The educator and activist Samah Sakran describes herself as “the most Israeli, and also Arab.” That self-definition has guided Sakran’s work as founder and manager of the Sufraa’ al-Mahba organization, a nonprofit group working to support at-risk Arab youth. Her organization helps to provide career guidance, financial and social support, and community integration for young Arab-Israelis, one of the most vulnerable populations in Israeli society.
“The situation of our youth is more difficult than in the general population,” Sakran said of Arab youngsters. “Crime and violence are celebrated, and thus there is a lack of stability. The war only added to this, and did a lot of economic harm. This has made it even harder on our social activists who want change.”
Sakran is 35 years old and divorced, with a daughter in fifth grade and a son in the third. She lives in the Arab municipality of I’billin in the western Galilee. In addition to running Sufraa’ al-Mahba—Arabic for “ambassadors of love”—Sakran also teaches 11th grade Hebrew at I’billin high school. Her decision to found the organization stemmed from her work as an educator. Several years ago, Sakran started work at a new school where most of the students were classified as at-risk youth. “I learned to get to know them, and I got to know their families. I got to know their difficulties,” she said. “I knew what was going on with them.”
One day, Sakran decided to take the students to volunteer in Haifa’s Rambam Hospital. “To see them like that, not in a school environment, taking responsibility for what they were doing and feeling like they had value, that people were looking them in the eye, it was like truly seeing them,” she recounted. She was surprised to realize that no framework existed to provide marginalized Arab youth with volunteer opportunities.
“No one takes this subject seriously. No one really cares about these youths’ lives, and that’s worrying,” Sakran said.
Thousands of Arab youth are expelled from school each year, and these expelled youngsters find themselves isolated and neglected. Most of them wander the streets idly, with no real motivation. “We have no leaders in the community,” Sakran lamented. “Despite all the conflicts happening between the Arab population and greater Israeli society, there is but one truth that cannot be changed, and it is that we are citizens of the state of Israel. It is we who must tip the scales to change the situation.”
“What happens in your own community, that truly touches your life, that is what really interests and motivates me,” Sakran said. “Every day we count murders in the Arab community. It is unimaginable that the situation is so horrible and has only worsened over the years. It is imperative to deal with this. There are deep societal issues, and my friends and I must make our voices heard loud and clear in order to bring about a slow but real change. Only thus will these young people develop, go to school, start families, and successfully integrate here and live lives of peace and tranquility. We need to speak to them of these dreams. It is possible.”
Sakran genuinely believes in the possibility of education to change the direction of the Arab sector and of Israeli society as a whole. “I truly believe that the children are our state’s future,” she said. “Through education, anything can change. Education is a long road. You cannot press a button and it happens. Only after many years is it possible to sense a change. What we need to do is to take the reins, and to spur ourselves on in order for this place to be good, through the next generation.”
Sakran’s nonprofit aspires to provide comprehensive support to at-risk Arab youth, addressing the educational, social, and financial spheres. The organization works through initiatives and projects that generate change within the teenagers’ own communities all throughout the towns and villages surrounding Sakhnin. “We find in each and every town children that are in risky situations. For example, children without a mother or a father, or those in difficult socioeconomic positions,” Sakran explained.
The next step is to connect the at-risk teenagers with activists in the field. “We have activists in every village and city, who have been volunteering for years in the spirit of our vision,” Sakran said. About 85 young people and adults take part in the association’s activities, all of them volunteering their efforts.
In the organization’s I’billin center, volunteers run remedial classes for at-risk teenagers three times a week. Apart from these frequent meetings, the organization holds welfare and leisure activities for the benefit of the teenagers, as well as unique community initiatives according to specific needs. “For example, at the beginning of the school year, the association provided the children with school equipment, textbooks, and for some of the students even uniforms,” Sakran said. “We managed to prepare 350 student bags before September 1. The volunteers are doing holy work, really.”
The organization’s funding comes from private donors as well as businesses. “Whenever there is a new initiative on the agenda, the volunteers raise dedicated funds for it,” Sakran explained. “Not only am I a volunteer myself, I also invest my money for the benefit of the association. Unfortunately, we have not yet received support from a government agency, but that will come too. We are just at the beginning of the road.”
It is hard not to be impressed by the sparkle in Sakran’s eyes. It's clear that she's an activist who is ready to fight to the end for what is really important to her, and a unique and groundbreaking female voice in a challenging field. But she views herself as just one of many people with a vision for the Arab sector.
“There is a large public within Arab society that wants to integrate within the state and create a more sane reality for all of us,” Sakran said. “We have the responsibility to integrate into the country, and make a sincere and continuous effort to make it happen.”
For now, one key goal Sakran is trying to advance is increasing the rates of national service within the Arab community. Unlike Jewish Israelis, most Arab Israelis are not required to serve in the military. A small number of Arab Israelis choose to complete volunteer national service—as of 2022, only around 5,000 Arab Israelis were in national service. Sakran wants that number to grow dramatically.
“We want to answer the needs of children 17 and older, through a unique program that will provide guidance for civil national service and connect the children with the state,” she said. “The goal is to open a platform that will provide children with an image of what it is like to be an Arab within the state of Israel. There are Jewish associations that deal with this, but none of them speak our language. Even Arab bodies that deal with it are conducted under a specific council or framework, and I want to bring a different spirit.”
The ongoing war has taken a toll on Sakran’s activism, but it’s also provided more avenues to serve the community. “When the war started, the first thing I thought about was displaced children,” she said. “We headed for the evening to Aramsha, the village that was evacuated from the Lebanese border to Nazareth. I contacted the person who was in charge of the evacuees from there, and I suggested that we volunteer with the children in preparing homework, the teenage classes, to make them happy.”
What keeps her going is the belief that building a new generation of Arab leaders can truly change society. “We need to develop social leadership in Arab society, which will inculcate good values," she explained. “You have to give room to the sane voice to change things. I’m ready to give everything for this dream. In the end, it will benefit my children first and foremost.”
“You need to give the young people the opportunity to lead,” she continued. “I want the children here to grow up in a country that has good education, society, and welfare. This is the democratic, liberal State of Israel and this is the future I wish for us all. We need to cooperate with people who share this vision and march together with them, and be focused. We have every way to do it, and we can succeed.”
This article was translated from Hebrew by Nancye Kochen.
