John Cena and Selena Gomez Hit the Streets

During the last three weeks, Deema and Roula made great progress with the Campaign Against Junk Food. Deema and Roula are youth participants of the Youth Action Local Leadership Alliance (YALLA), a youth-led civic engagement program for youth ages 12-21. YALLA initiatives, like the Campaign Against Junk Food are designed to empower youth to raise the level of awareness of the community.

Over the past few months, Deema and Roula have been working closely with a designer who designed and printed the posters. Together, and with the support of the YLC, they edited the poster so that it would better reflect their campaign. One poster teaches children about the harmful effects of candies and soda, and the benefits of eating fruits, vegetables and drinking milk. The second poster, designed to specifically target elementary-aged students, features John Cena and Selena Gomez, two American celebrities that are loved by children all over Palestine. The poster reads, "If you want to be strong like John Cena and beautiful like Selena Gomez, you need to stay away from junk food like chips, cola and chocolate.

They have been visiting the areas where posters will be hung and chose the most strategic locations based on visibility - where many people can see the posters. They also have also coordinated with municipalities, schools and kindergartens in Beit Furik and Nablus, in order to provide Deema and Roula with additional suitable places to hang the posters.

This week, Roula and Deema began hanging their 50 posters throughout Beit Furik and Nablus. Next week, they'll start their visiting schools and kindergartens as part of their advocacy campaign, to talk directly to principals, teachers and students about healthy eating.

- Mohammad and Roula

Mohammad and Roula are YLC Communication Officers