Last year, Rahaf, Yara and Malak, along with their friends Magdalena and Julie won the annual Hands Up Project Lockdown Theatre competition with their international production of the online play Welcome to Earth. In September, they went on a life-changing trip to the UK to meet for the first time and turn the play into a face-to-face performance.

.The culmination of the trip was a live performance of the play at St. Louise's Comprehensive School. With the help of the drama, art, music and dance departments, the play became a breathtaking intercultural, multimedia experience performed to a packed hall. You can read what it meant to the girls in their own words below.

They had a truly amazing experience, but the positive effects weren't limited to the Palestinian and Czech participants and their mentors; the programme has also impacted on hundreds of pupils and teachers from across the political divide in Belfast.

There have been many wonderful stories generated by this project. For instance, a group of refugee children attending one of the schools where a performance took place, on seeing the girls and hearing their stories, began, for the first time, to speak and share their experiences. This was an astonishing moment for the teachers present.

We're over halfway to covering the costs of the trip. What will your donation mean to the Hands Up Project and the young people who benefit from our work? It will mean that, in a country where 80% of children suffer from depression, fear and anxiety, we can continue to amplify their voices and help to lessen feelings of isolation by connecting them with their peers around the world.