I hate how people always say whenever someone proposes a new idea, “You can’t do that. It can’t be done.”
I hate it is because I know it’s not true. Because I’ve seen what “can’t be done” happen with my own two eyes. And I first saw it at Camp, seven years ago.
As any Seed knows, the first day of Camp is uncomfortable. You meet so many new people, from countries you’ve never been to and have never encountered anyone from before. And in that discomfort, it’s easy to imagine the next 20 days and think, “it can’t be done.”
But by the last day of Camp, as the buses rolled in to bring us back to the airport, I saw people from both sides of a conflict crying into each other’s arms. Crying because they were being separated.
In that moment, I saw that not everything I was told my entire life is correct. That yes, it actually can be done.
That image was huge. It inspired me to start creating social change in my community. I now run Sonna, a nonprofit that helps people find jobs here in Jordan. We find companies that are looking to hire for group projects, then match and train job-seekers for those projects based on their skills and how they want to improve themselves. Our office now has over 40 volunteers.
I also work for the Hult Prize, which every year gives $1 million in seed funding to social impact startups and accelerators around the world. And I’m doing this all while balancing my studies at university.
If there was one thing I could say for everyone in the world to hear, it would be this: “Stop waiting for the heroes. They’re not coming. Start being your own hero.”
Jordan is going through a rough time. Seeing how dark it is makes me want to help change things. But it can feel so overwhelming. I try not to think about it, in case it puts me in a bad place.
When that happens, it’s the memory by the bus that always brings me back.