I joined AJEEC-NISPED in 2013 to work with Taliyah, a gap year that prepares young Bedouin women for university and careers. Now I also work with our Arab-Jewish Gap Year. I am based at our Volunteer Center, which we affectionately call the “Tent”. I first heard about AJEEC-NISPED because of its founder Amal al Sana ahl Jooj, one of the leading women’s activists in the community.

I come from Kafr Kassem in Central Israel, so my cultural background is different from the Bedouin community. My family is Afro-Palestinian, so we are a mixed race minority within a minority. I have developed training materials to address racism within the Arab population. Education has always been an interest of mine, so I have taken courses at Beit Berl College and the Open University.

When I started work at AJEEC-NISPED, Taliyah only existed in the Negev. I am proud to be part of its expansion to other Arab communities in Israel, including my home town. The Arab community has not always embraced volunteer gap years. Slowly, we are showing how they open up opportunities for young people. It is so heartening to see how even local mayors and government ministries now embrace the program. My dream is to have Taliyah and other gap year programs in every Arab munipality in Israel, in a way that has the wholehearted support and trust of the Arab community and its leadership.

Our work creates circles of influence: if I influence the first circle with which I am in direct contact, I will succeed in reaching additional circles indirectly through my colleagues and our beneficiaries, and onwards. As a political and social activist, I really appreciate seeing social change from two perspectives – Arab-Jewish partnership and empowerment of women. We don’t just create systems of social change, we model them, too.