Motaz Amer
My name is Motaz Amer. I was born in Yemen in 2005. My journey started in a land marked by the echoes of war, conflict and displacement. My journey was like that of any other child, just growing up with my parents and going to school, until suddenly the war started. Everyone was shouting, ‘We need to flee, we need to flee. We can't be here. It's not safe. There's no security, there's no safety here. We need to flee!’ We had to make the heart-breaking choice to leave everything behind that once defined my life - my happiness, my house, my harmony. We left the place I used to call home. I left a home, with all its memories, not a country. We had to flee from city to city, from country to country, all the way until the wind brought us here to Northern Ireland.
I didn't know at the time that this unfamiliar land would be the place where my determination and resilience would shine. I didn't know the language, so I had to learn it. I faced barriers and limitations to my dreams. It was hard at first with the new culture, new language, new people, and living in a hotel for a year and a half. It was difficult going through the system of claiming asylum and waiting for refugee status, but finally, three months ago, I got it.
When I first arrived in Belfast, I found love and support, and after I moved from the hotel to a house near Woodvale Park, I found a welcome here in the Shankill, a lovely community of support and brotherhood. Here in Northern Ireland, the people are friendly and have warmth in their hearts.
I started to volunteer with the Prince's Trust, at first to get support from their programmes, and then I moved from the one who was seeking hope to the one who is giving hope. I became a volunteer and then a team leader. After that I became an ambassador, to share my story as a source of inspiration for others and to show that if I made it, you can make it too. I was invited to Buckingham Palace to meet The King who awarded me the UK Young Changemaker Award.
The award acknowledged my work and warmed my heart, but the most important thing wasn't the award, but what I went through to get it. This long journey has given me meaning and purpose to live again, not just for myself, but for others. I want to inspire others and to use the struggles and the disasters I've seen as a source of inspiration.
I'm keeping going as an ambassador for The Prince’s Trust and different organisations. My vision for the future is a world where everyone finds purpose and meaning in life, a world where we give hope to those who need it the most. A world where every life matters, because every life is a story of potential.
My message to the government of Northern Ireland, is that we need to create not just a safe place, but a home where we unlock the potential of people and help them to achieve their dreams and ambitions.
The most important thing we need to do is to help them and support them and to build the best environment for them to thrive.
I’m establishing a Community Interest Company to support young people who struggle with mental health. When I came here, I noticed that it is one of the biggest problems in the country. It's important because if you don't fix what is in your mind, you can't fix what is in your heart. We need to work on our minds so we can deal with the day-to-day challenges, because if we fix ourselves, we can help others, and give back.
The mission statement of my social enterprise is ‘We inspire growth in every individual because every life is a story of potential and every story deserves to be heard.’
Themes: Newcomers, Refugees, Mental Health, Youth, Leadership, Integration