Yafa Staty, International News Reporter and Sharek Volunteer

I fondly remember my time with Sharek as a young Palestinian female volunteer. There were many of us who were attracted to Sharek’s activities and the chance to volunteer with them. The beauty of their projects was the simplicity of them. As an organisation they worked directly for youth and through youth volunteers like my friends and I. More importantly though they were always ready to listen to our feedback and opinions about their activities and really gave us a sense of being involved in something positive and effecting change in our communities.

At that age, and due to certain cultural and community restrictions, the volunteer work was the focus of my attention and I invested all my time into various youth organisations in and around Jenin. It was an enriching time in my life and I was grateful to have the chance to be so active in my community, something that not many people, especially women, had the chance to do. As time went on I moved from organisation to organisation and city to city before arriving to Birzeit University near Ramallah where I enrolled as a student of Media Studies, specialising in television and radio, thus continuing on my childhood passion of working in media.

It was here in university where my dream of working in media took on an academic and professional nature, and it was here that the skills I had developed as a young Sharek volunteer really came to the fore. They helped me to advance my career and develop personally but also to implement activities and projects in local communities and to continue on the cycle of capacity building with my peers and project beneficiaries.

Throughout my university career Sharek Youth Forum continued to support me and I continued to support them through my involvement in different projects that they implemented. They were the first ones to give me a chance to pursue my dreams and it was with their help that I would become the youngest international reporter for the Kuwait State Television Channel 1 in 2006. Even at my young age I was never intimidated by this new environment. My previous volunteering experience had furnished me with a strong personality and excellent communication skills, attributes which would stand to me well in my choice of careers.

The spirit of volunteerism has never left me and as I write these words today I am currently back in Sharek’s offices in Ramallah, working in my spare time as a volunteer. My experience with Sharek has taught me that it is vital to continue the cycle of giving back to one’s communities and I am working to create a specialised volunteer unit here in Sharek Youth Forum. Furthermore, my own experience and reporting career has allowed me to develop the necessary skills to expertly highlight the benefits of volunteering, both for oneself and one’s community and to encourage youth and children to get involved with the development of their communities.

I have no doubt that the opportunity given to me by Sharek was the catalyst in my personal and professional success and I am delighted to now be able to return the favour and raise awareness amongst Palestinian youth and children, and to pass the torch to a new and active generation of volunteers.

“Kan Zaman” is a 90 minutes theatre show intending to present the very simple daily life of Palestinians with their values of tolerance, giving and caring.The project came as an urgent response to the harsh circumstances the Palestinians are presently enduring in the Gaza Strip: the Israeli imposed siege and the Palestinian infighting. The production of the theatre show was financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation through its small cultural activities credit line.

On Thursday, 28th of February 2008, the Gaza Strip was under attack. Nevertheless, the Intellectual Creativity Forum (IBHAR) was able to perform "Kan Zaman" play at Rashad Al Shawwa Cultural Centre in Gaza City. The three halls of the Cultural Centre were overcrowded to the extent that some audience remained standing throughout the play. The theatre play was performed by fifty creative volunteers of both sexes.

"Kan Zaman" show confirmed the Palestinian thirst for cultural and creative theatre productions. For an hour and a half, the audience enjoyed the show and forgot that their city was under attack outside the theatre premises.

Pictures of the show