Abdullah al-Thawr, MEYI Youth Ambassador from Sana’a, Yemen, is currently an undergraduate student at the University of Leeds (UK) studying energy & environmental engineering. He was previously the Youth Programs Officer at the Democracy School in Sana', an NGO to promote awareness of human rights and democracy through partnerships with international and local institutions and by working with networks of youth, women, and children.
Below, Abdullah shares summaries of some of the activities he has been involved in to promote engagement with young people and youth participation in Yemen. Please visit the Point of View section to read more of Abdullah's perspectives on youth realities in Yemen.
Childrens’ Soccer Tournament: When Games are also Education (August 2008)
Can sports and games also be learning opportunities for kids aged 10 to 15? Is it possible to assemble over 250 children and educate them on their rights and what the world is doing to promote childrens’ welfare, in less than 5 days? The answer is Yes! In August 2008, the Democracy School and Duke University’s Islamic Studies Center held a soccer tournament for over 250 Yemeni children.
The second annual ”Children's Parliament Cup of 2008” included organized neighborhood soccer teams, teams from the orphanage, and even teams from sport clubs. While the soccer matches provided the fun, the competition, and a comfortable environment for children, the first four days of the tournament included awareness-building activities and group exercises between matches. “Know Your Rights and Protect Them” was the slogan for the event.
The idea for the tournament was originally proposed by Andrew Simon, a student from Duke University who interned for a summer at the Democracy School in Yemen. Supported by the Democracy School NGO which encourages its volunteers to come up with their own ideas and create their own projects, Andrew worked with the support of the Democracy School and funding from “DukeEngage,” an initiative at Duke to promote local and global civic engagement among undergraduates, to conduct the first tournament in the summer of 2007. After the great success of last year’s event, Andrew was able to secure further funds from his university’s Islamic Studies center to support the second tournament.
Perhaps the idea can evolve into an annual, national tournament. Or, even more, to be something like the Olympics and include all types of sports with children from diverse backgrounds and both genders participating.
Thanks to all the volunteer youth who helped in making this event a great success. Thanks to all the volunteering supervisors who watched over the kids the whole day without ever complaining. A big thanks to our awareness sessions facilitators who devoted their time to ensuring a fun time for our participants. Special thanks to Andrew Simon who, although he lives in a different part of the world, gave all his best to make this part of the world a better place, and certainly a fun and nice place, to live in.
Civic and Political Awareness Training for Youth (Ongoing)
"The Democracy School is currently working with IFES – an international organization providing democracy development and electoral assistance – on a civic and political awareness training program for youth. After the training, funding was provided for the youth themselves to launch their own, local projects, working with councils in their area. There were six workshops in all: four were offered in urban areas, and two in rural areas.
Here is a list of the local projects that the participants chose to work on:
§ Volunteering in the Al-Mahwait orphanage. The tasks include full cleaning of the orphanage, cleaning the water tanks of the orphanage, building and providing free water filters, and organizing a full day of games and fun events such as a picnic trip.
§ Awareness of the affects of tribal vengeance. One of the participants from a rural area chose to address this issue. The activities include designing and printing awareness leaflets, field visits for awareness, and a seminar among youth and members of the local council to discuss the dimensions of this issue.
§ Environmental awareness campaign.Another group in Yemen’s capital of Sana’a decided to work on an environmental campaign that include planting trees across the city and conducting an awareness seminar on the environmental risks faced in Yemen and a call for action.
§ An alliance of youth against corruption. A group of participants in Sana’a decided to work on an effort to engage youth in the anticorruption movement in Yemen. Activities include conducting a joint meeting between youth and members of the Supreme National Anticorruption Authority.
As these projects get underway, I will continue to share my impressions on the program and updates on the progress of the projects."
Good Governance Training for Youth (April 2008)
"This workshop has been planned for by the Democracy School since last year, however, after delays from the funding partner, it finally found light. Despite all of this long planning, the workshop which was intended to be for two days (5 hours each, for two different groups), had to be rescheduled to be on the same day for 10 hours straight. I was the assigned trainer for this workshop, and worked hard to prepare the 30-page training manual: the first manual I have ever prepared. I have to admit that this was not the first time for me to conduct training, in fact it was my fourth, but it was the first time I had to lead the same training program twice the same day for 10 long hours of standing, talking, and listening. In the end it was all worth it: I saw it in the gleam of the eyes of the children and youth I trained, it was bright and clear. They are the leaders of tomorrow and already the leaders of today. I can rest assured the future will be great."
Democracy Day in Yemen (April 2008)
"As Yemen celebrated “Democracy Day,” President Ali Abdullah Saleh announced a new policy: that all governors will be selected through voting by local Yemeni council members. While surfing through newspaper coverage of the announcement, I noticed that much significance is given to voting and elections, as if that alone is what makes Yemen a democratic nation. I am sad to see that little or no information is available on the other components of democracy, such as citizen’s participation outside of elections, or freedom of information and speech…In any case, I have promised myself that I would celebrate with the Yemeni people this great day."
Children’s Parliament March to the Prime Minister’s Office (June 2006)
"In June 2006, I worked with a wonderful team of young people and children through the Democracy School’s Children’s Parliament to lead a march to the Prime Minister’s office to request that the government increase the budgets allocated for children’s programming, including education and health programs, and to have a transparent system of reporting on how resources are spent in these programs. The march was supported by UNICEF. The Democracy School organizes many such marches and demonstrations, but this was our largest to date: more than 1,000 children participated, and at the end a small delegation met with ministers and government officials to send our message. Maybe the government will not respond in the short-term, but we held a democratic, participatory event which forced children’s voices to be heard by the government and by the whole community."
Visit to Somali Refugee Camp
"I remember driving for about 700 km (approximately 12 hours) with twenty other members of the Children’s Parliament and other youth to visit a Somali Refugee Camp in Yemen. The goal of the trip was to learn more about the status of refugees and the problems that they faced. Upon our return, we released a press statement on their desperate situation and addressed the issue during several of our meetings with the government, NGOs, and INGOs. This activity was supported and funded by Save the Children."
