Rakan's Journey

When we last spoke to Rakan, his initiative was just starting. During the last three weeks, Rakan has made great progress with his Get to Know Palestine initiative. Rakan is a youth participant of the Youth Action Local Leadership Alliance (YALLA), a youth-led civic engagement program for youth ages 12-21. Get to know Palestine is designed to improve  tourism in Palestine and to let people from everywhere - both near and far - know more about Palestine.

During his first week of photography, Rakan took photos in Nablus and visited many sites like the Old City, Attour, Mount Gerizim and Jacob's Well. He tried to focus on the historical side of Nablus because many people are unaware about that side of the beautiful city. Then, he moved on to Ramallah, one of the most active cities in the West Bank. He took pictures of the markets and main streets and he tried to show the busy atmosphere of the city.

In the second week, Rakan took photos of Bethlehem. There, he took pictures of the popular religious sites like the Church of the Nativity, but he also wanted to highlight some of the other less popular, but beautiful sites in Bethlehem. At the end of the second week, Rakan went to Hebron, the largest city in the West Bank. In Hebron, he took photos of the Old City and the Cave of the Patriarchs.

Next week, Rakan will visit Jericho, the oldest city in the world, and he will take amazing photos of the city. Then, he will visit Jenin in the northern West Bank. Be sure to keep up with the TYO blog to stay in touch with Rakan and the other YALLA initiatives.

-Mohammad and Roula

Mohammad and Roula are YALLA's YLC Communications Officers