Training February

During the last week of February, Otto de Jong and Marijke Smedema came to Palestine to give music workshops in different places:

JENIN: Otto de Jong from MwB gave a one-day training to 17 music teachers and musicians in Jenin, in the "Jenin Creative Cultural Center", organised by Yousef Awad, director of the center. During the break, the participants from the North of Palestine played and sang beautiful Arabic music for the Dutch trainers, who were very impressed by their sounds. We hope we can continue in Jenin to exchange more ideas and music!

SILWAN: Otto de Jong from MwB gave a workshop in Silwan, in "Madaa Silwan Creative Center". The workshop focused on how to use music when you are working with groups of children. The group was a mixed group, with musicians and non-musicians, from Silwan, Beit Safafa and the North. All the participants are active in the Silwan community and they will apply the MwB skills on their work with the children.

BETHLEHEM 1: Otto de Jong and Marijke Smedema from MwB gave two workshops for the trainees that started more than one year ago in al-Azzeh camp, Handele Center. The trainees come from Aida camp, al-Azzeh camp and Dheisheh camp. The trainees showed each other their new developed material and learned new songs and dances from the trainers. After one of the workshops, they gave a performance on the guitar, 'ud and keyboard, guided by their talented music teacher Murad Naseem.

BETHLEHEM 2: Otto de Jong and Marijke Smedema from MwB gave a week long training to a new group of women from the Bethlehem area. The training was held in al-Awda Center, al-Azzeh camp and was coordinated by Ahmad al-Azzeh, director at the al-Awda Center and the non-violence program director at Holy Land Trust.
The participants come from Dheisheh camp, al-Azzeh camp, Aida camp and the village of Battir. The participants are working with children in different fields, such as theater, school, summer camp and kindergarten. During the training, they learned new skills to use during their work with the children and they exchanged ideas with each other and the trainers.