Egypt, S.Arabia step up trade ties through coordination council talks    Egypt reviews progress on $200m World Bank-funded waste management hub    Egypt urges Israel to accept Gaza deal amid intensifying fighting    SCZONE showcases investment opportunities to eight Japanese companies    Egypt, ADIB explore strategic partnership in digital healthcare, investment    SCZONE, Tokyo Metropolitan Government sign MoU on green hydrogen cooperation    Egypt welcomes international efforts for peace in Ukraine    Al-Sisi, Macron reaffirm strategic partnership, coordinate on Gaza crisis    Contact Reports Strong 1H-2025 on Financing, Insurance Gains    Egypt, India's BDR Group in talks to establish biologics, cancer drug facility    AUC graduates first cohort of film industry business certificate    Egyptian pound down vs. US dollar at Monday's close – CBE    Egypt's FM, Palestinian PM visit Rafah crossing to review Gaza aid    Egypt prepares unified stance ahead of COP30 in Brazil    Egypt recovers collection of ancient artefacts from Netherlands    Egypt harvests 315,000 cubic metres of rainwater in Sinai as part of flash flood protection measures    Egypt, Namibia explore closer pharmaceutical cooperation    Fitch Ratings: ASEAN Islamic finance set to surpass $1t by 2026-end    Renowned Egyptian novelist Sonallah Ibrahim dies at 88    Egyptian, Ugandan Presidents open business forum to boost trade    Al-Sisi says any party thinking Egypt will neglect water rights is 'completely mistaken'    Egypt's Sisi warns against unilateral Nile measures, reaffirms Egypt's water security stance    Egypt's Sisi, Uganda's Museveni discuss boosting ties    Egypt, Huawei explore healthcare digital transformation cooperation    Egypt's Sisi, Sudan's Idris discuss strategic ties, stability    Egypt to inaugurate Grand Egyptian Museum on 1 November    Greco-Roman rock-cut tombs unearthed in Egypt's Aswan    Egypt reveals heritage e-training portal    Sisi launches new support initiative for families of war, terrorism victims    Egypt expands e-ticketing to 110 heritage sites, adds self-service kiosks at Saqqara    Palm Hills Squash Open debuts with 48 international stars, $250,000 prize pool    On Sport to broadcast Pan Arab Golf Championship for Juniors and Ladies in Egypt    Golf Festival in Cairo to mark Arab Golf Federation's 50th anniversary    Germany among EU's priciest labour markets – official data    Paris Olympic gold '24 medals hit record value    A minute of silence for Egyptian sports    Russia says it's in sync with US, China, Pakistan on Taliban    It's a bit frustrating to draw at home: Real Madrid keeper after Villarreal game    Shoukry reviews with Guterres Egypt's efforts to achieve SDGs, promote human rights    Sudan says countries must cooperate on vaccines    Johnson & Johnson: Second shot boosts antibodies and protection against COVID-19    Egypt to tax bloggers, YouTubers    Egypt's FM asserts importance of stability in Libya, holding elections as scheduled    We mustn't lose touch: Muller after Bayern win in Bundesliga    Egypt records 36 new deaths from Covid-19, highest since mid June    Egypt sells $3 bln US-dollar dominated eurobonds    Gamal Hanafy's ceramic exhibition at Gezira Arts Centre is a must go    Italian Institute Director Davide Scalmani presents activities of the Cairo Institute for ITALIANA.IT platform    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



The caged bird sings
Published in Al-Ahram Weekly on 05 - 06 - 2003

Art provides many outlets for the children of Aida refugee camp, finds Amina Elbendary
Palestinian children are like other children.
It is, alas, necessary to begin with such a banality if only to explain why so many people were disappointed (they confided in regret) with Al-Rowwad Theatre group who visited Cairo last week. And while the opening statement might sound ridiculous it should be kept in mind whenever we approach any thing labelled "Palestinian". The fate of people like the Palestinians is that they are stamped and exceptionalised by their predicament, labels are affixed that place them on pedestals or in pits, both places they would probably much rather not be, thank you.
Al-Rowwad is, simply, a community service centre at the Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem. Founded in 1998 and managed by Abdel-Fattah Abu Surour (who has a PhD from France in biological engineering) its aim is to provide services for young people in the camp.
Confined children are something out of horror fiction, as anyone who's had children on their hands during an interminable heat wave or snow storm knows full well. You just want to open the doors and let them kick their energies out there. But the children of Aida are often confined by the diktats of less- than-divine powers; curfews and seiges imposed by the Israeli occupation forces make such emergencies everyday occurrences. And even when they are not confined indoors there is not much outdoors at Aida camp as several of the visiting children explained last Tuesday during an evening of testimonies. The camp is a large slum of tightly packed shacks and houses -- you can hear everything the neighbours say and do, they told us.
"We don't have parks and gardens like other children," several of them repeated. "We are denied such basic rights of children." And "we live in cages, like birds," as eight-year-old Salam (literally: Peace) put it.
Al-Rowwad is a two-room community centre where some 150 children can spend several hours playing. The centre offers a variety of activities -- theatre, puppet theatre, dabka, language and computer classes.
For a few hours a week families know their children are safe. Playing on the streets in Aida means facing the provocation of Israeli soldiers, followed by stone throwing orgies. Hundreds of children have died over the past years following such clashes and community leaders like the Al-Rowwad want to bring the numbers down. As Abu Surour explained, they don't want their children to supplement the lists of martyrs. They want them to grow up into educated, cultured citizens of Palestine who could lead the struggle for independence. But among the many drawbacks of occupation and siege are the interruptions to regular schooling which have affected the quality of education of younger generations.
Palestinian children, then, are like other children. And they are not like other children.
Twenty-four kids and seven supervisors from the Al-Rowwad centre came to Cairo last week at the invitation of the American University in Cairo's Faculty for Palestine group and with support from the Canada Fund, Ford Foundation-Egypt and UNDP-Jerusalem. They presented a theatrical performance, We are the Children of the Camp, a dabka dance and puppet show.
We are the Children of the Camp is a series of sketches, a potted history of Palestine in the 20th century. It starts with an idyllic view of pre-Zionist Palestine: children playing and having fun. (And indeed, Abu Surour refers to a "paradise lost and regained on stage".) With minimal props the children act out the various types of generic Palestinians. There are the families whose homes were pulled down, their villages demolished; the women giving birth on the road to refugee camps; the children denied medical care and dying at roadblocks and -- inevitably -- provocations and insults by menacing soldiers that lead to stone throwing. A screen on the side of the stage shows a home video of sorts, pasting documentary and television footage from various decades of the 20th century.
On the one hand the aim of such sketches is to keep the children off the streets; if they must throw stones (and they are frustrated enough to want to do that a lot, judging by their testimonies, and despite the apparent objections of their supervisors) let them throw them on stage; if they must die young let them die -- and rise again -- on stage. On the other hand We are the Children also familiarises these children with the essential story of Palestine. In one sketch the children recite the names of villages that have been demolished by occupation forces and the Israeli towns and settlements that have risen in their stead. Every child in the camp, every refugee, traces his lineage to such a place: such rituals are necessary to keep the memory alive and strengthen the desire and hope for return. It stretches their horizons beyond the confines of a miserable refugee camp. Indeed, the performance also allows the children -- performers and audience alike -- to place themselves within that simple national narrative and to make some sense of the horrors of refugee life. And so, 10-year-old Wu'ud (literally: Promises) can tell us of how her young mother was killed, inside their home, during a wall-to-wall IDF operation targeting a neighbour.
We are the Children is therefore about more -- and less -- than entertainment.
Al-Rowwad's visit was postponed several times because of political and security considerations. When they finally embarked on the journey it took them three days to get to Cairo from Bethlehem.
"We had to stop at roadblocks almost every 100 metres on our way to Jordan. We were thoroughly checked at every point," the children explained. And when they finally made it, it was exam time in Cairo, which is perhaps why not that many children their ages were able to attend the performances held at AUC and Hanager. The troupe have previously performed in Sweden and Denmark and are scheduled to travel to France this summer. Regardless of the outcomes of summits and roadmaps, we hope they continue to sing.
Related Web site:
http://alrowwad.virtualactivism.net


Clic here to read the story from its source.