we are not numbers

emerging writers from Palestine tell their stories and advocate for their human rights

Dalia Alnajjar

Dalia describes herself as an "ambitious female who wants to make a positive change in the world. I see the beauty in everything and am annoyingly optimistic!"

After graduating from the Islamic University of Gaza with a degree in business administration, Dalia now is living in Turkey, where she is studying for her master's degree in human resources management. She is cofounder of Xyla Water, a startup that "aims to tackle the sixth UN sustainable development goal, (SDG) “Clean Water and Sanitation,” by innovating to address the world's water-access problems.

In 2017, a group of five young entrepreneurs from around the globe were selected as the "25 under 25 earthpreneurs" for the Young Sustainable Impact 2017 innovation program in Oslo, Norway. After working online for four and a half months and doing extensive research, the team decided to work on SDG 6. This was the birth of Xyla Water, formed in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and supported by researchers at the Lahore University of Management Sciences in Pakistan to help realise a future with global access to clean water.

The cofounders are from Belgium, India, Pakistan and Palestine.