Wasla: What did Yalla Challenge add to Warda?

Stories- Wasla

Warda AlShanti- 27 years old

An ambitious young woman whose visual impairment did not prevent her from practicing her radio broadcasting hobby. She believed in her abilities and talents, and after completing her university studies in the field of media, she strived for an active role in the community. She did not give in to the challenges she faced, but her resolve enabled her to develop her capabilities to have the opportunity to work as a presenter for Palestine TV.

Despite her various activities, she did not have the opportunity of full inclusion and practicing in competitive youth activities. Her participation in the Yalla Challenge training camp came as a new experience alongside 40 of her colleagues participating in Wasla Program, which added much to her personal and work life.

Warda’s experience in the challenge was different from other, as it was the first time that she participated in similar activities, which led to enhancing her confidence and developing her creative capabilities to become one of the best participants. Her creative thinking was a remarkable aspect of her experience.

She expressed her experience in the challenge, saying: “This experience was one of the most beautiful experiences in my life, especially since it is the first time that I have participated in a challenge that includes people with and without disabilities competing in a great enthusiastic atmosphere. After 3 continuous days of training and planning, I chose, with my team, the idea of ​​adapting service mobile applications due to my struggle of safe access to these applications. We worked together to analyze the problem and define its goals, and I was happy after I was chosen by my team to present our idea to the jury. Our idea was highly rated by the jury and by electronic voting and was chosen to be among the three winning campaigns in the challenge, which will be implemented in the coming period. ”

“The challenge had a major role in increasing my self-confidence and developing my creative thinking skills, and increasing my knowledge and skills, starting with how to choose advocacy campaigns to preparing successful plans for these campaigns,” she added. The most distinguishing aspect of the challenge was the cooperation between the participating teams. I did not feel, for once, that I was different from them. Rather, my team helped me understand what the challenge was and its conditions and they were with me step by step while preparing for the idea. Through this experience, I also learned that what we believe to be deficiency is actually strength. If it weren’t for my visual impairment and my urgent need to adapt mobile application, I wouldn’t have thoughts of the campaign idea”

It is noted that the Yalla Challenge comes within the activities of the Wasla Project, led by the Social Developmental Forum in partnership MAP. It comes as one of the Forum’s interventions that aims to support young people and enhance their opportunities with the local community.