Opening
I am the customer in coffee shops; where I see founders hang out with poets, where businesses hug creativity, where loyaltyI am the customer in coffee shops; where I see founders hang out with poets, where businesses hug creativity, where loyalty cards are stacked in back pockets like teenagers stuffing condoms optimistically hoping to get lucky.
I am a lifeline that hasn’t been lived yet,
I am the young person, who hasn’t spoken,
I am the little boy whose dream has just been broken, again
I am the poetry that hasn’t been written yet, the stories I want to share but I haven’t lived yet
I am the ground that shakes when we walk upon it.
Our soil knows that the power is with young people.
They can, for as long as they want, tell us we’re not the greatest. But we’re in the middle of all greatness.
I am the girl that stopped believing in people until they believed in her and now she believes in everyone
I am an older me looking back on life saying well done
I am a death bed of poems I felt weren’t relevant
I am the aftermath of riots that hit my city unexpectedly
I am behind the change makers of this city, that don’t sit on leather chairs in a fancy desk, in a really tall building, they get buses, drink independent coffee, ride bikes to work just to let that humble breeze hit them first thing.
I am poetry
I am the business and the creative
I am one who made family out of those unrelated
We're renovating change because it's not happening naturally. We’re the kind of people that see something missing and fit it with something that exists.
We create platforms for everything and everyone to feel like they belong somewhere as well than in their own skin.
This is impact on everyone
A hub of inspiration.
So let's hold hands through journeys out of conflict into the future.
Let's look at one another like family.
Let's create work and communities of support helping young people to fix broken lives through words, sports, education and love.
There is no you and me, or the other that lives on a different side
It's we and it is us, and through conversations like these we can slot the pound/ euro/ forint to give us a little change.
Peace & love always,
Amerah Saleh
@Voiceofthepoets
You are sat in an airport about to fly out of a city you've called home for some time now.
Your flight number 2020 has no agenda next to it - you watch the wheels of aeroplanes turning but not moving.
You stare at 21 year old mina turning the engine on and off on and off on and off in full pilot gear.
You hear an announcement of the agenda, they say £1,500 goes to the first 40 people on the plane the rest will get £9 each- your body disapproves.
You open a roadmap, question why you don't feel represented in the paper in front of you and close it. You sigh.
Whilst staring at mina you question if she is 70% more likely to be paid more even if you do the exact same training.
You remember you didn't go to university.
You read a sign saying young people's voices need to be understood by those in power. Of course with a picture of a cis white male in a suit saying diversity is great. You cringe
Gate C R O A T I A is open.
The lady checking your passport tells you because you are 23 years old you are 30% more likely to be at risk of poverty
She smiles, enjoy your stay.
Her boss walks towards her and hesitates to smile, her body moves so there is a little more distant between them, she writes on a note I am one of the 75%.
I try connect the dots ... Females in senior management, the note at the bottom of my receipt when buying coffee earlier said "stop women in management being sexually harassed"
I connect more, her name tag says floor manager, she moves slightly away from her colleague... Connect the dots.
I get on the plane and order 22.7% of hope for unemployed females under 25.
Whilst in the sky I make promises to myself
1. I will never call young people disadvantaged
2. I will never talk about young people like they are only the future and not amongst us now
3. I will make art inextricable to change
4. I will remind myself a refugee crisis is only a reflection of our politics.
The plane is landing. The pilot welcomes you "this is a glimpse of the future. Be kind flight 2020"
You notice everyone leaving the plane is different, there is so much colour, the air feels right, the atmosphere is hopeful.
Flight 2020 is the future.
When you get into the airport to take your luggage you see 5 million young people in employment, security guards, helpers, cleaners, pilots, air hostesses
The airport signs are translated in all languages, everyone is understood.
Your passport isn't considered a sign of superiority.
There is no information hidden behind closed doors, everything is in a pocket guide you can pick up just before you leave
No voices are absent here, everyone is welcome to sit on the panel.
At the exit there is a tool box, with adjusted messages for what is relevant to your destination. It's not a one size fits all, but a let's change the size according to the people.
We can fly to the moon from right here, all schools have creatives and professionals supporting kids because we care about more than ourselves.
Action gets taken quicker than any race, everyone wants to do something.
This is a destination of less talking more doing.
Peace & love always,
Amerah Saleh
@Voiceofthepoets