Maha Jaafar
Maha Jaafar (born 1994) is a Sudanese-Iraqi dentist and YouTuber, living in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. She is mainly known as a social media influencer and 'Ambassador' for YouTube’s Creators for Change. After her first successful video in 2016, she became widely known for her videos on cultural diversity in Sudan and about linguistic differences of people in various Arabic-speaking countries.[1] Through her videos on social media, she tries to contribute to fighting hate speech, extremism and xenophobia. In 2020, she was appointed as National Ambassador for Children’s Rights by UNICEF Sudan.
Biography and career
[edit]An article in The National online newspaper in the United Arab Emirates reports that Jaafar grew up in Sharjah and Dubai. She graduated in dentistry from Ajman University and, still a student, started to produce videos on YouTube to "have fun with her friends".[2] According to a video by the BBC's video series Trending, her first video on social media in 2016 was a comical sketch imitating different Arabic dialects and stereotypes that has achieved more than 1.7 million views.[3]
Because of the success with her videos, Jaafar was invited in 2018 to the Creators of Change Summit in London, UK, where she interviewed the Pakistani activist for female education and youngest Nobel Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai.[2] In 2018, she produced a video about the diversity of cultures in Sudan, called Salimmik - A Love Letter to Sudan that has had more than 3.9 million visits according to UNICEF Sudan.[4]
In November 2020, Jaafar was appointed as National Ambassador for Children’s Rights by UNICEF Sudan. As such, she is expected to raise awareness about children's rights, which, as expressed by UNICEF Sudan, includes various "issues affecting children and youth, such as the right to education, the right to health and nutrition, the impact of poverty and discrimination, and the need for protection against violence, abuse and exploitation."[4]
The [Creators for Change] programme is really about fighting hate speech, extremism and xenophobia. It’s to promote love, tolerance and understanding. I imitate accents and I do different characters but – at the same time as making people laugh – I do it to connect different cultures together to show the similarities that we have.[2]
— Maha Jaafar, The National News - Arts & Culture
References
[edit]- ^ "Maha Jaafar". 8th UNAOC Global Forum. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
- ^ a b c "Meet Maha Jaafar, the UAE vlogger helping to clean up YouTube's reputation". The National. 28 January 2018. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
- ^ See the external link for BBC Trending below, where this information is included.
- ^ a b "UNICEF Sudan names Maha Jaafar as new National Ambassador for children's rights". www.unicef.org. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
External links
[edit]- Maha Jaafar's biography, with English subtitles on YouTube
- Maha Jaafar - Dialects on video on YouTube
- Maha Jaafar on BBC Trending on YouTube
- Maha Jaafar visits families affected by Sudan’s worst floods in 100 years on YouTube
- Portrait in Arabic of Maha Jaafar on UN web TV, on occasion of the International day for tolerance, 16 Nov 2018