Sarah Alwan’s birthday party this year was exceptional. As many prefer to describe it
“At her age” she had never celebrated her birthday on June 6, but when she decided to do so, she planned for a special ad memorable party and no one could forget it even after the gusts left, and to be an inspiring idea that others would emulate and even surpass.
She prepared the requirements of decorations, drinks and “gato” of course, and then took some friends and girlfriends to the orphanage in Taiz, where she blew out the candles to the applause and laughter of the young children
.
“Birthdays can be celebrated in a better way instead of extravagant parties and appearances with friends in cafes, this is the message that I loved to convey to young women and men, as the war conditions we are living in necessitated us to extend the smile as much as we could…” Alwan said.
Sarah was born and raised in the city of Aden in southern Yemen, from a family that belongs to the countryside of the city of Taiz in the north.
From a young age she felt that she belonged to those whom she saw doing voluntary work and initiatives, in addition to befriending a number of orphaned girls, yet she did not do any of these things until after
graduating from university, when she realized that the obstacle to the absence of support was just an illusion.
“After I graduated, I decided to achieve something that would benefit those around me. Do I keep waiting for a job to do what I wanted to do since childhood?”
Cinematography: Khaled Al-Qadi
The 27-year-old took the consequences of the war into account. She knows that stopping the war is beyond her ability, but she is confident that easing its impact on the citizens is possible if there is passion along with simple possibilities.
By visiting an orphanage, Sarah was determined to start her career. Like her ignorance of the streets and neighborhoods of the city of Taiz, she was not sure whether there was actually an active house, especially since most of them were closed of them were closed due to the war.
But with some thinking, she found that social media is a good guide to turn to, and as soon as she asked in a post on her Facebook account, she was bombarded with comments that directed her to the only “Sabika Orphanage site in the city. Last October, “Alwan” went to the house and took its male and female guests on a morning trip to “Garden City” amusement park, and at the evening to the “New Park” water park.
She later relied on Facebook to present her activities and to attract volunteers and sometimes support.
She also does not stop publishing writings urging her followers, who number approximately 10,000, to participate in building peace in their surroundings. Meanwhile,
her family’s confidence increased in her ability to continue in a direction about which they were initially worried.
“My family was afraid of my sudden launch, especially since I do not have many acquaintances in Taiz.They were worried that society would not accept my sudden appearance… But after people stood with me and found that I made a good imprint in people’s lives, they became the most supportive of me.”
A year has not passed since Sarah Alwan started her volunteer work, despite that, she succeeded in doing many of them with self-efforts, and there is no space to list them,
but we mention by way of representation (besides the above):
1. Weekly visits to the “Al-Amal Center for Cancer Patients” continued for a month. Regarding the nature of the visits, Alwan explains, “It was not only entertainment, for example, in the first week I came to a dental specialist to teach the youngsters how to clean them. In the second, we gave them some polite behavioral values in dealing with others, then how to express their different talents and so on….”.“.
2. Distributing simple gifts on the first day of the last Eid al-Fitr to 130 boys and girls. It is interesting that the distribution started from the Al-Arous area at the top of “Jabal Sabr” and down to the poorest neighborhoods in the cityWith this initiative also,
she says that she announced on Facebook that she would guarantee the price of the Eidiya, but she needed someone to contribute to wrapping them for free, and the owners of three specialized stores responded to her. As for the reason for starting with the bride, “the children of patience often do not enjoy entertainment, and I was keen to target the areas most in need or the least…”.
Sarah does not have a fixed team. When preparing to carry out an initiative, Facebook announces it and begins forming a team, which is often different from the previous one, as is the case with the team of the “Returning Popular Games” initiative that you recently implemented.
The idea of the initiative is to bring children together in different neighborhoods, and to involve them in traditional games that are no longer as common as before, such as (Fatater- tug of war – football) we love this.
Getting children out of the obsession with games that simulate war and electronic games as well,” Alwan declared.
Her interest in the category of children, it seems, is that this group has been affected more than others by the conflict that has been going on for seven years,
and that mobilizing it with the values of peace prevents the export of war to the future, in her belief;
Therefore, she spends a lot of time reading books and programs related to providing psychological and moral support to young children.
Sarah Alwan is now working on transferring her experiences to the camps for the displaced in the outskirts of Taiz,
and she wishes to expand them to all cities in Yemen, but what worries her greatly, is that she wants to establish an evening summer camp for children that extends throughout the year,
after achieving impressive success in a mini-camp that she set up for two weeks.
This report is published simultaneously and within the framework of the “peace builders” activity, in cooperation between the “Human of Taiz platform” and my 30 platforms.
