"If You Can Sing Together, You Can Live Together"

Today no pictures of smiling children dancing and singing...

Three MwB trainees traveled with nonviolence trainer Ahmad from HLT to Austria to take part in a project of the Austrian NGO 5 Colours 1 World.

Together with the other participants, they represented eight different countries: Armenia, Georgia, Turkey, The Netherlands, Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Romania, and of course Palestine. Ahmad gave training in nonviolence while the trainees performed rap during the final event and gave a workshop in body percussion. In addition to training in filming and editing, they received also training in subjects such as discrimination, stereotypes, gender, nonviolent transformation of conflicts, racism and xenophobia.

During this training, it was the first time that music workshop leaders from Palestine could meet their colleagues from Bosnia-Herzegovina. They have expressed their wish to meet and cooperate again in the future.

You can watch the inspiring short videos that were made by the participants on the following links:

• See Beyond: with Mohamad Azmi from Dheisheh refugee camp 
• If you can sing together, you can live together: with Ahmad al-Azzeh from al-Azzeh refugee camp
• Osman's Story: with Fadi al-Azzeh from al-Azzeh refugee camp
• Open Your Eyes: with Hisham al-Lham from Dheisheh refugee camp

The website of Peace Dialogue published an article about the project that you can read here.

Thank you so much for everyone who made this project possible, especially Stuart Jolley and Gregory Kennedy-Salemi. I'm incredibly proud of our Palestinian team and can't wait to see what other beautiful things they will create in the future!

Rap Across the Wall on TV!

"Russia Today" made an item about the rap project Rap Across the Wall. Children from Silwan and Dheisheh and al-Azzeh refugee camp learned how to write rap songs and recorded the songs in the professional studio of PNN (Palestine News Network).

http://arabic.rt.com/news_all_news/news/564428

This project is supported by MwB, HLT, PNN and Prelude Foundation

Colorful Music in a Refugee Camp

In July, the Dutch Fanfare van de Eerste Liefdesnacht paid a visit to a MwB/HLT project in the smallest refugee camp in Palestine: al-Azzeh refugee camp, next to Bethlehem. They gave a music workshop for many children from Dheisheh and al-Azzeh refugee camp in which the children got to know the exciting instruments of the music group and played rhythms together. After the workshop, the children and musicians walked together through the streets of al-Azzeh camp in a colorful musical parade.

Thank you so much to all the musicians, workshop leaders and others that made this day successful!

Thank you for all the beautiful pictures Bernice Siewe, Laurence Ranson, and Peter van der Pouw Kraan

Sponge Bob in Bethlehem

We were invited to give a music workshop for a Ramadan night celebration in the SOS-village in Bethlehem. Unfortunately not all orphaned children that live in the SOS-village have family that they can go to during the summer. But the SOS staff has been doing everything possible to make the long summer for these children fun and enjoyable. One of the activities was an evening of entertainment, including a local theater and lots of balloons. 

Two hours before the event started, my cellphone rang. "Is there any chance you can come dressed up as Sponge Bob?" First I blamed my poor Arabic for not understanding the organizer well. "You mean if I can sing a song about Sponge Bob?" I tried. "No, we would like you to wear a Sponge Bob costume." Aha. "I'm very sorry but I don't have one." "What about your colleagues?" I thought about Seereen and Amira who were going to join me in the workshop, and imagining them in a Sponge Bob suit made me smile. "I'm terribly sorry but none of us can dress up as Sponge Bob. We can sing and dance with the children and that's it!"

Two hours later, we arrived at the event. For one and a half hours (!) the children were involved in a wonderful interactive music-theater show with the local star Khalid Massou. They had lots of fun and we wondered if the children would have any energy left for our workshop later...When we thought it would be our turn, a special guest suddenly arrived on the stage: it was Sponge Bob himself! All I could think of was how the organizer managed to find a SpongeBob in the two hours after she had called me.


Finally it was our turn. We did some music activities, danced, sang, and just before we wanted to start our last activity, suddenly all children ran away. What happened? Did we do something wrong? Did the children have enough from all the dancing and singing activities? I looked around me to see if maybe something might have frightened them, but there was nothing to see except of the sound men who seemed relieved that they could finally go home.

The organizer walked to us and apologized: they had set up a big air castle around the corner and someone announced it to the kids. Our workshop could not compete with the air castle and that was completely fine: although there was maybe an overdose of activities tonight, we only saw happy children faces!

Music in Qalqiliyah!

The following story about a workshop day in Qalqiliyah area is written by Sylvia, a wonderful volunteer that spent one month with MwB in Palestine. She joined us during the music workshops, taught guitar to some of the trainees and helped us where ever needed!

A hired car with blazing airco; Fabienne is driving us to Qalqilyah while Seereen, one of the trainees, is trying to understand and passes on the instructions given to her through the phone. “Go straight!” seems to be the main message, though this is hardly possible with hills making the roads twist and turn, roadblocks abruptly ending highways, roundabouts and bifurcations forcing us to pick our choice. After quite a detour we finally arrive where we want to be: just outside Qalqilya, the road takes us to a gated building, children pouring out on the street to see us arriving.

The older boys laugh and scream; Amira (the other trainee with us today) is a bit intimidated and says to Fabienne: “You take that group first, we'll work with the younger group!” “No, let Sylvia take the older group and us the younger one” Fabienne jokes! But before I can get scared of this prospect, I am distracted by everything around me.
 

The children in the younger group are curious but also shy and waiting in anticipation. But before we can go to them, we have to drink coffee and eat a cake. This, apparently, is far more important than releiving the children from their exitement, so we have to abide to the customs. 

Then we can enter the rooms. The older boys are in one, the younger children (boys and girls) are in another room. These are all children who have been abused or neglected; they are in good care now but they are mentally deeply scarred.

The music activities prooved to be a great outlet for them. First I went with Seereen and Amira to the younger children. It took a while to gain their trust and full participation, but after a while even the boy who at first stayed outsid the door watching us joined in clapping and ticking with the sticks. The older boys were totally different. They were active, excited, wanted to do everything at once. To Amira's surprise their enthusiasm made it a very nice and exiting experience to work with them.

After a lot of games, singing, and laughing with all the children we had to say goodbye, and they followed us outside to the care to wave us goodbye. “I love you! We will miss you, bye!” the boys shouted after us. The small girls waved, kissed us and shook our hands, and off we went on a confusing trip back home to Bethlehem, trying our best to keep straight. 

Article (Arabic) PNN Rap Across the Wall

Article PNN (Palestinian News Network) about Rap Across the Wall in Arabic

Rap Across the Wall - PART II

Ameena from Silwan, 12 years old, one of the participants of the rap project:

This is the picture Ameena chose for her story

We from Silwan chose to go to Bethlehem to the rap workshops, because we are oppressed by the occupation and now we got the chance to talk about it and express ourselves. I liked the workshops a lot and the workshop leaders were great and helping us a lot, we love to learn rap with them. We never learned rap before and now we got this chance. My family is also happy that I participate in this project because now I can spend my free time singing rap instead of being bored in the house. 

Ameena and Mohamad

I also want to say something about the problems in Silwan. The occupation in Silwan wants to destroy our houses. Every day they arrest young people, throw gas grenades and make problems. Many times they cut the electricity so we don't have electricity in the house. Then we put on candles and we have to stop working on the computer, watching television or studying for school. My grandmother needs to breath through an oxygen mask, so when the electricity stops she has difficulties breathing.

Thank you to everyone that works with Palestinian children and thank you to everyone that read my words.

Ameena and Mohamad recording Ameena's rap

21-06-2011: CD recording of a rap song

9.30 

Madaa Creative Center in Wadi Hilweh, Silwan.

Ameena, Mu'atasem and Ali are waiting for me. Where is Razan?

We want to go to Bethlehem, where we will record together with Bashar from Dheisheh refugee camp the rap song that the five teenagers wrote together during the last months.

Razan's family doesn't have a phone so we decide to drive to her home. The road is full of holes and stones, and we aren't even sure where exactly her house is.

9.45 

We arrive in the street of Razan's house. Ameena starts knocking on different doors, looking for Razan. After five minutes, we see Razan walking in the street. "I just woke up!!! I was crying because I thought you had left without me!"

10.00 

We arrive at the checkpoint to enter Bethlehem. But the checkpoint is closed. We ask what is going on but we don't get a clear answer. We decide to take the other, longer road to Bethlehem. This road takes us through two tunnels, a checkpoint, and passes many settlements and parts of the Wall. We have to drive through Beit Jalla and Bethlehem in order to arrive where we started: the checkpoint, just this time  at the Bethlehem side.

Razan

10.30

Half an hour too late we arrive in al-Awdah Center for Social Development in al-Azzeh refugee camp. Here the children practice together with the rappers Mohamad, Ahmad, Soud and Hisham from Dheisheh refugee camp. These rappers followed the MwB/HLT training and supported the children in writing their own rap songs.

12.30 

After rehearsing the songs we go out to eat something before the actual recording. We are 5 teenagers and 5 adults, so there is more than enough space in my car...Luckily the police in Bethlehem is not as tough as the police in Jerusalem.

13.15 

We arrive at PNN (Palestine News Network) where we will record the rap song in a professional studio. The song is about Palestinian prisoners. Every child gets 20 minutes to record his or her voice.

Ali

Bashar

15.00 

We finish and I want to bring the children back to Silwan. But we can not take the same tunnel road, because I'm not allowed to pass this road with my Dutch passport. So we drive to the other closed checkpoint, where I park the car so I can walk together with the children to the other side of the checkpoint. There someone from Silwan is waiting for them, I will walk back through the checkpoint to Bethlehem and wait there until the checkpoint will open again to return to Jerusalem by car.

15.30 

We are still waiting in the checkpoint but for some unclear reason the soldiers don't let us pass. 

15.45

The children get restless, tired, and the tension between the kids and the soldiers is rising. I decide we have waited enough, I bring them up to Beit Jalla and order a taxi for them to get safely back to Silwan.

Rappers Hisham and Soud watching the children record

I think the name of this project couldn't describe better what we do: Rap Across the Wall. Yes, the Wall is challenging the kids in many ways, but in the end, the children resist the Wall by continuing to travel to Bethlehem, meet other Palestinian youth, sing and rap together and share each other's lives!

Ali and Soud

Mu'atasam and Hisham

Mu'atasam and Hisham

Ahmad and Bashar

Ahmad and Razan

Ali

Mu'atasam

Thank you Mu'atasam, Ali, Bashar, Ameena and Razan for spending this day with us and making us laugh!
Thank you Mohamad, Hisham, Soud and Ahmad for showing us the power of rap music!
Thank you PNN for letting us record in your studio and thank you Samir, the sound technician, for your endless patience!
Thank you Ahmad from al-Awdah Center and HLT for organizing and making the right contacts!
Thank you Prelude for sponsoring this project and last but not least: thank you MwB for making this happen!