GeorgeINT_1

My day was wonderful. I woke up very early. Today I woke up early and I began to prepare what I want to say today. I began to remember the campaign; the youth problems that I want to talk about today. and those things. I am Jeries Thalgieh From the great Bethlehem I ran the elections to be part of the municipality and help our Bethlehemite youth Come on youth, let us construct and in our city let us invest Don't tell me I can't, I can better than the professional whatever happens, Bethlehem is not for destruction Bethlehem is not for destruction and if you vote for me, it is the best choice for sure I am Jeries Saba Jeries Thalgieh From Bethlehem City, I am 16 years old My name is Jeries Saba Jeries Thalgieh From Bethlehem City I am 16 years old I am Jeries Saba Jeries Thalgieh From Bethlehem City I am 16 years old I'm studying in Terra Scanta high school I play the Qanun and reciting poem as my hobbies I have a sister, Nelly, and a brother, Johnny and my mother and father who I love and my favorite things to do is to sit on the laptop and to watch programs about nature and animal world I like to go with them [my family] on vacations Eat dinner with them to deal with them as if we're friends The sea I love going to the sea and one of my hobbies is swimming And I also love going to the scouts and the Catholic Action Club to the Catholic Action Club I love Bethlehem for sure because it is a historic city and makes me feel secure and because I'm a citizen I don't feel comfortable anywhere else and because it has the club and scouts to which I like to go It has my school and all my daily life My city is my daily life It is the place where I like to stay I describe it as the city that gives security the city that gives love and peace It's a beautiful city with its markets and shops its historic status; it has the Nativity Church and Omar Mosque its citizens are very good and it is a touristic city It is my community. The community here likes the traditions and customs They like old things and at the same time like development It is my community, and I love it For example, the generostiy, here we are very generous. for example, a woman is the head of the house To be honest, everything in it is special. To be honest, the scouts What is special about my city for me is the scouts. I lost my sight from a medical mistake After having seven surgeries and then another 9 surgeries I had sixteen surgeries For this I lost my sight The first time they noticed that I lost my sight, when I was a baby I did not react with them They used to put a mirror in front of me Throw a bear at me, I would not grab it I did not have any reaction Then they said I might be blind I went to a doctor who after performing seven surgeries said he does not deal with children and forgot to take my eye pressure That's how I lost my sight I went to a special school for the blind; who are with disablities Now, I continue my education in Terra Scanta I was in Ash-Shoroq before Difficulty in education. Our schools are not to accommodate people with disabilities Also, in the roads. They are not for people with disabilities So, I face these challenges a lot in my life The transportation challenge and the difficulty to study the curriculum that is not available The difficulty at school as well The challenges I face are the roads that are not prepared for people with disabilities neither the schools are prepared for them So, schools and roads should be equipped therefore, the challenges I face include transportation At school, I face challenges with the teachers I face a challenge in mobility in the streets because our streets are not prepared, every day they dig a hole there are a lot of speed bumps the tiles are removed There are shops that have used the sidewalks which appear from no where, which makes me fall There are no signs that there are stairs here, or a hole there to be cautious The challenge I also face at school is that some teachers don't read what they write on the board Therefore, I ask one of my friends to write for me Also, there are teachers who are not qualified in teaching people with disabilities. At our schools, there should be teachers who are qualified to teach people with disabilities. because people with disabilities need special education to have the Braille language there is Their language is the Braille There are teachers who can not read the Braille So there should be teachers who qualified for this This should be directed to the ministry of education for it to prepare When I was a child, I used to face many challenges Our society does not accept a blind child now there is more acceptance but still a lot of people in the countryside don't accept people with disabilities I used to go to parks where children refuse to play with me because of my blindness My mother faced a lot of challenges a boy comes and mocks me and says don't walk with me We had many arguments because of such situations When I was exposed to such insults When I was exposed to such insults, I used to go home and think My reaction was that I cry When I went home, I used to think why God created me this way I don't want to play or go outside My family used to talk to me My family at home, my grandmother, aunts, my mom and dad They used to talk to me until I broke that barrier Now, anyone who mocks me, I face it on daily basis I ignore First, it is God who kept me strong and my parents who stood by me I would like to thank them a lot They suffered until I reached here, this phase I will help others for sure because there are a lot of people who need me because their parents don't allow them, it's not that they can't their parents don't allow them This will make me hold awareness campagins which will help the parents first and then the person to be stronger and to stand in the face of his disability and not to give up I want to help others because there are a lot of parents who don't allow their children the child wants to integrate in the society but the parents would worry that the society would harm their child in the first place and they would worry that people would gossip about the m that they have a child like this Once, I was talking with my friend who asked me what I was doing I told him that I'm studying and thank God have high marks I asked him what he was doing since he was the first on his class He told me that his father was afraid from the society and dropped him out of school He's now rolling cigarettes and selling them to the neighbors The challenges that are imposed by society include unemployment which should be 5% nowadays it is 87% The organizations here in the city are not adapted to receive such cases So, the unemployment rate here is 87% while it should be 5% Therefore, people with disabilities don't find jobs They'd finish their studies and have high grades don't find a job because this is imposed by society to be honest, they should employ 5% now only 1% are employed because our institution are not equipped to welcome such cases Even if it welcomes them, it would not be the position he wanted the institutes which can welcome us, include the telecommunications company the institutes where can work as a lawyer only in this framework the lawyer, bank and telecommunications There are people with other hobbies but they don't study it since there is no jobs afterwards I heard about the local youth council for the first time in the classroom where the teacher explained what it was I tried to get in but my age did not allow me then I forgot about it and my aunt reminded She saw that I can help the youth why not run the elections So, I accepted this proposal without hesitations and I directly joined the local youth counsil I hope I will win in as I have a lot of projects for the youth I decided to participate in this really nice experiment in my life through which I will have more experience and at the same time I will benefit the others like strengthening the youth's self-esteem and make projects for them that they will benefit from I also entered the youth council to strengthen the person's trust in themselves because the youth here should trust themselves in order to achieve My age allows me to be nominated in the youth councils As I said, it is a nice experience and my voice will reach the society and at the same time I help the society at the same time I give to the society but the youth councils, which my age allowed me to enter my age allowed me to send my message through it I used to send my message through poems in Tunisia and other places but I found that the youth council will help send my message to the youth who are my age and they can understand it quickly so we reach a better future in a quicker way and we should take care of our bigger home which is our city I am for sure excited about the idea and what makes me more excited is the youth problems which I find in our city whenever I find a problem, I get more excited to enter the council to solve it why is this problem in our city instead of a problem, it should be a solution for a beautiful thing The environment for example instead of having the garbage on the ground, why doesn't it be in the garbage bin and we live in a clean society at the same time What excites me to enter the youth council is the youth problems that are growing everyday instead of being a problem, it should be a solution for a nice thing for example, the cleanliness of the environment instead of having the garbage on the ground, why doesn't it be in the garbage bin and we live in a clean society At the same time, this city is our bigger home this would make us reach for a better society Not everyone for sure, but we have officials who do not deserve their positions We should work on the new generation to have better leadership skill and enter in order to help the society and not only to show off In case someone wants to be an official, he should enter for the city in order to develop the city and at the same time, he should accept advice and listen to youth problems As a candidate for the youth council in Bethlehem, I began to put my ideas for my campaign like smoking below the legal age where fines are set for any restaurant or cafe which offer bubbly or cigarettes to the underage youth at the same time, to implement the law on the shops that sell the youth these things to provide places for the youth to enjoy themselves where they would go because they want to and at the same time, these places are prepared for people with disabilities or people who are coming from outside or the youth Everyday would not be the same, there should be something different every other day that is related to the environment to organize mandatory school trips in coordination the Ministry of Education where students are taken to environmental pathways to places in nature or field trips Students would learn that this is our land which we should protect The fourth aspect is promoting culture among students where we skip seminars because the youth don't like them to give lessons or the mystery that you want the youth to know or the idea that you want the youth to know through plays, art and drwing which promotes culture among the city's youth and the exchange between cultures with other youth councils who would also benefit from our youths as we would from theirs this way we reach a better and more beautiful future Thus we would not have problem like smoking and we would have public places where the youth enjoy and then we would develop the idea of national sense in our country this is our city and we should take care of it I am running for the youth council and in the council we pick a president and the vice president I am running for the youth council of Bethlehem first, we fill a membership application for the public body then, if the application is accepted we can nominate ourselves those interested from the public body can run for the local youth council in Bethlehem in the council, we elect a president and a vice president to be honest, I'd love to be the president because I have a lot of things for the youth like decisions So I implement those decisions which I can and the ones which I can't implement I would go to the interested parties to help each other in implementing those decisions To be honest, I would like to be the president of the youth council in Bethlehem because I have a lot of decisions (ideas) that I can benefit the youth from if anyone else has better decisions, I would give them this position because I'm running for the benefit of the city The decisions that I can implement I will while those that I can't I won't loose hope and say that these decisions will not be implemented no, I will go to the interested parties in order to work together to implement those decisions First, because I trust myself Secondly, I'm not the only person who can represent my community there are a lot of people who can represent the community and if we put our hands together we will reach our goal From the 3rd until the 13th of October there is the elections campaign if you are running in those 10 days, I will try as much as I can to deliver my ideas to the people of course with the team who will be in the youth council with me I will try to deliver my idea not the one that I write but the one in my heart which I'm running for I will start my campaign I will talk about the issues or ideas that I am running to handle On this day, the previous youth council will resign I will start my elections campaign I will talk about the issues or ideas that I'm running to handle and to find solutions that fit them I talk briefly about my campaign and I will talk to my classmates about what I am going to do I will begin my campaign by presenting the issues and ideas which I will tackle and solve if I will be part of the council I am very happy even if I don't get into the council I am delighted because by this nomination I'd show the people that people with disabilities are half the society and they can implement and reach positions and that they are not marginalized I am not nervous to present my speech on the contrary, I am excited I am excited that the time would come when I tell the youth what I can do When I was not able to run the elections, when I was younger than 16 I questioned why as sometimes the children can think and do After I became 16, I am very excited that I am running the elections So thank God that I nominated myself I want to solve the youth problems in our city because our city can be much better because it is our bigger home and it will be the city that we will be in when we get old Children When I was less than 16 years, I used to think why children cannot nominate themselves for such things they are called youth councils we can find solutions for the youth problems because children can think and sometimes they can help after I became 16 years old I got more excited, I thought that I am running and things got serious now I have to put forward ideas and issues that the youth suffer from because this city is our bigger home and when we get older we'll stay here The youth here should be heard, because the older generation, not all of course the older generation used to think that the youth are young and that we should be their president I say to these people that a lot of people deserve this position more than you because they can do for the city and can bring for it I am not only talking about Bethlehem only with all my respect in Palestine, there are a lot of people [the youth] with positions they don't deserve as there are people who can do more If people think that I cannot do, why should I take a position I should leave it for othersw we don't have such thing, they take the positions to show off They should leave this position to others because others can work more If we have this law in Palestine, we will achieve our goals and more The voices of our youth should be heard The older generation thought of taking the presidency [of the council] because those are children who do not deserve with all my respect, some people don't deserve their positions So, there are youth who deserve that position there are people who do not deserve the position but the youth can do, and we can reach a better future The youth voice should be heard in the society because the youth understand their problems more The adults understand the problems of the adults each have their own generation In case the youth agree among themselves, they can achieve a particular goal there are centers and positions here in the city not only here, there are a lot of positions where people don't deserve them if the position was given to youth like a director of an institute if there was a young man if there was a young man they can achieve their goal faster but for the youth's goal not the goal of the adults The adults can solve their own problems for sure The youth know their own problems and the solutions They know how each other think and how to deliver any information Therefore, the youths' voices are very important in our society to have a better society My teacher who taught me in first, second and third grades will be there My classmates and friends will also be there, I mean my close friends My friends who I will work with hand in hand to solve their problems and at the same time they would suggest solutions So, tomorrow I will convey my message to them so that they stand by me I salute them all I express myself through poetry and playing music Once, my aunt came and asked me what do you want to be in the future I answered human rights [defender] So she told me tomorrow is the international women's day which is March 8th I was 6 or 7 years old She asked me whether I liked to recite a poem I told her OK on the same day I was able to know the poem by heart, it was three pages long I knew it by heart It was called "This is your day, my lady" The next day I recited it Everyone thanked me and Dr. Vera was there After that, my parents began to discover that I have this talent Three years ago, I started composing I started writing poetry I saw that all the poems I recited were very beautiful and I salute all the poets but I like to say what's in my heart through my poems that's why I decided to write poetry The poems I used to recite were as a reciting hobby and not to express myself What I like to express myself through poetry is the people's problems, the problems that people suffer from and the internal problems that need solution, I don't mean the occupation the internal problems [a poem called "I don't see you"] This is a solution to the people's problems as I invite them not to mock me and that I have the right to live So I don't speak about myself I've put culture, plays, reciting poetry, and playing music in my campaign because I've been through a wonderful experience as when I'm happy or sad or in any circumstance at home or outside I write a poem about this feeling I found that the youth can express themselves through plays, poetry and songs there is also drawing and playing music instead of smoking, the youth can express themselves by writing what they're feeling to write a poem, or perform a play, write a song about that write a song about what they're going through Once we were invited to a festival at the Russian Center I was with my parents There was a sound of an instrument that I loved so much among all other instruments that I heard, I loved this one I asked my mom what is that sound she told me the sound of Qanun I told her I want to learn, and she was surprised The first time I went to the Edward Said National Conservatory in Beit Sahour So everyone was surprised how, an instrument with 78 strings how will you learn, it is difficult The will makes miracles I was insisting to learn and I reached fourth year of playing music I finished five years Also, I also play the Bagpipe The first instrument is Qanun because I forgot to say Also, the bagpipe. Two years ago, I went with my cousin to the Orthodox scouts practice in Bethelehm I went with him I told them that I want to play the bagpipe My mom asked how will you walk with them I told her that it'll be solved I entered on 16 December and on 24 December I joined them I was playing on the bagpipe very well and I knew all the songs Thank God, I now consider myself half professional bagpipe player To be honest, music is the basis of life for me. That is what I consider music I love to play because I like silence and love the sound of oriental music like the Qanun and Oud I feel relaxed and forget all life's concerns that's around me so I live in the music Sometimes I would play spontaneously in order to feel better I feel that I have a voice in my poems and playing music and now if God wills, I will have my voice heard through the youth council This will promote culture among the youth to whom I will send my message Secondly, through poems and music I convery a message instead of reciting a poem, I will talk about it through the youth council the ideas of my poems are the ideas that I'll discuss in the youth council. Instead of reciting a poem, I discuss it in the youth council. I mean the ideas that I talk about in the poems are the same as those at the youth council I find that my voice in a poem and music and my voice at the youth concil each one has its message, like the poem I talk about the people problems while playing music I solve my concerns, I feel relaxed and my feelings and conscious. Through the youth council I tell all the people that people with disabilities or all the youth are active members in the society and can make a difference if they have a chance To be honest, I write poems after 11PM until 4AM while sitting on the balcony First, I sit to think what are the problems that people suffer from that I can criticize and the problems of the people which I can also criticize because all my poems are criticism and at the same time praise the people. Criticizing them but at the same time giving them solutions First, I write the ideas and hints on Microsoft word on my computer Then I think how can I write it So I start writing a poem and focus on the rhyme and alphabets and I focus on the end of the sentences All of this I'm not restricted to it sometimes I'm not restricted to the rhyme The most important is my message to reach the people and benefit from it not only reach them, I want to convey it for them to benefit I don't write for them to clap to me First of all I think about what I want to write I think of the people's problems and their solutions I think of the problems the people suffer from and the solutions Then I write on my laptop on Microsoft word the solutions, the ideas and hints Then I think how I will write this poem So, I start writing each line but I'm not restricted with the rhyme and the end of the sentence I focus on sentences while others no because the aim of my poems to send my message to the people and benefit from it I don't want to talk only and they say George recited a poem I recite a poem for the people to benefit from my poem and they try to implement it in their daily life I also like to play music I love to write my poems in quiet time Sometimes when I can't write or think I put the sound of trees or water or music with birds on my laptop I feel that I am sitting quietly and can think I cannot write any word if there is any distraction I also like to play music in a quiet place in order to feel the place even if there is no one to feel that the place give me its attention and hears me because when I'm playing music on the stage or anywhere else and feel that the crowd are not reacting I loose my concentration and I will not be able to continue playing I like to play in a quiet place to feel that the place is listening to me To be honest, when I was younger I thought my future would be in studying in the USA and forget about here but then I thought why, this is my country It's not only me, the youth think to immigrate to study abroad instead of thinking to build our country to create our future here so we'd live in a country like America instead of traveling abroad, we work on our country My dream is that everyone would get a degree and think logically My dream which I wish will be achieved is that every youth among us has a degree That is educated youth and that they'd think in a logical way and that they wish the best for our country and help in constructing it I don't feel nervous to meet with any minister or president from around the world My job is to be a citizen who takes care of his country and his job is a minister and to take care of me My role models are my father, mother and grandmother My grandmother is the loving mother who raised us up, and my mother as well my mother has struggled for her children my father as well, he struggled because of me So they are my role models My role models in everything because they did not lose hope in educating me and they kept educating me until I stand in front of you today They are my role models in life, so I will not lose hope in my life on the contrary, I will continue