اغنية جديدة

اليوم قام محمد من مخيم الدهيشة بغناء أغنية جديدة مع الأطفال. لقد كتب كلماتها لوحده وقد أعجبتني!

ليش الكل بدو ايانا نسكت
ليش الكل بوطي في الصوت
يلا كلنا نغني و نرقص
يلا كلنا نرسم الحياة

بعد الغناء مع الأطفال، ناقش محمد معاني كلمات الأغنية ومدى ارتباطها بحياة الأطفال.
لقد كانت ورشة عمل ملهمة وجميلة جداً.

شكراً لك محمد

New Song by Mohammad

Today Mohammad from Dheisheh Camp sang a new song with the children. He wrote the text himself and I love it!
This is a free translation from Arabic to English:

Why does everybody wants us to be silent
Why does everybody lowers his/her voice
Come on, let's sing and dance
Come on, let's paint our lives

After singing it with the children, he discussed the meaning of the words and how they are connected with the lives of the children.
It was a very inspiring and beautiful workshop.
Thank you Mohammad!

Musicians without Borders in Bosnia Herzegovina

Worskhop from our colleagues from Srebrenica (Bosnia Herzegovina)

Workshops in SOS Children Village and Jordan

ورّش عمل في قرية SOS للأطفال
تطوًّعت أنا وزملائي لمدة يوم في تقديم ورش عمل لـ 20 طفل يتيم في قرية SOS للأطفال. قمنا بعمل أنشطة كثيرة مع أطفال تتراوح أعمارهم ما بين 8-14 عام. و قد رأينا الفرحة على وجوه الأطفال. كانوا مسرورين واستمتعوا بالاعمال و الانشطة التي قدمناها لهم. نأمل أن نستمر بما نقوم به في مناطق أخرى, في وطننا, أو حتى في الأردن.

ورّش عمل في الأردن, حزيران.
في حزيران, قام كل من ميرنا ( مخيم عزة) وفادي ( مخيم عايدة) باعطاء حلقات موسيقى في مخيمات اللاجئين الفلسطينيين والعراقيين في الأردن, ومصر, وسوريا.
إليكم تجربة فادي:

"ذهبت مع زملائي إلى الاردن ، و قد زرنا عدة مناطق ، و منها مدرسة اللاتين في الفحيص، الذين كانوا لطفاء جدا حيث سمحوا لنا باستعمال قاعتهم لحلقات الموسيقى مع اللاجئين العراقيين. كما قمنا بأنشطة كثيرة جدا ، و قد ارتسمت الفرحة على وجوه الأطفال من شدة الاعجاب بما كنا نقدمه.
كما زرنا الأطفال العراقيين المصابين بصدمات في ماركا والمركز الثقافي لأطفال بلا حدود, حيث عملنا معهم عدة أنشطة من لعب وغناء ورقص. أتمنى على كل من يقرأ هذه الرسالة أن يفكر جديا بقضاء يوم مع هؤلاء الأطفال, والذهاب للتطوع هناك, ومحاولة تعليم و تسلية هؤلاء الأطفال. فهم يعانون من مشاكل صحية و اضطرابات كثيرة. وهم فعلا يحتاجون مساندتكم فلن تعرفوا ما أهمية هذا النشاط حتى تجربوا بانفسكم. فهيا نعمل جميعا من أجل أجيال المستقبل.
و هنا أود أن أتقدم بالشكر الجزيل للمؤسسة التي تدعمنا بكل الوسائل, شكرا لـ موسيقيون بلا حدود!".

Workshop in SOS Children Village
My colleagues and I volunteered for a day in SOS Children Village to give a workshop to 20 orphans. We did many activities with the children whose ages were between 8-14 years old. We saw the happiness on the kids faces. They had pleasure and enjoyed all work we did with them. We hope we continue doing what we do in different places in our homeland or even in Jordan.

Workshops in Jordan, June
In June, Merna (al-Azzeh camp) and Fadi (Aida camp) gave music workshops in Jordan for Palestinian and Iraqi refugees and disadvantaged children from Jordan, Egypt and Syria.
Here you can read Fadi's story:

“My friends and I went to Jordan, and we visited many places, one of them is the Latin patriarchate school in Fuheiss, who was so kind to let us use their hall for a music workshop with Iraqi refugees. We did many activities, and the kids were smiling the whole day out of joy and happiness.
We visited traumatized Iraqi children in Marka and the community center of Children without Borders, where we played, sang and danced with them. I hope that everyone who is reading this would consider spending a day with these kids, and to go and volunteer there, try to teach them and entertain them. These kids have several health problems and they truly need our support. You will only know what it means when you try it yourself.
Let us work together for the future generations.
Finally, I would like to thank the organization who is supporting us in all means, thanks Musicians without Borders!”

Fadi, Aida Camp

Final presentation and certificates!

Here some pictures from the final presentation and certificate ceremony at 12th July. Later more...

من نحن! Who are we?

من نحن! نحن من!
تجربتنا مليئة بالاثارة فهي تجربة معبرة بكل معانيها، توابعها، اثارها و طرقها
حينما بدانا كنا لا نعرف شيئاً . ولكننا احببنا العمل واردنا ان نكون وان نساعد كل انسان يحتاج الينا
وهدفنا ( الاطفال ) فشخصية الطفل تبني مستقبله وهم جيل المستقبل .. ونحن نكون لهم مثل التغذية الراجعة
إن معاناتهم من هذا الاحتلال الغاصب الذي يقلل من قدرهم ويكبت مقدراتهم فنحن اتينا حتى نظهرها ونفرغ عنهم نحن ( موسيقيون بلا حدود ) اخترقنا كل جدران الصمت وكل العقبات حتى نصل لداخلهم ونفرغ طاقاتهم بما هو مفيد لهم ومسلي ... نتكون من مجموعة مليئة بالقدرات والمواهب هدفنا العطاء، سياستنا التفريغ، علمنا الموسيقى نظهر الموسيقى باي شكل وباي لون نظهرها من الصمت من الكلام من كل شيئ لا يوجد لدينا تراجع او كلل او تعب فان الموسيقى فن البقاء وهي فن التعبير والتذكير فنحن نبحث عن المظلومين نقوي شخصيتهم ، نخرج مواهبهم ،نفرغ طاقاتهم ونعلن بينهم جو الحرية والبقاء نريهم كيف الرسم بالموسيقى كيف الحياة بين الاموات كيف لا ننسى اننا اطفال لنا حقنا كما لكم حقكم وعند النهاية تفرح عندما ترى نفسك ترسم ابتسامة على وجه طفل مظلوم مظطهد


Who are we?! Who are we?
I would like to share our experience with you, a powerful experience that has affected all of us!
When we started, we just knew nothing! But we just loved it, we wanted to develop ourselves and help whoever needs us. Our target group is the children, the character of the child will eventually determine his/her future, and these children are our future generation. Suffering while living under the military occupation makes children feel depressed, loosing concentration, and suppresses their abilities. We (musicians without borders) approach the children trying to break through the silence walls and overcome the obstacles in order to reach the children and be able to understand them and share them. Our aim is to give, we create music from anything, and we create it from silence! We play music in a relaxing atmosphere, complete freedom; we show the kids how to live while all others are dead. At the end nothing makes me happier than seeing a smile on an oppressed kid’s face.

Naji, al-Azzeh camp

Susia

سأتكلم عما رأت عيني بمنطقة فلسطينيه كنت أجهل اسمها حتىولم ازرها من قبل..منطقة جميله اعجز عن وصفها من سر جمالها منطقه اسمها:سوسيا تقع في جنوب الخليل حيث أن عدد سكانها لا يزيد عن 300 نسمه ..فيها اناس طيبون وبسيطين أناس مظلومين من قبل المستوطنين الاسرائيليين المجاورين بهم يعتدون عليهم بشكل يومي تقريبا وحين يمرون اطفال سوسيا الى المدرسه طالبين العلم يعترضهم المستوطنين ويلحقون بهم الاذى ويمنعوهم من المرور ولا يستطيعوا المرور الا بالاستعانة بالاجانب المتطوعين! الا يستحقون ان نشعر بهم ونقف معهم ! لأن حياتهم بدائيه ومحرومين من جميع اشكال الحريه لا يوجد لديهم الكهرباء ولا الماء ولا وسيلة مواصلات....كم كنت سعيدا لوجودي معهم هناك مع اصدقائي ناجي وميرنا وفابيان وداني موسيقيون بلا حدود لقد قدمنا لهم ما استطعنا من فقرات موسيقية واغاني ورقصات جميله لكي نشعرهم ما اهمية الموسيقى للانسان ..الموسيقى بالحقيقه هي غذاء الروح وبكل بساطه هي الحريه بها نعبر عما يدور بداخلنا وبها نترجم حريتنا.."


I will talk about what I have witnessed and seen in a Palestinian village, of which name I had even never heard. I have never been there before. It's a very beautiful place called Susia, south of Hebron.
Less than 300 hundred people are living in Susia. The people there are good, honest and lovely.
These people are subjected to oppression from the Israeli settlers surrounding them; these settlers harass the Palestinian children on a daily basis. The children face many obstacles while heading to school; the Israeli settlers forbid them from passing certain roads that lead to school. The children need support of international volunteers in order to reach school. These children deserve our assistance and support. The children live a primitive life in this village; they have no water and electricity.
I was very happy being there with my colleagues and friends Naji, Merna, Fabienne and Danny, Musicians without Borders. We did our best, we played music, danced and sang with the children.
We wanted them to discover the importance of music in people's lives. Music is the food for the soul. Music is the freedom of expression; simply it is freedom!
 
Khaldoun, al-Azzeh camp

For more pictures, please click on this link.

Message from Hisham

مرحباً أنا هشام اللحام واحد من مشروع موسيقيين بلا حدود بدأ المشروع في شهر 11 -2008 مع شيرون واوتو ومرايكه .وبدؤوا يعلموننا كيفية التعامل مع جميع الأطفال عن طريق الموسيقى والتعلم عن طريق اللعب لمدة أسبوع وبعد ذلك بدأنا بالتعامل مع الاطفال وتعليمهم الموسيقى واللعب وبعد شهرين عاد اوتو وعلمنا أشياء جديدة وعلمناها للأطفال وفي شهر 5-2009 عادوا شيرون ومرايكه وايضا اخذنا منهم اشياء جديدة وعلمناها للاطفال وما زلنا مستمرين وهذا المشروع يستهدف ثلاث مخيمات من بيت لحم وهم الدهيشة والعزة وعايدة

Hi,

I am Hisham Al-laham, one from "Musicians without Borders" trainees. The project started in November 2008 with Sherwin, Otto, and Marijke. They taught us how to deal with children through music and playing, for one week. After that, we started to work with children and to teach them music and playing. After two months Otto returned and taught us new things which we taught to children afterward. And in May 2009 Sherwin and Marijke came back and we learned from them new things to teach the children. and we still continue. This project is aiming to teach children in three camps in Bethlehem, Dheisheh, Al-Azzeh, and Aida.

Article on PNN (Palestinian News Network)

For the ones that can read Arabic, you can click on the following link to read an article about the project.
http://arabic.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=52151&Itemid=99999999

Since the article was received very well, it will be translated to English soon.

Celebrating Jerusalem the Arab Cultural Capital

On the 21st of March, Bethlehem celebrated “Jerusalem Capital of Arab Culture”. The children of the music group in Aida camp participated in the parade through the old city of Bethlehem to the Manger Square, where they danced and drummed. Soon the group of children became an attraction for the tourists, you can see on the pictures why!

Who we are

We are 15 trainees, age 16-25, from Aida, al-Azzeh and Dheisheh refugee camp.

After the first trainings week in October 2008, we started to give weekly music workshops for children in our refugee camps, guided by Fabienne van Eck (local project manager). Every week we sing, dance, drum, make music and play with the children. Their happiness and enthusiasm gives us the motivation and inspiration to continue and organize extra events for the children, like day trips, (rap) song recordings and participation in cultural festivals.

The weekly workshops for the children are given in Aida, al-Azzeh and Dheisheh camp, in three different cultural centers:

Aida camp
Trainees: Ahmad, Fadi, Maher and Ramzi
Al Rowwad Cultural and Theatre Training Center: alrowwad.virtualactivism.net

Al-Azzeh camp
Trainees: Khaldoun, Merna, Naji and Osama
Beit Jibrin Cultural Center – Handala: www.handala-center.org

Dheisheh camp
Trainees: Anas, Ahmad, Bassam, Dia', Hisham, Mohammad and Yusuf
Ibdaa Cultural Center: www.ibdaa194.org

We come together regularly for workshops in music, non-violence, communication and games, given by Rana Hayek from Holy Land Trust (www.holylandtrust.org) and the trainers of MwB.

Second music training

At the end of February the second music training took place in Ibdaa center (Dheisheh). It was a very inspiring week for everybody. Trainer Otto de Jong was happily surprised by the progress of all trainees. During the week, one day Haytham Safia came to Bethlehem to give a workshop and a small concert.

Musicians wihout Borders 10-year anniversary

03/14 The MwB ten-year anniversary concert was a big success. An audience of over 200 heard top musicians involved in all MwB projects perform everything from popular Balkan ballades to Janis Joplin. One of the performers was Haytham Safia. 

Day out to the playgroud

March 6th. Fourteen amazing trainees took almost 100 children from their camps to a playground in Beit Jalla. The children met each other, made music, danced and had lots of fun. The children had a wonderful day on the playground. The initiative for this event came from Mohammad, Dia', Ahmad, Yousuf, Bassam, Anas, Hisham (Dheisheh), Ramzi, Ahmad (Aida), Khaldoun, Naji, Osama, Bob and Merna (al-Azzeh).

Thanks to Prelude Foundation (www.preludefund.org) for making this trip possible.

preparation second trainig week

On Saturday 21 February 2009 I will leave together with Jane de la Fosse for the second training week.
Jane will be busy with another part of the project and I will be busy with the training itself.
In October 2008, Marijke Sherwin and I gave the first training week together, this time most of it I have to do alone. There will be a few presentations given by others.
Marijke and Sherwin, I will miss you that week!
Yesterday, Marijke and I prepared the training and now I have all confidence for it will be a succes.
Five days working with a very nice and concerned group of trainees.
I am looking forward.

Otto

Nice to see that things are working here!! Now I have to check out the way to use this!!! Anyway, let's keep in touch and good bloggings!!!!

greetzz Sherwin

Pictures from the first training in October

Launch of weblog

Hello all!

Welcome to this weblog. I'd like to invite you all to visit this blog and share your ideas, experiences and expectations of the training and workshops. If you have any story or pictures you'd like to share (of yourself, Aida, Al-Azzeh, Dheisheh, workshops with kids, anything), please post them!

If you haven’t been invited yet and you’d like to join this blog, send me an email at m.smedema@musicianswithoutborders.org and I’ll send you an invite.

I'm looking forward to seeing you all online!

Marijke