Pico, Israel

Author: By Andrew Pico, Israel
Published: February 5, 2018
Categories: in English, Identity, Israel, Photo Essays, Religion, Tolerance, Travel
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: #thinkactyala, Culture, decoration, diaspora, discovertheregion, disovertheregion, synagogues, tradition, yalacampaign

I noticed recently how modest synagogues usually are. They hardly ever have much decoration, and if they do it’s just a small picture here and there. The most elaborately decorated item is the cabinet where the Torah scrolls are stored, and even that is very simple. I noticed the difference more when I went into […]

My Journey towards education and humanity by Sarah, Egypt

Author: by Sarah, Egypt
Published: January 31, 2018
Categories: in Conflict & Peacebuilding, Education, Egypt, Human Rights
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: #thinkactyala, change, education, egypt, facebook, hope, israel, learning, MENA, online, palestine, peace, peacebuilding, yala, yalacampaign, yalayoungleaders, youth

YaLa Young Leaders changed me. When I noticed the Facebook ads for the page the first time, I was about 22 years old and in my 6th year of medical school. It was interesting; the page was suggested by Facebook because one person I was following liked the page. I think it was a good […]

Life is Priceless by A, Gaza, Palestine

Published: January 31, 2018
Categories: in Conflict & Peacebuilding, Israel-Palestine
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Tags: #endviolence, #thinkactyala, army fear, gaza, israel, violence conflict, war, yalacampaign

6 AM, on the fifteenth of January, 2009. It was a very cold morning. My family and I woke up to the terrifying noises of the Israeli bulldozers. At first, we were not totally aware of the situation. As far as we knew, the Israeli occupation had left Gaza a long time ago. However, the […]

The new decades by Amal Tobich – Tunisia

Published: January 15, 2018
Categories: in Civil Activism, Education, English
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Tags: #newbeginnings, #thinkactyala, arabspring, change, democracy, demonstration, hope, revolution, tunisia, tunisianrevolution, yalacampaign, youth

I was around 14 years old, living just like any teenager. A Tunisian girl from the countryside in the North of Tunisia who barely cared about politics, debates or things like that. I was following all that was happening around me without really getting into details. Yet, I still remember that day as if it […]

Getting Out of My Shell by Bahdja Sehli – Algeria

Published: January 15, 2018
Categories: in Algeria, Education, English, Identity
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Tags: #thinkactyala, algeria, brave, class, education, empowerment, insecure, opportunities, shell, show, yalacampaign, youth

When I was younger, my parents got divorced. with my mother we had to relocate to another far away city, where it was so hard for us to live. I faced many challenges there. I lost the life that I had before, and all my old friends. Simply, my childhood was very difficult, filled with […]

How it all happened by Y. Yemen

Published: January 15, 2018
Categories: in Conflict & Peacebuilding, Current Events, English, Saudi Arabia, Yemen
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: #endviolence, Aden, AnsarAllah, civilwar, conflict, Sanaa, war, yalacampaign, yemen, youth

On March 21st, a few hundred men who mainly came from the province of Saada in Yemen, and who were surrounding Sana’a, the capital, overran the city and within a few hours controlled every public facility in it. The men were gathering around the city for few weeks before they made their way inside it. […]

Literature in Danger by Rima, Libya

Published: December 27, 2017
Categories: in Art, Identity, Libya, Tolerance
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Tags: #thinkactyala, bookclub, books, censorship, Culture, freedmofspeech, freedom, freedomofexpression, learning, libya, litterature, students, universtity, yalacampaign, youth

In 2013 a group of young students and I, at the University of Tripoli, created a book club. At first it was an initiative by the student union and another active team working at the university: the LES team. None of us knew anything about the each other, only the fact that we loved reading. […]

FOOD by Avery Robinson, Israel – Photo Essay-

Published: December 26, 2017
Categories: in English, Photo Essays
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Tags: #thinkactyala, Culture, discovertheregion, Food, israel, MENA, MiddleEast, mufletas, palestine, streetfood, yalacampaign

I see a lot of food photography these days, and most of it, including my own, is of unblemished dishes. The ripest fruits, the most succulents heirloom vegetables, perfectly glazed and dusted sweets, etcetera etcetera. But what about the food we actually eat? What does that look like? We savor the uneaten perfection, but rarely […]

Any port in a storm by Duha, Palestine

Published: December 26, 2017
Categories: in Conflict & Peacebuilding, Education, English
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: #endviolence, #thinkactyala, Dreams, intifada, israel, IsraelPalestine, jerusalem, opportunities, palestine, studies, university, yalacampaign, youth

“I never thought I would become an English teacher,” my mother said. This story I am going to tell is my mother’s. I dreamed of being a doctor, I always have. My father told me, “Just pass your Tawjihi exam with a high mark and I will send you to France, to study medicine.” I […]

Finding myself by losing a year by Ines Cherni, Tunisia

Author: by Ines Cherni, Tunisia
Published: December 26, 2017
Categories: in Education, English, Identity, Tunisia
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: #thinkactyala, algeria, independent, studies, university, yalacampaign, youth

On June 20th, 2015 my family woke up with a lot of happiness and tears, I passed my Bac (senior year national exam). My mom came from a modest background, her family didn’t value studies at the time, and my older cousins didn’t either. Thus I was the first in my mom’s family to achieve […]

JARASH by Abd Al Rahman Al Hariri, Syria-Jordan

Published: December 26, 2017
Categories: in Culture and Heritage, English, Jordan, Photo Essays, Syria
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: archeology, discovertheregion, historia, historic, jarash, jordan, yalacampaign

I am Abdelrahman from Daraa, Syria, I’ve moved to Jordan since 4 years now. I chose to take some photos of the historical city of Jarash- Jordan, i hope you will enjoy it! This is just one example of the important work produced YaLa’s citizen journalists, a program funded by the European Union’s Peacebuilding Initiative […]

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