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August 25, 2012
Posted: 1027 GMT
Over 8000 people live in the Palestinian town of Allar. A number, 15 year old Bashaer Othman says is manageable to govern. Othman has probably spent the best summer of her life. She ran the town…Literally. Othman became the youngest girl in the world to serve as a mayor, when she was chosen as part of an educational youth program for the position. “The real challenge is when I become a minister, I will deal with all Palestinians, not only 8000 people” says Othman. For this ambitious leader this position has made her “fall in love” with political and social work and even made her consider a major in international studies upon graduation. “Palestinians need a true leader and I want to be part of this leadership.” She says. Othman tells CNN, she has been attending meetings and giving speeches and even signing off on projects for her town. No shying away for this girl. She has been working at the municipality for almost a month and half and is already making some changes. She wants to start a local civil defense unit. “When there’s a fire, people used to wait for firefighters to come from a nearby town. Am currently working on opening a fire department with 6 branches across my town.” Out of 255 members at the Local Youth Council in Allar, 12 boys and girls were elected to work as members of the municipality and Othman was elected to become the mayor for 2 months. In the little time that she has this young mayor is hoping to give back to her fellows. And her friends are hopeful she will start a change that will make their future better. The dearest project to her heart is renovating the town’s library. She says “I think it all starts with education.” Othman, a usual contender in poetry and reading competitions in her town, thinks youth can start by reading. “The library has been sitting there for years. The books are old and no one wants to go there.” Othman has all the support she needs from Allar’s regular mayor, Sufian Shadid, who handed the power to her for two months The youngster says she meets with the mayor everyday for an hour and they go over the projects she is working on.
Posted by: Aroub Abdelhaq
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