If your child sees themselves as King Khufu, Alexander the Great or Queen Cleopatra, then Nevine El-Aref knows where you can make their dreams come true As the mid-year school break approaches, parents once again begin to feel nervous as they ponder how to keep their kids busy and out of their hair. This year, however, there is a simple solution: send them to the Children Golden Pharaoh Festival every day from 10am to 3pm. For there they will enjoy a thrilling journey back into history. From 23 January to 6 February, the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square, Manial Palace in Roda, the Greco-Roman Museum in Alexandria and the Alexandria National Museum, will each play host to over 200 children who are expected to come in search of insights into the mysterious and fascinating lives of their ancestors. The aim is to take what was once a dry topic confined to the history text books and bring it alive for the younger generations. So it is with due excitement that the preparations are now entering their final stages. Posters for the festival, featuring a smiling child decked out in Pharaonic garb, can be found at the entrance to every museum announcing the opening day. Meanwhile, dozens of workers along with curators are busy cleaning, painting and furnishing the areas to be dedicated to the festival. And they have everything you could possibly need: projectors, pencils, boards, colours, beads, clay, different kinds of fabric, threads, needles, pins, combs and brushes, as well as brown, black and blond wigs. "This is a real workshop for youngsters," Inji Fayed, head of the culture development department in the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), told Al-Ahram Weekly. For these tools are not just toys, but will act as the raw materials that the children will use to experience for themselves how their ancestors managed their lives and created their eternal civilisation. Under professional guidance, children from six to 16 years old will weave the costumes, form the coiffures and create the jewellery of the king or queen they always dreamed of. At the end of the two-week long workshop, a huge costume party will be organised where the children will be able to wear the costumes they have woven. For children who like photography, there will be special classes to teach them how to shoot a real archaeological photo of an artefact or a site, so as to show up its beauty. "Photos that come up to the standard will be recognised, and the successful photographers will be honoured," Fayed said. Classes in sculpture, painting and drawing will also be available. Some children are already champing at the bit. "Mummy! Mummy! Please, I want to take part in the festival!" said an eight-year-old Dina Hassan, who was eavesdropping on my interview with Fayed. Hassan is already attending a painting class for children offered by the Egyptian Museum. "I want to be Queen Cleopatra, with her golden eagle crown, turquoise necklace and beads over her white robe, like in the film I saw at school," she added, as she pleaded with her mother to forget about their scheduled trip to Sharm El- Sheikh. Soheyla, Dina's mother, said that at first it had been difficult to convince her daughter to join the Egyptian Museum school, yet once she had tried it, it soon became a ritual bordering on the sacred. Fayed added that this school will have branches in four other museums at Nubia, Ismailia, Sixth of October City and Khufu's Solar Boats Museum to give chance for children in other cities to enjoy such activities. "The festival is not the only activity for children which the SCA has introduced," said Zahi Hawass, secretary-general of the SCA. He pointed out that last summer they had laid on a programme called "From Child to Child", which sought to raise Egyptian children's awareness of their ancient heritage and enrich their patriotism by providing them with an entertaining introduction to archaeology. The result was the first children's guide to the Egyptian Museum, produced by teenagers for teenagers. The guide is similar to the one for adults, but with simplified archaeological information and drawings made by the kids themselves. According to Hawass, a second volume will be put together during the winter programme. Similar guides have also been produced for Al-Darb Al-Asfar area -- the area that is home to Beit Al- Suheimi, Beit Al-Khurazati, and Wekalet Bazara -- and for the Old Cairo Religious Compound, which includes Amr Ibn Al-As mosque, the Hanging Church, the Coptic Museum and the Beni Ezra Synagogue. These catalogues are now on sale at the museums and archaeological sites. During this winter, new children's guides to other Islamic and Coptic sites will also be produced. Nor have blind children been forgotten, for a Braille guide to the Egyptian Museum has also just been published. Fayed also mentions the "Sculpting on Sand" programme which ran this summer. Held on seven beaches in Alexandria and along the northern coast, the programme gave children and their parents the chance to participate together in a sculpting competition. Hundreds of Pharaonic statues and temples thus came to decorate the sandy beaches of Sidi Beshr, Anfoushi, Asafra, Agami, Maraqiya and Marina. "The three who produced the most beautiful models were awarded a replica of their work, as well as a lifetime free pass for all Egyptian archaeological sites," she explains. Sculpting on Sand will continue next summer on other beaches in Hurghada, Sharm El-Sheikh and Marsa Matrouh. Similar programmes are also being run for the disabled. Hawass recalls that during a recent visit to the Matariah area to check on ongoing restoration works, he was surprised when a group of kids started singing the song of the Egyptian Museum school when they saw him pass by. "I cannot start to describe the feeling of pride that gave me," he added. Culture Minister Farouk Hosni described this winter's programme as an "intelligent activity" that will help instill an early understanding and respect of cultural heritage into Egyptian youth. "This will improve their attitude towards Egypt's monumental sites and motivate them to protect their past," Hosni concluded.
