UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, in Jordan and Seven Circles today announced the winners of their joint “Youth Empowerment Online Cartoon Competition”, which they launched on 1 November in collaboration with renowned cartoonist Omar Al Abdallat. Sara Al-Gharaibeh, 20, of Ajloun and Huda Al-Alamy, 29, of Amman were each awarded $500 for their winning cartoons by HyperPay. They will also have their cartoons featured on the Working Dreamers, UNFPA Jordan and Hayat Al Shabab websites.

Sara Al-Gharaibeh’s cartoon, entitled “My Cactus”, was chosen by 994 online voters on the Working Dreamers online platform. With the description, “The cactus resembles motherhood because it’s strong, beautiful, cute and bestows positive energy to all,” Sara’s cartoon depicts a cactus that contains a fetus surrounded by flowers. “The subject of motherhood is extremely important, and the least I can do is portray it as a cactus to show all of the compassion and patience that exists in motherhood,” says Sara.

Huda Al-Alamy’s cartoon, entitled “Do Your Best, We Want a Boy”, depicts an overwhelmed mother who is surrounded by six young daughters as she drags along a growing male fetus that represents the pressure she feels to have a boy. “It’s not nice for a mother…when people ask her to give birth to a boy, which is something out of her control,” the description says. “I was so happy to participate in this competition,” says Huda. “It highlighted topics that should be introduced to the younger generation.”

Huda’s cartoon was selected by a jury consisting of Omar Al Abdallat, an award-winning cartoonist, Bayan Zreqat, a freelance digital artist and 2D animator, Laila Baker, representative of UNFPA Jordan, Leana Islam, youth program analyst at UNFPA Jordan, and Dalia Abutteen, marketing manager at HyperPay.

“Huda’s cartoon is something that many mothers, young and old, who feel the need to have a boy child, even at the expense of their health and well being, can relate to,” says Laila Baker. “As a woman herself, we felt that Huda’s cartoon also conveyed the frustration, and even anger, that girls are less valued than boys in our society.”

The online cartoon competition was held from 1 November to 30 November and invited youth in Jordan of all nationalities, aged 15-30, to submit original cartoons that creatively highlight one of the following two topics: safe motherhood; safe deliveries (normal and cesarean sections) and care for newborns. The competition collected a total of 122 cartoon submissions and 8,337 votes.

To view the online cartoon competition, please visit: www.workingdreamers.com