Last August, Youth Journalism International Senior Reporter Jessica Elsayed began a journal to explain Ramadan as it was happening.
With this year’s Ramadan slated to get underway as early as Sunday evening — different regions have different starting points — this is an opportune moment to call attention to her work.
Here is her introduction from last year, followed by links to the individual journal entries that Elsayed wrote:
As Ramadan begins, I 
will pray a lot and read the Qu’ran.
But I also hope to spread through writing for Youth Journalism International what Ramadan is truly about – why and how we celebrate it – in an attempt to break the media’s stereotype and possibly create a much needed bridge between the West and Middle East.
In this journal I will explain as much as my knowledge can serve me about The Holy Month and occasionally have pictures of the forms of celebration in Egypt.
Islam is a beautiful religion. And nothing saddens me more than seeing how the media has made it synonymous with extremism and terrorism.
Sometimes I wish I could bring people to meet my family, friends and neighbors to see the kind of people we are.
The world is in dire need to mend its misconceptions and the right time to do so is now.
Just In Time For Ramadan: A Primer
Reporter Mehran Shamit, also of Youth Journalism International, wrote a related piece last September about Ramadan in Canada. Here’s a link to that story.
