Assile Toufaily: Yes, women can play football!

Anas Alrawashdeh, 30, co-founded Jordanian organization “Drabzeen for Human Development” in 2012, focusing on youth, gender and community initiatives. Anas chose the name, which means “railing” in Arabic, to represent the best intentions of Drabzeen’s work; to act as a “hand rail” for youth, offering them something stable to hold onto during uncertain times.

In 2009, I was involved in a car accident in Amman that left me with a physical disability and the need to use a wheelchair. All of a sudden, I found myself unable to visit any of the places I used to go to because none of them were wheelchair accessible. This was eye opening to me and I started seeing Jordan in a whole new light. I never used to think about accessibility before. In fact, I had barely seen anyone with a disability in Jordan. Every time I wanted to go out, finding a place that was wheelchair accessible was a daunting task.

Noor looks back about two years ago when she felt helpless and hopeless.

“I wasn’t doing much with my life. I was eating, sleeping and raising my children,” says Noor. “I was very frustrated at the situation of young people in Gaza. It depressed me to see how everything shut down in front of us, youth. We can barely get decent education, but after that, what? We lack opportunities to grow and be useful to society… to ourselves.”

Life was tough for Abdel Aziz before 2013. He did not know how to make things better in a Tunisia that was just coming out of a revolution. He did not trust the politicians in his country. No matter how loud he would speak, his voice would still muted or shooed away. He was one of many young people in Tunisia who could not act, and did not see the point in it.