This week, we had the honor of interviewing Honey Thaljieh, co-founder and Captain of the Palestinian Women’s Football Team. She currently lives in Zurich, where she works for FIFA, but was at our school to talk for the Thought Leadership series. She gave a presentation on Thursday, and on Friday she spoke along with a UEFA women’s football representative.
Honey started playing football at the age of 7 in the streets of Bethlehem. Already this was controversial among the neighbours, as she was a girl running around in shorts rough-housing with the boys. She didn’t let their judgments stop her, though, and continued to play. She did this despite her father’s discouragement, with her mother’s support (although her mother never dreamed she wouldn’t grow out of it!). Honey’s love of football has never wavered, despite her working in Zurich. She plays with her colleagues, despite numerous injuries she’s suffered. When she’s walking around Bethlehem and sees children playing football in the street, Honey will join them – no matter if she’s wearing high-heels, a dress or just trainers. A true inspiration who is doing her work for the beautiful sport of football, and the power it has in bringing people together and promoting dreams.
If you didn’t see her speak, you really missed out. But luckily, The Update has got your back! The presentation was filmed, as was our interview with her. Go check out at the interview at top of this article if you haven’t already and look out for the presentation on our YouTube channel! A full feature of this will be in a future edition of Et Cetera as well – so really, you’re spoilt for choice.
Thanks for reading, and look out for our guest speaker next week!
Click here to look at the speakers coming this term.
-Eloise McMinn Mitchell, Editor-in-Chief of Et Cetera
The Update 
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