Last Wednesday, July 25, the Townhouse Gallery celebrated the achievements of the children who partook in the summer workshop. "I want to welcome you all to a very special celebration, said William Wells of the Townhouse Gallery to a diverse audience of children and intellects at the factory space on Wednesday evening. In collaboration with Very Special Arts (American non-profit organization aimed at creating a society where people with disabilities learn through, participate in, and enjoys the arts) and its Egyptian partners, the event was the graduation of the summer camp program at the gallery. What differentiated this summer program from others is that the children are from public schools and included children with disabilities from the polio and deaf institutes in Cairo. The walls of the factory space were covered in colourful mix media paintings and simple dolls. The cheery brightness in their paintings is a reflection of the high spirits of the children, which you could feel the second you walked into the gallery. The 60 participating boys and girls, between the ages of 10 and 15, were running back and forth around the space overflowing with excitement. Once the event got started the children and guests were seated. When Wells called out the name of each participant, they came to the front to collect their certificates. As each youngster's name was called, the room shook from the amount of cheers, chants, claps and screams that came from their peers as they vocally supported each other. Some certificates were also given to the mothers of the children who needed to be accompanied. Instead of waiting all day for their children to finish, they joined in with the kids and also exhibited. Rifka Laman is one of the mothers who took part, "It was the first time in my life to draw and I was good at it. I drew a man with the body of my son, with a missing arm. It was a great experience for me as well as my son who is beaming with happiness, she said. Having one arm does not hold Remone, her son, back. He stands out from the crowd of kids because he is so full of life - clearly having a blast. After the certificates were handed out, the audience was asked to settle down to watch the animation films the children created. The end of the evening drew near and taking one look at the shiny, happy children you could tell that they had just had the time of their lives.
