MID EAST STORYTELLERS

Amira, YaLa Young Leaders

I am never nobody but always somebody. No two people can describe me in the same way. Wherever I go, I carry a bag of masks that I change from person to person. The ones I like, I keep, others I dispose of. My first mask was a hand-me-down from my parents, the rest I picked up while strolling through the maze we call life.

Within the chaos of shapeshifting, a dimmed light appears. Like-souled individuals too afraid to strip and speak up. They are my people, the drive that pushes me to be the change I’m desperate to see. I no longer find comfort and safety behind the bars of these masks, but submission and suffocation. They are limitations sewn to limit us from reaching our full potential.

Society fears the change that comes with the authenticity within us, bound to break the status quo.  

I’m not just a messenger, I am an example for the brave who dare to follow. Let my actions speak louder than words, let them wake you from your slumber.

One day a young girl will walk in my footsteps, dropping her masks in search of a better future. She will highlight my strengths and overcome my faults. Little by little she attracts more like her, together they drain the evil from the world replacing it with equality, freedom and peace. I might be gone by then but my infinite effect will live to tell my story.

Amira is a Project Coordinator at The Peres Center for Peace and Innovation responsible for YaLa Young leaders program. A safe environment that promotes dialogue and raises debates between ambitious individuals from the MENA region.

© 2021 By Noa Urbach & Rom Barnea