Arabic Speaking Journalistic Storytelling Writer

Compose.ly; United States; On-site; USD 45,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

Compose.ly seeks a thoughtful, journalistic storyteller to capture life at a children’s home in Egypt and its broader community. You will interview caregivers, staff, and children in Arabic and craft engaging English narratives that document daily life, preserve history, and support the organization’s mission.

The role values strong interviewing, cultural sensitivity, and the ability to balance sensitive topics with warmth and humor while producing content for ongoing publication.

Qualifications

• Experience in journalism, narrative nonfiction, interviewing, or human-interest storytelling.
• Strong interviewing skills capable of drawing meaningful anecdotes from conversations.
• Ability to balance serious subjects with warmth, humor and everyday joy.
• Fluency in Arabic; Egyptian dialect preferred; familiarity with regional dialects welcomed.

Responsibilities

• Conduct recurring interviews with organizational leaders, caregivers, staff, and children.
• Interview in Arabic and produce polished stories in English.
• Identify compelling anecdotes from daily life at the home and community.
• Develop journalistic, authentic stories reflecting voices and personalities.
• Connect stories to the organization's mission without overt fundraising tone.
• Support a Substack-style publication cadence and content pipeline.
• Collaborate with the team to brainstorm and prioritize story ideas.

Skills

Arabic fluency

English writing

Interviewing skills

Storytelling

Cultural sensitivity

Emotional intelligence

Job description

The client is seeking a thoughtful, journalistic storyteller to capture the everyday stories, experiences, challenges, and moments of joy within its children's home and broader community.

The writer will interview members of the community and transform those conversations into compelling English-language stories that document life at the home, preserve its history, and connect individual experiences to the organization's larger mission and vision. The content should inspire readers and help challenge traditional perceptions and stigmas surrounding orphanages, vulnerable children, and charitable giving without approaching the stories from a direct fundraising perspective.

Profile Overview

The ideal writer is a strong interviewer and narrative storyteller who is fluent in Arabic and an excellent English-language writer. They should be comfortable speaking with children, caregivers, staff, organizational leaders, and other members of the community and have the emotional intelligence necessary to handle both sensitive and lighthearted subject matter.

The strongest candidate would speak Egyptian Arabic and understand the cultural context of Egypt. Writers fluent in closely related Arabic dialects, including those spoken in Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria, may also be considered if they can communicate comfortably with interview subjects.

A feminine storytelling voice is highly preferred, though this is not a hard requirement.

Scope

• Approximately 5 hours/week (22 hours/month) to start
• Opportunity to increase the commitment as the storytelling program grows
• Initial content expected to support a recurring Substack-style publication

Responsibilities

• Conduct recurring interviews with organizational leaders, caregivers, staff, and, where appropriate, children.
• Conduct interviews in Arabic and produce polished stories in English.
• Identify compelling anecdotes and narratives from the day-to-day life of the home.
• Capture a broad range of stories, including humorous, heartwarming, challenging, inspirational, and historically significant moments.
• Develop journalistic, anecdotal stories that feel authentic to the voices and personalities of the people involved.
• Connect stories naturally to the client's mission and vision when appropriate without forcing a connection.
• Document the organization's evolving history, including everyday operational challenges, programs, community life, and future expansion.
• Capture stories from across the home's 13 apartments and its wider community of children, caregivers, staff, and programs.
• Potentially experiment with stories told from different perspectives, including organizational leaders, children, employees, caregivers, and even the animals at the home.
• Help develop a consistent week-by-week storytelling cadence for a Substack-style publication.
• Collaborate with the team to brainstorm and prioritize an existing pipeline of potential stories.
• Handle sensitive personal stories involving vulnerable children and families with maturity, empathy, discretion, and care.

Skills and Qualifications

• Fluency in spoken Arabic with the ability to conduct natural, nuanced interviews.
• Strong preference for Egyptian Arabic; fluency in a closely related regional dialect may also be considered.
• Demonstrated experience in journalism, narrative nonfiction, interviewing, profile writing, or human-interest storytelling.
• Strong interviewing skills and the ability to draw meaningful stories and anecdotes from conversations.
• Ability to balance serious subject matter with the warmth, humor, and everyday joy of the community.
• Strong cultural sensitivity and emotional intelligence.
• Ability to preserve an interviewee's authentic voice while shaping conversations into engaging narratives.
• Comfortable writing about children, caregivers, family circumstances, charitable organizations, and sensitive social issues.
• Ability to connect individual stories to a larger organizational mission without making the content feel promotional or fundraising-driven.
• A warm, feminine storytelling voice is highly preferred.
• Ability to occasionally visit the home in Egypt is a plus, but not required.

About Client

The client provides a home and comprehensive support system for vulnerable and orphaned children in Egypt. Its community currently includes 86 children living across 13 apartments, supported by caregivers and a broader team of staff.

The organization seeks to provide children with a true sense of family and access to opportunities that help them become leading members of society. Children attend schools outside the facility and have access to extracurricular activities, meals, programming, and other forms of support.

Beyond the children living at the home, this client supports other orphanages and children through additional programs and is planning further expansion. Through storytelling, the organization hopes to preserve the history of this growing community, share its everyday experiences, inspire others to do good, and challenge stigmas surrounding vulnerable and orphaned children.