Knock Knock Knocking on All Doors
Ashraf Akram graduated from Al-Quds University in 2014 with a major in Economics and a debt of 3000 dollars. Prepared with skills and knowledge, he put his resume together and sent it out to multiple organizations that were hiring in Palestine, hoping to pay his debt in order to get his diploma.
Four months later, bored of “hanging out” on the streets and with no replies, he found himself in the same cycle of those around him: the need for experience to get a job and the lack of jobs to get the experience.
But after many false starts, Akram is now the founder of Forus Sifer Kilometer, an initiative that aims to grow and promote alternative job opportunities for young Palestinians and connect them to the international job market. He agreed to share his personal story in an attempt to raise awareness about the employment situation of young Palestinians in the West Bank and bring change.
From University to Jail
Akram confronted the same obstacles as many other young Palestinian college graduates. It is common among Palestinians to look for work permits in Israel that promise stable jobs and better salaries. If these are denied to them, many chose to work illegally as construction workers in Israel. That’s how Akram ended up working in construction in the city of Ashkelon; together with other Palestinians, many holding a bachelor’s degree. Only a few months later, he was caught by the police and sent to an Israeli prison for 17 days, where he had to use his savings to clear up his file.
Israeli police doesn’t make it easy for illegal workers who are caught. If they are from the south of the West Bank, they get released in the north and the other way around. “At 5 in the morning with no money, wearing flip flops and shorts,” said Akram, “they put me in Tulkarem City far in the north. The car from their to Dura costs $193. I was lucky I found other workers to share this with and pay the driver when I arrived Dura.”
Frustrated and determined, he took the risk and returned to Israel with the same bad luck and same story: He got caught, sent to prison and it took all of his new savings to be released. Tired and thousands of shekels after, Akram understood the risk was too high and left Israel before getting caught again. Instead, he looked for workshops and trainings in the West Bank.
Back to Square One
Back home, Akram improved his resume and tried his luck again. But again he was met with, only silence, some encouragement and promises not kept. He then focused on growing his professional network and arranging personal interviews in his field of studies. “I received zero benefits from those meetings,” said Akram, “Sometimes I borrowed suits from someone else. “Sometimes I would go with fancy clothes, thinking ‘this matters in getting opportunities.’”
Paying Debt at a Slow Pace
Akram’s next destination was Ramallah, in the central West Bank, where he took a training program at Ritaj Managerial Solutions, an enterprise that works on solutions for highly demanding work environments. No job paid enough to cover his daily expenses so he moved back to the town of Dura to build bricks. Though his expenses were covered and he began paying his debt, the $18 salary for 13 hours was not sustainable since it was only a summer job.
Sweet and Sour Nablus
Akram found a great opportunity in Nablus in the business and economics field doing a 3-month internship at a loan association paying $100 a month. Only 2 out of the 47 interns would be hired by the company at the end of the program but he had no money to pay for his expenses until then. Another big door closed right in front of his eyes.
Insanity
Under Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity, when one does the same thing over and over again expecting different results, Akram can be considered insane. He went back to Israel but this time it wasn’t the police who caught him but a big stone that fell on his leg. With no access to health care, he put on a clean cloth and endured the pain for three hours on his bus trip back to Jerusalem and then to Dura. “This was the last time I worked there,” said Akram. This was not the life or choices he chose but the ones that chose him. “I was following the stream, and trying to catch anything coming up.”
What comes first, the chicken or the egg?
At this point, Akram still had no job, no money and no university diploma. He proposed to his university that he pay his debt through a deferred payment plan: That was impossible without proving his work/income. Then he came up with the idea of getting to a Gulf country to work there. However, without a university diploma, he couldn’t work.
Since he left his parent’s house at the age of 18, Akram hasn’t gotten any financial help from them. So desperate for some cash, he sold his laptop. Gladly, he still had his phone, and he began watching YouTube videos about how to make charcoal. Though good at first, he quickly ran out of materials to produce larger amounts.
“I met with three other friends and we were discussing that our time is wasted but we still feel we are better than the people around us who are the same age,” said Akram. They came up with some ideas for online companies with outside investors and an online payment system but they remained just ideas. According to Akram, they had no access to investors and given the high levels of depression among the youth there is no encouragement for new initiatives.
A New Story
Paul Costello, the founder of New Story Leadership, an organization that brings together Israelis and Palestinians in a summer program in Washington D.C., visited Bethlehem to look for participants. Costello asked Akram if he had a project in mind to change society; “I told him if I can do one project for this community it would be to make all the young people have something to do to enhance their economic situation.” Akram’s idea was to create temporary jobs for Palestinians. He didn’t know the concept of freelancing back then.
Building Bridges (Legally)
He sought to become a bridge, connecting people looking for services with students who can provide them. Together with his friend, they matched a young boy looking for a math tutor with an unemployed math graduate. Likewise, they connected Akram’s cousin, who is a translator, with a group of Australian tourists. “She was gaining experience and it was the first time she felt she did something by herself,” said Akram. Nonetheless, they were not making money from these connections. “We just helped them feel better and they became more self-confident,” he said.
In the Land of Opportunity
Akram was accepted to the NSL program in D.C. Afterwards, he did an internship at the Conflict Resolution Center of Montgomery County. In the meantime, he became an Arabic teacher through a website called Thumbtack. Towards the end of his trip in the U..S, he met someone interested in working with him about political expectations in the Middle East. Hoping to get hired by this man, he shared his insights and engaged in conversations and the man paid $500 after three weeks. Akram’s reaction was like: “WOW. I felt that I have something that can help me sustain my life.”
Where do we go from here?
“If you ask me what my dream is about the future of Palestine, I would say that we open to the world and connecting with different cultures.” Akram wants to change the perception of Palestinian culture away from a nation of poor people to one of a nation inhabited by smart, strong, well-educated individuals who are able to overcome obstacles, restrictions and borders.
Akram believes that Palestinians must move away from thinking of themselves as victims and towards being creative people and more opportunities will come their way.
Hungry for freedom, creation, learning, developing and experiencing new things, Palestinians endure physical and emotional limitations. “I want the Palestinian youth to show up and believe that their minds are no less than other youth in the world,” said Akram, who strongly believes in the ideas and creativity of his peers.
To be continued…
