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When I think about the origin of the word “story”, I immediately associate it with our daily lives. Interestingly, the term "story" originates from the Latin word "historia", which means both "history" and "narrative". This reflects the deep connection between storytelling and the recording of events, whether factual or fictional. As a child, I was drawn into the world of video gaming; it had both positive and negative influences on my life. Initially, I played games to obtain a sense of being rewarded. However, I later realised that gaming was time-consuming and led me to neglect my studies. One major aspect of my gaming was the immense joy I found in communicating with other gamers via platforms such as ‘Discord’, where I would chat and speak with others for hours on end. This habit persisted for years before I finally managed to free myself from gaming. Yet, despite its drawbacks, gaming had an unexpected benefit—it enhanced my writing skills.
When the intense wars began affecting my city, Gaza, I decided to channel my writing skills in order to share my experiences and those of my people with the world. Before embarking on this journey, I completed six months of training as a writer with the group ‘We Are Not Numbers’ and attended various creative writing courses. Storytelling is especially meaningful to me because it is deeply rooted in our identity. I write stories that reflect my experiences and those of my community. The training with ‘We Are Not Numbers,’ a project encouraging young Gazans to share their stories, has enhanced my writing skills. During those six months, we honed our writing abilities, improved our confidence in expressing ourselves, and even discovered that we are able to amplify our voices; I found my inner potential and my literary calling during those 6 months, and it still remains an enigma to me to this very day why it took so long for this awakening to take place within me. My memory had been numbed, had gone into humble retreat, but could never be erased. Such personal experiences have solidified my belief in the power of storytelling.
The ‘We Are Not Numbers’ project empowers young Palestinians to share their personal narratives with a global audience. By providing mentorship and a platform for expression, the initiative helps participants articulate their experiences, preserving individual and collective memories. This act of storytelling serves as a form of resistance, ensuring that Palestinian voices are heard and their stories remembered.
For Palestinians, storytelling—whether spoken or written—is considered a tool of resistance, a way to assert identity and strive for liberation, as reflected in Ghassan Kanafani’s novella, “Men in the Sun”. Published in 1962, this powerful narrative delves into the struggles of Palestinian refugees seeking better opportunities. It follows three Palestinian men of different generations attempting to travel from refugee camps in Iraq to Kuwait in search of work. Their journey symbolises the broader Palestinian experience of displacement and the quest for dignity.
Each story has its beginnings; a story could emanate from a sudden idea or thought, a moment in life, or from a voice calling out in urgency, a tale untold, or misunderstood. Certain stories will challenge the listener’s assumptions, but they have the right to be heard, for the voices reaching out, though they be the voices of the marginalised, are valid expressions of life.
The journey from initial kindling to the outburst in publication is a blend of exhilaration and laborious work, which involves rigorous research, writing, and persistence. During that journey, meeting people who share their most profound, innermost struggles and triumphs becomes rewarding, and offers prideless lessons in resilience, empathy, and the significance of attentive listening.
Seeing one’s name published is of lesser importance than igniting conversations and providing perspectives that headlines often overlook. Complex issues can be raised in the forum of human debate, and individuals brought together as being benefactors in the global community.
Storytelling has been a major part of my life, not simply for self-expression, but also in my journey to form strong, meaningful connections. By sharing stories, I have had the good fortune to encounter the most wonderful individuals who have now become friends for life. Destiny has brought us together, and storytelling is our common denominator. Through shared storytelling, new opportunities have opened up, and the passion to share our experiences with the world has been kindled. Be it through discussion, or writing, storytelling is the thread that holds the fabric of time together.
Ultimately, storytelling is a collective and collaborative endeavour that challenges assumptions, reveals the human side of pressing issues, and, hopefully, inspires change. The process of bringing a story to life is both rewarding and demanding. I have had the privilege of meeting individuals who have shared with me their hardest struggles and momentous triumphs. I have learned a lesson in resilience, empathy, and the power of listening, and for that I remain forever grateful.
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