We Never Stop Dreaming: 1 Day in Belgium

If you have a dream, you can never lose it. You may think that you stopped dreaming, but that is not true.

When I was young, one of my dreams was to be part of one of UNESCO’s programs. I never told anyone about it. But this year my childhood dream has become a reality.

Last week was exciting. I was to spend one day in Belgium to speak about youth representation in media given my experience within UNESCO’s NET-MED Youth project. The event was called Creating the Future of the Mediterranean, and it brought together young people and European Commission and UNESCO officials around informal dialogue sessions.

One day. What can a person do in one day?

Well, I met many young people from the region. At the event, I met Khadija, the youngest person ever hired as an employee by UNESCO. She was 21 when she started working for the organization. I met Sami, the young doctor who founded For9a.com. I met many inspiring people from different countries.

I remember everything about the event. Every detail. But one sentence stuck in my mind: “Traditional media in Palestine represent youth at 4%, while youth constitute 30% of society!”

Numbers like these are very important. That is why I have kept thinking “what should I do to raise this number?”

Discovering Brussels

We live in a very strange world, don’t we? I always visit the countries that I didn’t plan to. I had planned for Morocco, and I ended up visiting Algeria. I had planned for France, and now I have visited Belgium.

My trip to Brussels was the shortest trip of my life so far… which made it hard to choose the best travel bag for that. But anyway, I was aching to discover the city in the half day I had to myself. I didn’t know much about it.

The city is beautiful, and the highlight was the visit NET-MED Youth organized for us to the European Parliament.

All in all, this journey was one of a kind and I sure enjoyed sharing ideas with high-level people. It’s not everyday that we young people get a chance to voice out our opinions and make them heard to those who make decisions.

#BuildTomorrow

Phantina portrait Phantina Sholi is 23. She is a young Palestinian journalist who works as a show host and reporter in local radio station Ajyal. She is also project coordinator at the Taghyeer for Social Media organization, freelancer and blogger. Phantina is a social activist. She volunteers in different fields with different organizations such as the Red Crescent, Animal league, Ministry of Education, etc. When she was a student at Birzeit University, she completed 1,050 credit hours of volunteering. Phantina is an active member of NET-MED Youth's media work. She believes that NET-MED Youth gives youth very important opportunities to change their way of thinking and to be actors of change in their society.

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In the field

Youth and Media

#YOUTHMEDIA

Activities building skills among youth organizations and young journalists; to enhance youth representation in media and promote freedom of expression, media and information literacy and youth-generated media content.

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Youth and Employment

#YOUTHEMPLOYMENT

Activities joining youth organizations, employment experts and different national stakeholders to engage in dialogue and work together on unemployment solutions and skills needs.

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Youth Policies

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Activities empowering youth to participate in the communal and national development, revision and implementation of national youth strategies and public policies.

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