Even if I’m saying that I love Western culture and I love England,
people always hate the fact that I'm a Muslim.
My name Is Jana Hesham, also known as "The Friendly Arab" on YouTube.
I make videos about what it's like to be an Arab teenager growing up in Britain.
My religion doesn’t define who I am and where I'm from doesn’t define who I am.
There's more to me than that, so people can look past that.
Some people don’t know a lot about Islam.
Be prepared to get a lot of misinformed questions.
"What's the difference between being Muslim and being Islam?"
Even though on my videos I'm trying to see both perspectives in every single situation,
people still feel intimidated by the fact that I'm a Muslim and that I'm from the Middle East
and they think I have some sort of hidden agenda in my videos.
My flatmates even wrote a song about me being Muslim.
"Jana is a Muslim and she prays on a mat facing Makkah."
"Jana is a Muslim and she likes 9/11 it's her favourite type of Porsche."
"Jana is a Muslim and she blows up pictures on Photoshop."
I do get overwhelming positivity from a lot of Muslims in England and Saudi Arabia,
a lot of people tell me they really enjoy my videos
and they’re happy that I'm trying to show we're just normal teenagers,
but I also get a lot of negative comments from people in the Middle East.
They feel I'm either trying to be too Western or I’m trying to pretend to be someone that I'm not.
It's just not the case, I was raised in London and this is who I am.
I've never pretended to be anything else.
No matter what opinion you choose to have, we are people too.