We Are Not Numbers has brought the youth voice in Gaza to the fore. Help us keep going!

This has been a momentous year for Gaza. We may be caged (for now), but this spring we refocused the world’s attention on the origins of Palestinian suffering (1948, not Hamas) and used nonviolent resistance (despite being faced with a deadly barrage from Israeli snipers) to force our way onto the screens of media consumers everywhere.

Members of WeAreNotNumbers.org contributed in the best way we know how—telling the stories of the people. In addition to the stories we wrote or produced ourselves, our writers were interviewed by media in countries ranging from the United States (NBC and NPR), to the UK (BBC), to Japan and Malaysia.

Some of our writers at our third birthday party

Just what is We Are Not Numbers?

If you are new to us, here is a little background. We were founded in 2015 by an American journalist who had lived in Gaza and mentored a young man (now our project manager!) as he wrote a tribute to his brother, who had been killed in Israel's 2014 war on the Strip. The writing-editing process improved his English significantly and the essay was published in an American news outlet that educated a lot of progressives who knew little about Gaza.

Pam and Ahmed decided to replicate the "magic" they had achieved: We Are Not Numbers pairs developing English writers (ages 16-29) with mentors around the world to share the human stories behind the numbers in the news. Watch the video for more information!

We are achieving a level of visibility we never thought possible when we launched in 2015, and that is totally thanks to individual donors like you!

We are very proud of the fact that we are beginning to earn some income both for our project and our writers: We received a U.S. Consulate grant to run a journalism training course, are being paid by Rebuilding Alliance to write stories on its work and are having some luck in placing our writers’ work in other media that actually pay.

Our first journalism class!

However, 90 percent of our operational expenses still must be covered by individual donations. With the money we raise, we pay one full- and two part-time staff members, cover transportation costs for writers’ interviews, organize group activities and hire the equipment needed to shoot our growing number of videos. (One of our writers is producing a regular series of news reports!)

This is where you come in. Please donate whatever you can today and do it early so we can show the momentum that will encourage others. Then, share the link to this page with your friends and family.

You may be wondering why you should give money to a storytelling project  rather than, or in addition to, emergency-relief efforts. Here's why:

• ​Depression and a pervasive sense of hopelessness plagues more than half of young adults. That is even more damaging than physical illness and trauma. Survey results show a "brighter" mindset among our participants.
  
• Young adults (mostly new university graduates who cannot find jobs; the unemployment rate is 66%!) are an underserved population. So much of the NGO programming is focused on women and children.
  
• What programming exists doesn't help young adults earn money or scholarships. We work to place our writers' work with media that will pay, and we also provide coaching, referrals and references invaluable to securing internships or scholarships.
  

Join our family today by donating and spreading the word!​