Alrowwad Cultural and Theater Society \ Aida Camp, is embracing and hosting the technological summer camp in its computer lab, which takes place from the 15th of June 2010 until the 15th of July 2010, under the supervision of the National Committee for Summer Camps Palestine, implemented by Birziet University. This camp aims to build the capacity of children in the fields of informatics, profile and awareness and training on free open source software, how to design websites and programing electronic games … ext. There will be a ceremony honoring the participant children of the 11 groups from all the Governorates in the west bank competing on the first, second and third places.
As I travel in the West Bank and see the ravages of the Israeli occupation and the disintegration of much of Palestinian hope as well as a functional political process, a question keeps haunting me. In the US, people who know only about suicide bombers and militant resistance, who only see Hamas violence on CNN and hear Israeli anxiety about the inexplicable rage of "those people," often ask me, "Why don‘t the Palestinians have a Gandhi? A Martin Luther King? A Mandela? Some civilized leadership committed to nonviolence?" But on the ground, I see a totally different picture that is much more from the grassroots and deeply woven into people‘s consciousness. At the Al Rowwad Children‘s Theater in the Aida Refugee Camp in Bethlehem, the founder Abed Abusrour, talks determinedly of "beautiful resistance," of fighting hopelessness and violence with children’s theater and dance, women‘s sewing and embroidery groups, classes in aerobics and yoga, computer labs, a study hall and library. The center sits a few blocks from the grotesque separation wall with garbage piled high, skinny cats darting in and out. One entry to the camp is framed by an enormous key with the words in Arabic and English, "NOT FOR SALE." Of the 4000 inhabitants, all descendants from the 1948 expulsion from Palestine, over half are children. There are no playgrounds or green spaces, the UNRWA school is poorly funded with often 40-50 children in a class, a lack of books and supplies, many of the men are unemployed. There are bumpy winding open streets and narrow alleyways, newer housing in pink/orange carved stone with wrought iron gates and graceful balconies, and more austere apartments desperately in need of repair with multiple families and generations living in close quarters. Bullet holes and fractured solar panels attest to earlier Israeli incursions. Al Rowwad has built an open air theater adjacent to the wall. At the base of the platform someone has spray painted a welcome sign to the Pope who recently came to see the children‘s performance. The Israelis insisted the actual stage be located slightly distant from the wall, as if turning one‘s head could possibly hide its ugliness and implications. Abed refers to himself as "a social entrepreneur," working 7 days a week, his desk piled with reports, several computer screens, and cups of tea. When we visit, he is meeting with accountants and bankers trying to plot the upcoming annual budget at a time when funding is scarce and an Ashoka grant has just ended. His business plan feels part hope, part luck, and mostly sheer perseverance. When he speaks, his vision of beautiful resistance is passionate and solid, but the desperation in the camp, his fear of losing another generation of children, and the crisis in funding are clearly weighing on his mind. Abed‘s wife, Nahil, a science teacher with an East Jerusalem ID and a second family home in East Jerusalem, is upstairs working with a group of women to create a display of the camp‘s exquisite traditional embroidery: bags, jackets, small zippered cases with delicate stitchery in reds and blacks, deep blues, greens and yellows, patterns reflecting the Star of Bethlehem. There is a warm camaraderie amongst the women. They are clearly proud of their work. My daughter and I stay with the Abusrours in their newly built home about 1 1/2 miles from the camp, which is overcrowded with no room for growing families. Abed refers to the cluster of families in this new neighborhood as "the extraterrestrials, no one wants us." The house was started 8 years ago and is not quite done; a full apartment on each floor, a modern kitchen with attractive cherry cabinets Nahil picked out of a US catalogue and then had built locally. There is heavy, dark upholstered Palestinian furniture and embroidered pillows. The house echoes with the sounds of five boisterous children, 1 1/2 to 9 years old, drawing, laughing, watching TV (Their favorite movie is "Shall We Dance?") fighting, jumping on beds, and taking care of each other. The bathroom has a cup with 5 little toothbrushes and animal stickers on the mirror. The 1 1/2 year old toddles around pointing and chirping, wearing her coat most of the time, which seems to be her security blanket. We are presented with a collection of drawings: butterflies, neat houses with rows of flowers and a bright yellow sun, a boat in the sea surrounded by fish. I note that the children have never actually seen much of these scenes. This is the globalization of TV imagery, the Disneyfication of the childhood imagination, but as the parent’s remark, better than the drawings a few years ago, of guns and tanks. Nahil maintains an incredible serenity in this organized chaos, chopping various greens, preparing traditionally spiced chicken and rice with toasted almonds and the ubiquitous olive oil, setting herbs to dry, throwing in yet another load of laundry. She sits for a moment to strategize how we could help to find catalogues to order experimental kits to start a science club at school, "bugs and things, no explosions." Earlier in the day she tried a Flamenco class led by a Japanese volunteer, but she admits she really preferred the yoga class my daughter taught later. "More relaxing, less difficult." I am unprepared for how healthy and normal this family feels. They have an additional layer of stress beyond their refugee status. Due to Israeli family reunification laws, Abed was unable to obtain a permit to legally live with his wife and growing family in East Jerusalem for six years. His wife and children do not want to lose their precious Jerusalem IDs because it gives them access to better health care, schools, work, and extended family. Abed describes years of harrowing attempts to sneak into the city, beatings, and an occasional arrest. Now the family splits its time between East Jerusalem and Bethlehem but Abed has to travel separately through the Bethlehem Terminal while his wife can take the children through in her car with the yellow Israeli plates. At this point the children still think this is normal. I can never fully walk in the shoes of the Palestinians who share their stories with me, but it seems obvious that Abed and Nahil, and the invisible people living in the Aida camp must make a powerful commitment to nonviolent resistance every day of their lives under incredibly challenging and harsh conditions. CNN, when will this make headlines?
I am really happy to be here on many levels. This is my first time in Spain, and being here among all of you, seeing my Palestinians colleagues here coming from Gaza who after being deprived from circulating freely, and seeing Omar who has been allowed to leave the country for the first time after 33 years of interdiction by Israelis. So, thank you dear friends of Anna Lindh for working hard to make this happen and bringing them here. My name is Abdelfattah Abdelkarim Hasan Ibrahim Mohammad Ahmad Mustafa Ibrahim Srour Abusrour. And I am telling these names to say that I am the only one who was born in a refugee camp, and still after 61 years of illegal and unjust occupation living in a refugee camp. I hear a lot of beautiful things and beautiful expressions said here, but do we believe in them really and are they the basis upon which we build our relations and partnerships. Talking about the values that make of us human beings like freedom, justice, democracy, human rights, equality, fraternity, peace, love… these are values that we share as human beings, whether we are Muslims or Christians or Jews or Buddhists or Hindus or Atheist or whatever we are. We are all human beings and equal partners in making a change in this world, but a change that we can be proud of, a change where these values are the same for everybody and not that some people are more equal than others. These values are the same and are not elastic to change based upon new realities on the ground that are forced by this or that where we find those who pretend defending these values are the same ones who are violating them. We are fed up with empty speeches and talks that are devoid of truth and humanity and passion, but full of politics, complicity, hypocrisy and diplomacy. We are change makers and nobody has the right to say I can’t do anything, or it‘s hopeless or complicated. We do not have the luxury of despair but the steadfast hope that we can make a change that every single one of us can be proud of in front of our children and the generations to come, where these values and rights are respected equally. Who am I? Who are you? What is our role in this world? You know, my worst nightmare is if one day, my children or your children, or whoever children come and look us in the eyes and ask: What did you do to make a change and I have nothing to answer, or present excuses that it is too complicated or hopeless. We want to leave them a heritage that they can be proud of and we can be proud of. And here where the vocabulary and terminology are important and the values remain the same and don’t change depending on who dictates what. Here we talk about human rights and values that make of us human beings… Yet, I come here and on one side it is easier for me to reach Spain than to reach Gaza or Jerusalem. I come here, to this place, and enter in an exhibition presented here and entitled “Neighbours”, where it is put the Holy Sepulture in Jerusalem- Israel, while this Holy place is in the occupied old city, in occupied East Jerusalem, in Occupied Palestine and not in Israel. And here again we talk about peace, love, co-existence? This is not right, this is not just, this is illegal, and this is not a heritage that me or anyone of you want to leave to his children or the generations to come. We are all equal human beings and equal partners in creating a change in this world that we can be proud of, and not a heritage of hypocrisy and complicity with injustice and new realities on the ground. We are not obliged to accept these new realities too simply because they are there, even if they are illegal or unjust. And this is why we continue to do our Beautiful Resistance against the ugliness of occupation and its violence, because we reclaim our humanity and we defend it, and we do not want our children to be just numbers on lists of martyrs or handicapped for the rest of their lives or perish in Israeli prisons. We want them to grow up and build for the future and create partnerships that bring happier days for themselves and the generations to come based upon the values that make of us equal human beings. It is difficult also to hear people and the international community talk about Palestine and transform the political cause into a humanitarian case. We are not a humanitarian case, and we do not need charity or pity which is, sometimes, more humiliating than the occupation itself. We need a support and solidarity that help us keep our dignity and our humanity where we create jobs and create infrastructures and help our people to be able to produce and not to be transformed into beggars and assisted people completely dependent on humanitarian aid. So, if you want help Palestinians, help in a respectful and dignified way. We are human beings, we reclaim and we defend this humanity in us. And we are equal partners in making a change based on the values that we share as human beings. We want a world where we see our children grow up, fall in love, and make children, to create a world full of joy, openness, fraternity and partnerships. We want a world where we build and find the peace within us to start with, before talking about the peace with the others. In Palestine, we are more afraid when people talk about peace than when they talk about war. We want a world where we grow up, and our children bury us when we die and not to bury our children. Again I want to say that I am really happy to see my colleagues from Gaza, and see Omar here among us, and deepest thanks for this wonderful work Anna Lindh.
Second part of speech after the tour of speeches Annal Lindh is an amazing treasure of data bases that can help create partnerships in the Euro-Mediterranean region. Since last year, a new blood have been circulating in the network after a deep sleeping, that made us lose faith to a certain extent, but this new energy rebuild trust. It is clear that what this network can bring is possibilities to meet and build bridges of exchange. These need to be supported in a way that we are not only networking for not-working, but networking to really work together. Building programs with 4 partners from 4 countries is a really extremely difficult issues, and the complexity of grant proposal writing and reporting are not helping in building bridges but cutting them of. We need things to be facilitated somehow. I believe that organization who work in such a spirit of social entrepreneurship who are eager to make a change on the ground and do not have the luxury of time to run behind funding but need to invest in creativity are deprived from such support because of the complexity of this process. But regardless of this, such a network is a great treasure for those who know how to hunt treasures
I would like also to recommend the translation of the play of Edmond Rostand, Cyrano De Bergerac. It resumes a spirit that I adopt and I guess to a certain extent, animate many civil society organization who do work with this entrepreneurship spirit, specially this passage:
Et que faudrait-il faire ? Chercher un protecteur puissant, prendre un patron, Et comme un lierre obscur qui circonvient un tronc Et s‘en fait un tuteur en lui léchant l‘écorce, Grimper par ruse au lieu de s‘élever par force ? Non, merci. Dédier, comme tous ils le font, Des vers aux financiers ? se changer en bouffon Dans l‘espoir vil de voir, aux lèvres d‘un ministre, Naître un sourire, enfin, qui ne soit pas sinistre ? Non, merci. Déjeuner, chaque jour, d‘un crapaud ? Avoir un ventre usé par la marche ? une peau Qui plus vite, à l‘endroit des genoux, devient sale ? Exécuter des tours de souplesse dorsale ?... Non, merci. …… …………… non, merci ! non, merci ! Mais... chanter, Rêver, rire, passer, être seul, être libre, Avoir l‘oeil qui regarde bien, la voix qui vibre, Mettre, quand il vous plaît, son feutre de travers, Pour un oui, pour un non, se battre, -ou faire un vers ! …… Lors même qu‘on n‘est pas le chêne ou le tilleul, Ne pas monter bien haut, peut-être, mais tout seul !
Mais avec vous, cela sera meiux
Thank you
Written by Dr.Abdelfattah Abusrour, Founder and director Alrowwad Cultural and Theatre Training center Aida refugee camp-Bethlehem-Palestine
Alrowwad Cultural and Theater Society- Aida Camp Bethlehem The Committee for a Just Peace in the Middle East and the Lycees des Arts et Metiers- Luxembourg Albustan Neighborhood Committee- Silwan
Invites you for the openings of the photo exhibition:
Young Photographers without Borders LUXEMBOURG-PALESTINE The Way to School
Bethlehem Peace Center: Opening, Thursday 29 April, 5pm Starting day 29 April - Ending 5 May 2010
Silwan Community Tent: Opening, Saturday May 8th, 5pm
What happened from the moment when you wake up until you reach the school? Three groups of young people- from Aida refugee camp, from Silwan in East Jerusalem, and from Luxembourg had worked on this common question for months on the two sides of the Mediterranean. The exhibition is the fruit of this shared experience.
On Thursday 17th April 2010, ALROWWAD society with cooperation with Bella Vita for Teeth organized a teeth examination in the society building in the presence of 40 person from Aida refugee camp and surrounding areas.
The examination includes remarks from the dentist how to take care of teeth, and each beneficiary had been given a card for later visits, with a reduction of 25% for the patients coming through Alrowwad Society for future treatments.
Camp Aida - Société culturelle et Théâtrale d’Alrowwad
Le jeudi 17 avril 2010, la société Alrowwad, en coopération avec Bella Vita pour les soins dentaires a organisé un examen des dents a la société d’Alrowwad, et 40 personnes du camp de réfugiés d‘Aida et les régions avoisinantes ont été examiné..
Pendant l‘examen, les dentistes ont donnés des conseils au niveau de l’hygiène et les soins des dents. Chaque bénéficiaire a reçu une carte de soin, avec une réduction de 25% pour les patients venant de la part de la société Alrowwad sur les soins futures.
Monday 12th April 2010, ALROWWAD society organized recreational activities on the occasion of the Palestinian Child Day, for children in the society building in the presence of 550 children from Aida refugee camp and surrounding areas. A variety of artistic and entertainment activities had won the admiration of children and their families. In the end of the ceremony, we gave the participated children symbolic gifts. Another step on our Beautiful Resistance to paint the smile on the faces of our children.
Camp Aida - Société culturelle Alrowwad et Théâtre
Le lundi 12 avril 2010, la société Alrowwad a organisé des activités récréatives pour les enfants à l’occasion de la journée de l’enfance Palestinienne en présence de 550 enfants du camp de réfugiés d‘Aida et les régions avoisinantes.
Une variété d‘activités de divertissement artistique qui avait gagné l‘admiration des enfants et de leurs familles. À la fin de la cérémonie, l’équipe de la Société Alrowwad a distribué des petits cadeaux aux enfants qui ont participé aux activités. Un autre pas avec la Belle Résistance pour peindre la sourire sur les visages de nos enfants.
"We have been always in front of the cameras, and others narrated our history and told our stories. It is time for us to be behind the cameras, to tell our stories and narrate our history from our own point of view, and show the images we want to show of our beloved Palestine, our people and our beautiful heritage"
Founder, Abdelfattah Abusrour
Alrowwad started a first photography and video training program in a Palestinian refugee camp in Palestine in 2000. One of the main goals of this program is to prepare skilled trainers in photography and video who can train children and youth, in other refugee camps, villages, schools and any others interested people in in such beautiful means of self-expressions and narrating stories.
We hope that we will be able to follow up with creating a visual arts training and training of trainers academy.
This program host local and international volunteers in the different visual arts fields.
This program will be followed with other training programs, in documentary, fiction, animation movies, in addition to technical training in visual arts when interested partners and donors are joining us.
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