Stories of ‘unlocking potential’ despite challenges take centre stage at TED in Arabic event

AMMAN — As part of the second TED in Arabic regional event, which was held on Saturday in Amman, Arab speakers shared stories from their personal journeys under the theme “Unlocking Potential, Elevating Stories”.

Following a performance by the Haya Community Orchestra, Ahmed Al Mansour, an instructor at the Qatar Academy for Science and Technology (QAST), said during the opening ceremony that the TEDinArabic platform is the “result of a partnership between the Qatar Foundation (QF), a state-led non-profit organisation in Qatar, and TED sprang from a belief in the values of the Arabic language, offering Arab speakers the opportunity to make their voices heard and ideas known”.

He also announced the launching of the “share your ideas with TEDinArabic” initiative, which will allow youth to share their “creative and inspiring” ideas to get a chance to be among the 16 speakers from all over the world to participate in the TEDinArabic event to be held next year in Doha, Qatar.

Amir Nizar Zuabi, one of the event’s speakers, is a theatre director, playwright and the founder of the Palestinian theatre company, ShiberHur. 

Zuabi, whose works focus on humanitarian causes, told the story of a project he led last year with a group of theatre producers from all over the world. 

The project starred Amal, a 3.5 metre puppet playing the role of a 10-year-old refugee, “representing all displaced children”, he said.

Using 8,000 kilometres as a theatre, the team followed Amal’s journey from the Syrian border and all the way through Turkey, Greece, Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and the UK, according to the “walk with Amal” website, which documented the puppet’s journey.

“This project is meant to highlight the challenges and difficulties refugees are faced with, while also celebrating their ability to overcome them and their determination in looking for a safe life,” said Zuabi.

He also noted that the world tends to view refugees as “a problem or a cause”, which reduces them into numbers and “robs them of their individuality”. 

“This is why we personalised Amal’s journey” to tell the story of a Syrian refugee who is lost and alone in her search for her mother, Zuabi added.

Sheikha Al Jassasi, another speaker at the event, is the first Omani woman with visual impairments to earn a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Bedfordshire University in the UK.

Al Jassasi noted that her parents’ encouragement has allowed her the space “to fall and stand up again on her own” and has played a major role in “strengthening her character” and cultivating a spirit of “defiance and determination”.

The daily challenges Al Jassasi faces include “transportation, colour coordination, looking for lost things …and meeting new people who know nothing about blindness”.

Last year, Jassasi launched an auditory project called the “Noor Podcast”, which is made up of audio episodes she prepared, recorded and produced. It aims to raise awareness of parents with children who have visual disabilities and to help those with visual disabilities became successful and active members of their societies.

The event also hosted the Palestinian activist Muna Al Kurd, who shared her experience with hope and speaking up in favour of just causes.

She discussed the role of social media in garnering support and highlighting the injustice of the displacement of dozens of families in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood, by the Israeli government and Jewish settler groups.

Despite the various obstacles the people of Sheikh Jarrah face in their fight for their homes, “our belief in the justice of our cause is what keeps our hope alive, allowing us to keep moving forward”, said Kurd, pointing to the importance of standing up with just causes wherever they may be in the world.

The event also featured a variety of workshops and an art exhibition displaying artworks by Aida Murad, Hussein Alazaat, Fadi Haddadin and Mohammed Sammour, in addition to a number of paintings created by children with disabilities in the Haya Cultural Centre. 

“A co-creation” corner was also set as part of the art exhibition, inviting visitors to paint different sections of an empty canvas.

According to its website, Ted is an American non-profit media organisation “devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks”.