Music Bus Goes Palestine

I don't have money...

2011-12-09T10:40:00.000-08:00

“I don't have any money to pay you!”

5-year old Amir puts his hands in his pockets as if he is looking for money. We just gave a music workshop in his kindergarten and somehow he thinks he needs to pay us for the workshop. Little Amir doesn't understand yet that the smiles on his and the other children's faces are worth much more than any money!

After the training in October to become a music workshop leader, the new trainees started their field work by giving music workshops in their communities. Since the training, already more than 800 children and adults took actively part in the workshops and more than 160 mothers, grandmothers, and caretakers watched the workshops. We went to villages like Beit Ur (Ramallah), Tqu'a (South-Bethlehem), and al-Azariyeh, once a suburb of Jerusalem before it was cut off by the wall. We visited kindergartens, schools, and even the al-Quds University in Abu Dis, where we gave a workshop to students of Social Work. In a psychiatric hospital we held a percussion workshop with fifteen men between age 25 to 60 and ten of their caretakers. It didn't take much time before the drum circle became a circle of fun, with all participants clapping, drumming, or dancing in the middle of the circle.

Enjoy the pictures!

World Diabetes Day in Bethlehem

2011-11-14T10:16:00.000-08:00

Today was World Diabetes Day, a good reason for the Diabetics Friends' Society in Bethlehem to organize a day of fun for children with diabetes or cancer and their families. Around 150 people attended the activities which included playing wooden games on the main square in Bethlehem and a beatbox show. While the children were playing and having fun, their parents could test their blood sugar level. We gave a music workshop with MwB/HLT trainees Yasmeen and Reham in the Peace Center, with the bravest children on stage and their mothers in the audience.

Thank you DFS for making this day possible!

Thank you Halima for taking pictures!

Circus in Town!

2011-11-09T09:51:00.000-08:00

A beautiful collaboration took place on a sunny Sunday in October: Musicians without Borders, Holy LandTrust, Ghirass Cultural Center, and Circus 2 Iraq joined together for a visit in two small villages south of Bethlehem.

The first village was Zakariyeh: if one doesn’t know the full story, the village looks peaceful. A donkey walks around, some elder women sit together at the only square of the village, and some chickens scutter around. The village is surrounded by hills, but if you look around there is not much to see from these hills. Instead the view is contaminated by ugly new built houses, electricity poles, and fences: Zakariyeh is surrounded by settlements. In one of the settlements, the school with a swimming pool is clearly visible. How can a father explain to his son that while they barely have water to wash, the children that live next to them have a swimming pool in their school?

But we didn’t have much time to think about it, because soon all 40 children from the village came to the square to join our music workshop and circus show.

The children, age 4 to 14, made a circle and we started dancing, singing, and laughing, while the women watched us.

After the music workshop the children sat together and the circus started. I watched the children’s reaction to the silly acts of the clowns, and wasn’t sure what was funnier: watching the children’s faces or the actual circus.

After we said goodbye we went to a neighboring village: Beit Fajjar. We prepared ourselves and waited for the children from a primary school to gather at the big space in front of the school. Soon the first kids ran outside and sat on the concrete stairs. I asked the head mistress if we could start the workshop, but another 100 children ran outside. This repeated itself another couple of times until all 450 children from the school somehow found a place. Sa’ada , MwB trainee from Ghirass Center, stood in front of one half of the group, while I tried to be visible for the other 225 kids...

Before we started the workshop the children were shouting, laughing, and mostly they were just children: making lots of noise. The head mistress tried to make them silent by shouting at them through the microphone. But the noise continued and Sa’ada and I asked the head mistress if we could just start the workshop and see what happens.

We started doing body percussion, not using our voice or a microphone, but just making movements and sounds: clapping, stamping, snapping, and clapping again. In a couple of seconds, all 450 children joined us and one big wave of sound was created. We continued with some movements to music and more body percussion.

Then it was time for the circus again. All children concentrated on the movements and sounds of the clowns. I’m not sure if it was because the clowns were so contagious or because the children got used to copying us during the music workshop, but many of them continued to also copy the movements and sounds of the clowns, what made watching the children even more fun!

Thank you so much Joe, Sheila, and China from Circus 2 Iraq for all the shows you did this year in Palestine, we hope you will be back soon!

And we hope that the beautiful outreach program in the small Bethlehem villages of Ghirass Cultural Center will continue and expand!

Thank you Melanie and China for the pictures!

Music Workshop Leader Training

2011-11-07T04:35:00.000-08:00

“My 12-year old son is hyperactive and usually doesn’t listen very well. But after this training week I tried something new with him: instead of telling him what to do (making his homework, waking up), I tried singing to him. This way I manage to grab his attention immediately and he listens to me!”

“Last weeks were very stressful for me because of some issues. But this training gave me so much positive energy and new skills that my home and psychological situation improved a lot.”

During the second week of October, two new groups participated in the Music Workshop Leader Training. We were grateful to be hosted by the Palestinian Union for Social Workers and Psychologists (PUSWP), who welcomed us in their beautiful renovated building. PUSWP invited social workers and students from the Bethlehem, Hebron and Ramallah areas. Two women from the Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS) and one from the Diabetic Friends' Society (DFS) also joined the training.

For one week, we sang, played percussion and body percussion, and discussed pedagogical and social issues. We practiced positive communication and feedback, and learned a lot from each other’s ideas and experiences.

Now a new period starts in which every participant will use the new skills: every participant chooses a place where he or she will give a music workshop. Different ideas are already discussed, including a music workshop for children with special needs, a workshop in a hospital, a training for university students, an evening of relaxation with drumming and songwriting for teenagers in an agricultural boarding school, and a workshop for deaf children. I hear you thinking, music with deaf children? Yes, deaf children can also enjoy music! They can feel the vibrations; they can do body percussion, drum and use the sticks we use during the workshops to create rhythms and music. Proof is one of our participants this year who is deaf herself (and a deaf child at a summer camp in Rwanda that participated in MwB workshops: read here). I’m sure she will be a wonderful example for the children she will be working with!

Thank you PUSWP for hosting us.

And of course a very big thank you to the fantastic trainers Sherwin and Otto!

Thank you Koen and Amer for the pictures!

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

2011-08-25T12:59:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-08-20T11:49:00.000-07:00

"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

2011-08-19T07:08:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-17T06:43:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-08-05T04:21:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-04T12:03:00.000-07:00

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

Rap Across the Wall - PART II

2011-07-03T01:41:00.000-07:00

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

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!

Qabalan, Aqraba and Jama'een

2011-05-24T12:09:00.000-07:00

Check points, road blocks, body checks, passport checks, even the box of matches in the car and our wallets are turned inside out. But we know that at the end of the long road to Nablus something wonderful is waiting for us: smiling children, waiting to dance, sing and enjoy the music.

Its a pity there is not enough space for you in the car to join us in the weekly music workshops in the Nablus area.
But looking at the following pictures might help you imagine you are with us!

Yousef in Qabalan

Kindergarten in Aqraba

Khaldoun, Anas and Hisham in Aqraba

Jama'een

Showing a picture of "Chashaboo" (Woody)

Dancing the Chashaboo Dance

The beautiful pictures are taken by Anas from Dheisheh refugee camp.
Many thanks to CeKaTe for sponsoring the Nablus workshops.
And many thanks to the team of MwB, HLT and PMRS for their support and cooperation!

"Today is one of the best days of my life!"

2011-05-18T11:23:00.000-07:00

“I've never felt this way before . Today is one of the best days in my life because its nice to achieve one of my dreams”

It's the first time for the rappers from Palestine Street to perform with a professional live band. But no one would have guessed this! They perform together as if they do this every day.

The visit of the famous Netherlands Wind Ensemble was very short, but in two days they have done more than imagined: one show in Aida refugee camp in the al-Awdah open air theater next to the wall; one show in Manger Square in front of the Nativity Church in Bethlehem and music workshops for 50 children in Ghirass Cultural Center.

All of this could only happen because of the wonderful teamwork of NBE, HLT, and MwB and the great cooperation with many youth from Aida, al-Azzeh and Dheisheh camp, the Ghirass Cultural Center, Madaa Creative Center Silwan, Valentine Music Store and the Youth Center in Aida camp.

And lets not forget the young Palestinian musicians: Mahmud, Baha' and Abdullah from Silwan playing the tablah; Hidaya and Rowan from Silwan playing the cello; Taima from Silwan playing the electrical guitar; the Hakaya Band from Bethlehem, Haytham from Azariyeh, Khaldoun from al-Azzeh camp and last but definitely not least Palestine Street from Dheisheh camp.

The two days were inspiring for all of us, exchanging musical ideas, playing together and motivating each other to continue the work.

Enough words for now...enjoy the pictures and video's!

Dancing in front of the al-Awdah stage

Palestine Street before the sound check

Sound check on al-Awdah stage

Haytham and Khaldoun singing Bint al-Shalabeyah

In Dutch (and a little bit in English and the language of music...):
Video report of "De Klassieken"

One of the rap songs:
Palestine Street & NBE & Silwan kids

Article with pictures:

Music workshop in Ghirass Cultural Center

Article about workshop on Ma'an News:

Music workshop in Ghirass Cultural Center (Arabic)

Pictures by Holy Land Trust:

NBE first day

Thank you for the beautiful pictures Lilian and Ahmad!

This project could not have taken place without the generous support of the Prince Claus Fund for Culture and Development.

Music Performance with the NBE!

2011-05-05T07:54:00.000-07:00

On 7 and 8 May, the famed Netherlands Wind Ensemble (NBE) will visit Bethlehem, bringing workshops and concerts to children in MwB's Music Bus Goes Middle East program.

Working with children of Bethlehem
The NBE extended a planned tour to Jordan to visit the West Bank, working with MwB and local partner Holy Land Trust to bring a musical celebration to the children and youth of Bethlehem.

MwB and the NBE
The Netherlands Wind Ensemble and Musicians without Borders have worked together for more than 6 years. In post-war Bosnia-Herzegovina, the NBE worked with MwB to support the winds department of the Music Academy in Sarajevo, offering master classes, workshops and performances. NBE musicians created Winds of Change, an interethnic wind ensemble for talented young Bosnian musicians, and then invited them to perform in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.

Whirlwind tour
In Bethlehem, the NBE will perform with talented young Palestinian musicians. Children from Silwan will join the NBE musicians with tablah's (traditional Arabic percussion instrument), cello's and an electrical guitar. The rap group Palestine Street from Dheisheh refugee camp will perform two of their songs and Khaldoun from al-Azzeh refugee camp will sing Bint al-Shalabia, accompanied by the NBE and the Hakaya Band.
For the children, the NBE will give workshops and a musical presentation in Ghirass Cultural Center.
MwB's partner Holy Land Trust is organizing the whirlwind tour.

Palestine Street

Dates

The performance on Friday the 6^th will be in Aida Refugee Camp on the stage next to the wall. A second performance will be on Saturday the 7^th at Manger Square in Bethlehem.

Both performances will start at 7.00 pm.

You are all warmly invited to join these musical celebrations!

Hakaya Band

بالتعاون مع موسيقيين بلاحدود وفرقة داتش وند انسامبل ومشاركة شباب فلسطينيين

تتشرف مؤسسة هولي لاند ترست بدعوتكم لحضور العرض الغنائي تضامنا مع الشعب الفلسطيني في ساحة المهد يوم السبت الموافق 7/5/2011 الساعة السابعة مساء.

و يوم الجمعة الموافق 6/5/2011 على مسرح العودة بجانب الجدار في مخيم عايدة في نمام اساعة السابعة مساء

خضوركم شرف لنا

"I Saw Fear in the Eyes of the Children"

2011-05-01T10:51:00.000-07:00

Music workshop in Burin

Today is the 6th time that we are giving music workshops in the Nablus area.
Mohamad, Seereen, Amira and I enter Awarta village when we hear lots of shooting just next to our car. Mohamad is brave, gets out of the car and asks someone what is going on: "Nothing special, the Israeli soldiers are just practicing their shooting!" Aha. Good to know.
We continue to the first kindergarten where we start with the music workshop. Two more workshops are given in Awarta and Burin, a nearby village.
Seereen couldn't describe better what we all felt today:

I can not describe my feelings for those villages: Bureen & Awarta. It's heaven places on the ground...I hope go there again and again ♥
Settlers and the Israeli army in all Nablus' villages and specifically Bureen& Awarta are spreading fear, panic and horror between people, I saw it in the eyes of children.. yaa I saw it :-(

To learn more about the situation in Awarta, you can read the following blog entry about Awarta from Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh.

The following pictures were taken during music workshops in the Nablus area:

Mohamad gives a rap workshop for 300 girls in Tall

Hisham and Anas check the music before they start the workshop in Beita

Girl from Beita performs a theater show

Girls from Beita dance

Girls from Beita tell a story

Music workshop for 50 girls from five different schools in Beita

Naji conducting

Little girl conducting

Music workshop in a school in Huwara

Music workshop in a kindergarten in Huwara

There is no place in this kindergarten!

At least outside there is lots of space!

Music workshop in a girls school in the Old City of Nablus

Music workshop in a kindergarten in the Old City of Nablus

Music workshop in a school in the Old City of Nablus

Music workshop in a girls school in Tall

Music workshop in one of the kindergartens in Awarta

Burin

Music workshop in a kindergarten in Burin

The weekly music workshops in the Nablus area are made possible by the generous support of CeKaTe Foundation and executed in cooperation with Holy Land Trust and Palestinian Medical Relief Society.

Already 1000 children took part in these workshops!

Many thanks to the wonderful trainees that gave the workshops: Amira, Anas, Anaya, Ahmad, Fadi, Hisham, Khaldoun, Mohamad, Naji, and Rena

Day of the Palestinian Child: 1000 kids!

2011-04-14T10:45:00.000-07:00

Almost 1000 boys and girls, accompanied by their teachers or mothers, joined the cultural event organized by Ghirass Cultural Center and the Bethlehem Arab Society for Rehabilitation.
During the event Sa'da and Samar, two MwB trainees that work in the Ghirass Center, joined me in a workshop for all the kids together in which we sang, danced and played body percussion.
I felt honored to take part in this wonderful day, watching children showing their many talents: dancing dabke (traditional Palestinian dance), singing, reciting poems and playing tablah, an Arabic percussion instrument.
For a full report and many pictures, click here.


Of course we did not manage to get all the kids in one picture...but here you can see some of them making movements on the music!

Thank you Melanie for the pictures!

Experiences of a volunteer

2011-04-10T08:21:00.000-07:00

In March, Katherine, a 17-year-old student from Chicago, volunteered for two weeks with MwB. She took pictures and videos during the music workshops and helped where it was needed. But most of all, she was the best company one could wish for! Without needing any explanation, she knew what to do during the workshops: from making sure every kid got a music instrument, a chair, or enough space to sit on the ground, to showing the children movements and rhythms. The following text has been written by her:

As I left Chicago on my crowded flight to Amman, I was unsure of what to expect of the next two weeks. When friends, teachers, or family asked me what I was doing in the “West Bank “I would formulate answers vaguely explaining that I was going to be participating in music workshops with children. After my time spent in various music workshops, I have learned that the reason I couldn’t answer these questions is because the very objective of these workshops often transcends tangibility. In an age where there is truly an NGO for everything, it is extremely unique to find a project as pure as this one, a project that gives children hope for a better future in the face of a conflict that truly seems to be never ending. As I traveled from Bethlehem, to Ramallah, to Nablus, and to many villages in between, it became more and more clear to me just how significant the impact of these music workshops is. In a region plagued with bombarding images of violence and death, I saw how music can be a powerful tool for not only providing a healthy escape from the conflict, but also teaching greatly needed values and skills for the future and for a better life.

One day we traveled from Jerusalem to a public hospital in Beit Jalla. I went into it prepared for the worst. The health care system in Palestine is deeply flawed and unfortunately there is a profound discrepancy between health care for the rich and the poor. This hospital unfortunately fell into the category of the latter. We entered a room filled with mothers and their children. As we handed out instruments I began to understand just what these children were going through. While most of the kids who participate in the workshops jump excitedly towards the chance to hold a musical instrument, these children barely even had the energy to grasp the tambourines nonetheless extract a sound from them. However, as the soft music of the guitar began to emerge, smiles slowly began to appear around the room and mothers were filled with joy as they saw their children smile, a sight not often seen in the hospital.

After this, we traveled upstairs and entered the next room where a little girl no older than five lay in bed, weakly looking up to see who had entered. She became overwhelmed and started to cry. But then, once again, as the guitar came out and the music began to flow throughout the room, her tears dried up and a shy smile came across her face. It was in that moment I realized that these music workshops are not simply teaching music, but rather they give these children a chance to smile, to laugh, and to simply be a child-an event far too rare throughout the white walls of a hospital too under equipped to even provide patients with proper treatment nonetheless the opportunity to escape the persistent drops of an IV and simply experience being a child.

Many of the workshops I participated in over the past two weeks were filled with children who eagerly jumped into any activity presented to them during the music workshops and were relatively unaffected by the conflict of the region. In Silwan-a neighborhood in east Jerusalem full of continuous strife and violence-this is not the case. Before the music workshop began, I sat in the small computer room of the Silwan community center with many of the kids who would participate in the workshop later that day. Within 30 seconds of the computers being turned on, almost every child had opened up to a Youtube video displaying horrific images of the conflict that would disturb even the most seasoned war veteran. I thought to myself, how can these music workshops do anything to put up a significant fight against the constant flood of violence? However, as we traveled from Silwan to Bethlehem that answer became clear to me. We were going to Bethlehem to participate in a workshop where two of Musicians without Borders' workshop leaders, both from Dheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem district, would lead the students in a one hour lesson to learn about rapping and beat boxing while giving them a basis for nonviolence. The workshop leaders were immediately met with resistance unlike any I had experienced before in the other workshops. But, as the hour progressed the children began to become more and more fascinated with what they were learning. While it was only the beginning, it was clear to me that these rap workshops will provide an invaluable opportunity for the youth of Silwan and the Al-Azzeh and Dheisheh refugee camp to learn about nonviolence and even be a way to positively release the intense anger that often come with growing up in an environment that makes it likely for many to fall into the endless cycle of violence. Even after just seeing one of the rap workshops, I have begun to understand that music and nonviolence training can and will provide a powerful counterpart to the constant images and examples of violence in both Silwan and the Al-Azzeh and Dheisheh refugee camp.

Thank you for the pictures Katherine and Giovanni!

Jerusalem to Nablus

2011-04-01T10:55:00.000-07:00

Question: How do you get from my home in Jerusalem, the purple dot in the South, to Nablus, the purple dot in the North?

In a normal situation, one would take the road to the North. But unfortunately the situation here is not normal.

Since two weeks, we give music workshops to children around Nablus. Together with the MwB trainees, I travel once a week in my car from Jerusalem to Nablus. But the trainees live in Bethlehem area and are not allowed to enter Jerusalem or any road that gets close to Jerusalem.

So here is the answer to my question:

The road from Bethlehem to the North of Jerusalem is a winding road, going up and down the mountains, and taking one hour.
On this map, you can not see the wall, the checkpoints, the road blocks and the many Israeli settlements. But you can also not see the beautiful views, the mountains, and the change in landscape from desert to green valleys. This country is beautiful.

View surrounding Sebastia

Every Tuesday, the Palestinian Medical Relief Society tells us where to go to give music workshops. They know very well which communities in the Nablus area need it the most. The first time we went to a kindergarten in the old city of Nablus, to Aseera and to Huwara. The second time we had the honor to visit two beautiful villages: Burqa and the ancient village of Sebastia. The last two villages fall mostly under the so called "Area C", meaning that the village is under full Israeli civil and security control.

Adel, working for the PMRS and living in Burqa was our dedicated guide and helped us finding our way to the different kindergartens while explaining the difficult situation in the Nablus area. The many checkpoints, road blocks, and army raids and the increasing settler violence are in sharp contrast to the peaceful surroundings, the many olive trees, flowered hills and centuries-old villages.

Every week two or three other trainees travel to Nablus: a perfect escape from the sometimes suffocating refugee camps where most of them live. For some of them it is even the first time to visit the area.

We do what we always do...we sing, play and dance with the children, around 130 each time in different groups. The teachers join us and learn or record the songs with their cell phones so they can repeat them later with the children. As always, we are surprised by the creativity of the children, especially when we are making different sounds with the sticks. We learn from them how to make a chair, an airplane, and bread, all with just a pair of sticks and of course our voices.

Making bread with a pair of sticks

This project will continue until the summer, with the generous support of the foundation CeKaTe.
Thank you Catharine and Adel for making the pictures and thank you Lubna from HLT for making the wonderful connection with PMRS!

Rap Across the Wall

2011-03-26T02:30:00.000-07:00

“I'm Mohamad from Silwan.”

“??? We never saw you in Silwan!”

“I'm Mohamad from al-Azzeh refugee camp.”

Silence.

“I'm Mohamad from Dheisheh refugee camp.”

“You know what, I'm Mohamad from Palestine!”

Mohamad shows the teenagers that it is not important from which camp or neighborhood you are. "We are all Palestinians. Unity makes us strong."

Every week, 15 teenagers from Silwan, East-Jerusalem, go with a bus through the Bethlehem checkpoint to al-Azzeh camp to follow rap workshops. Here they meet with other teenagers from the al-Azzeh and Dheisheh refugee camp. In the end of the project, they will perform together their own-written rap songs in Bethlehem and hopefully in Silwan.

The teenagers learn to write text, rhyme, rap, beat-box and practice leadership and communication skills. The workshops are led by rappers trained by MwB (Ahmad, Hisham, Mohamad and Saud) and a nonviolence trainer from HLT (Ahmad al'Azzeh). The project is sponsored by Prelude Foundation.

This week the 4^th workshop took place. The group listened to kollon 3endon dababaat from the British/Palestinian female rapper Shadia Mansour. Together they analyzed and discussed the song, after which they were divided into four groups. Every group is made up of teenagers from both Silwan and the refugee camps and will perform their own-written songs in the final shows.

Each group chose a subject for a song and started to write the refrain. These are the subjects they chose:

Palestine
The wall
Palestinian prisoners
House demolitions

Rowan presenting the text of her group

Ali presenting the text of his group

Yazeed presenting the text of his group

Yazan presenting the text of his group

Why do we take the effort to arrange a bus, to take the Silwan kids all the way through a checkpoint? Because we believe it is important for the children from Silwan and the refugee camps to meet each other, to learn about each others' lives and to work together. The rappers are not allowed to travel to Silwan or Jerusalem, so Silwan will come to them.

Hidaya, Na'ma, Sundus and Rowan on their way back to Silwan

During the coming weeks, they will continue to write their rap songs together and to develop themselves as voices of their communities!

Special Rappers

2011-03-24T13:43:00.000-07:00

As every Wednesday, I enter the room where six teenagers with special needs are waiting for their music workshop. But today I'm not alone! Saud from Bethlehem and Ahmad from Dheisheh refugee camp join me. Because they can offer the kids something I can not....

Rap and beat-box!

Saud taught us the basic beat-box sounds, while Ahmad showed us how to rap a simple text about our daily lives. When they performed a rap song together, Haneen and Ra'fat immediately reacted by laughing loudly and Salem put up his thumb.

Even Issa, the youngest one and easily distracted, was drawn into their music and did not move his wheel chair for a moment.

Thank you Saud and Ahmad, for showing us how we can express ourselves and make music just with using our voices.

And please come again....because it will be hard to tell the kids this was just a one-time-only event!

Thank you Catherine for making the pictures!

Generation of Hope

2011-03-15T13:29:00.000-07:00

Jeel al-Amal (Generation of Hope) is the name of an orphanage in al-Azariyeh (Bethany) for around 100 boys.Together with 250 girls and boys from poor families they receive education in the school building next to the orphanage.

Najwa Sayegh-Sahhar, daughter of the founders, invited us to give two music workshops to 65 boys, age 4-14.
When the younger children enter the room, the older ones help them to feel comfortable and to find a chair. It is touching to see how the teenagers care for the little ones.
When everyone has a place, the older boys leave us alone with the kids and we start our activities. We dance, sing, play rhythms with sticks, but most of all....we laugh! After a full hour we finish the workshop and prepare for the second workshop with the older boys.
We do a different program, adjusted to the age difference. The boys are very creative, making up movements with a song, singing with loud voices and again, laughing a lot.

Zeinab, the other workshop leader, and I drive back through Wadi Nar, the terrible road between Ramallah and Bethlehem. But we don't care. The sun shines, we still hear the laughter of the boys and softly we hum the songs we sang with them.

Jeel al-Amal is a wonderful place for these children. To be able to continue their beautiful work, they are dependent on donations. Please have a look at their website to learn more about the project and to find ways to support them!
www.jeelalamal.org

All pictures are taken by Palestine's Next Top Photographer: Yousef Younis Shaour (one of the boys from the orphanage)

Photo Impression of Training Week

2011-03-09T11:35:00.000-08:00

In February 2011, Hanno Tomassen and Otto de Jong visited Bethlehem to give a full week of music training to the MwB trainees. It was a week full of singing, drumming, improvising and most of all: music making!
Twelve young women received a certificate from MwB and HLT and will continue to use the many skills they learned. For the coming weeks, many music workshops are planned, including rap workshops for children from Silwan and the refugee camps around Bethlehem, music workshops for blind children, and for orphaned children.
Thank you Hanno and Otto for sharing this week with us!

Visit to HLT

2011-03-09T10:49:00.000-08:00

Part of the MwB training is a series of six workshops in nonviolence by trainers from Holy Land Trust.
During these workshops, the participants discover and discuss the meaning of (non)violence, communication techniques, deeper listening skills, body language and leadership.
The fifth workshop was about change: why or when do we want to change, what do we want to change and what are the challenges we face?

We decided to change the sixth and last workshop, and take the group outside to plant olive trees next to Aida refugee camp. Everyone was very excited about this planned trip so we were all disappointed that due to the rain the tree planting event was canceled.

Ahmad Al'Azzeh, one of the nonviolence trainers, came up with an alternative plan: we made a visit to the wonderful meeting room of HLT, had a breakfast together and spent our time discussing and presenting three interesting and important issues:

1. How can music be integrated in nonviolence?
2. How can music workshop leaders deal with difficult cases? (a child that dies, a mixed group of children with special needs, etc.)
3. How can the most vulnerable women in the society be reached? (and who are the most vulnerable women?)

The different questions were discussed in small groups and later presented to each other. We all learned a lot from this workshop, hearing the different opinions and helping each other to find alternatives of dealing with difficulties during the music workshops.

A Special Music Day

2011-02-17T12:17:00.000-08:00

I enter the living room of the Kaziyeh group: girls and women with special needs. Some of them are blind, some can not walk, while others can move perfectly but are severely autistic. But they have one thing in common: they all love music!

Today the room seems smaller than ever and I notice some new faces: some women that live above Kaziyeh join the workshop today. Maram, one of the new women, starts dancing and jumping in the middle of the room when she sees the guitar.

While the girls are finding a place to sit on the couches, I put a chair for myself. Khoula immediately sits on the chair. Khoula, the girl that looked angry during the last two workshops and didn't say a word. I thought she did not like the music, or me, or the guitar, or my clothes, or anything in the world.

I take another chair and put it next to her. I take out the guitar, and Khoula gets even closer. She tries to touch the guitar. Her supervisor tells her to leave it, because she is afraid Khoula would break the guitar. But I tell her it is fine, the guitar is strong and Khoula can touch the strings. While she puts her left arm around my shoulder, she starts striking the guitar strings with her right hand. Slowly she makes sounds, smiling and looking comfortable.

One hour of singing, listening, playing and dancing follows. Khoula's involvement and smile is bigger than ever!

Before this workshop I visited Eber, a group of 6 young boys and girls with special needs. We are working together since two months, and the children are really amazing. Miri and Sabah, their teachers, are always singing and dancing enthusiastically with the children. Today we started to write our own song. On a given melody, the children came up with words. This is a long process, because some of the children don't even talk and I don't understand all the Arabic...But with the help of Sabah and Miri, we finished the first lines. Inspired by the song-writing, Sabah suggested a rap. The children did not know what rap means, so Sabah started to rap...the children couldn't stop laughing and we had lots of fun. I promised them to bring a real rapper from Bethlehem for the next workshop!

Thank you Maarten for making the beautiful pictures.

Haneen, receiving a drop of water on her hand before the water drop dance!


Haneen was partly raised by two Dutch volunteers. This is why she still understands Dutch. The supervisors asked for a Dutch song. When we sang "Deze Vuist Op Deze Vuist", a traditional Dutch children song, Haneen started laughing!


Anwar playing the tambourine

Since two years, I was looking for a word to replace the word "fakon" in the Arabic song "Macaroon". Fakon is not a real Arabic word. It means something like a train wagon, but no child (or adult...) understood this word. Intisar came up with a new word: KARTON! It also rhymes with Macaroon, and now we all sing: "60 carton boxes of Macaroni!" Thank you Intisar!

Ra'fat understands three languages: Arabic, English and Dutch. I will never forget the day he was sick and had to stay in bed. Because of this he missed the music workshop. After the workshop, we went to his bed and as soon as he heard the sound of the guitar, he started smiling. He was still smiling when we left the room and made us smile as well!

We were all excited that we found a castanet in the color of Salem's jacket! Salem speaks perfect Arabic and English and sings all the songs in tune. He is a great musical talent!

Music for Blind Children

2011-02-16T12:58:00.000-08:00

On Sunday the 6^th of February, we were invited to visit a new music project in the Yamaha Music School in Ramallah.

Together with MwB trainees Amira and Seereen, we took the long winding road from Bethlehem to Ramallah. Because Amira and Seereen are from al-Azzeh and Dheisheh refugee camps, they are not allowed to pass through Jerusalem, where the road is much faster and safer.

But taking the long road through Wadi Nar (Valley of Fire) has also positive sides. We had all the time to talk, enjoy the beautiful view of the desert and listen to music on the radio.

When we arrived in the Yamaha Music School, we felt immediately welcomed. The warm colors and soft carpet made us forget the cold weather outside. The director, Mirna Malouf, a woman with unending energy, hosted us for more than two hours. She is the brain and the motor behind this wonderful project.

Since October last year, 30 visually impaired and blind children from all over Palestine receive music education twice a week. Buses bring them from their homes to the music school where they learn to play the oud, percussion, accordion, (electrical) piano, or violin and sing in a choir. Two of the music teachers are blind themselves. The children receive the lessons in groups, which gives them support and improves their social skills.

But it doesn't end here....the children also receive lessons in solfege: reading and singing music notes.

They learn how to read and write the music notes in braille. Mirna showed us a braille music book and while I let my fingers go over the pages, I felt very small. How could one ever understand these dots? Some of my music students are having problems reading music, how can these blind children read music in braille?

The Yamaha Music School also offers music lessons for children that have normal vision. This makes the project even more beautiful, because the children learn to respect and support each other.

We were all very impressed and happy that such an important project exist. All the respect for Mirna and the music teachers!

The coming months, we will go back once a month to give music workshops for both the blind children and the children with normal vision. The challenge will be to find activities that will be fitting for all children, in which they can cooperate, be creative and use their many talents.

If you want to have more information about this wonderful project, please contact Mirna Malouf directly: mirnanagham@yahoo.com

Singing in the hospital

2011-01-30T09:23:00.000-08:00

3 weeks ago

“Play something happy!”

Qamar's sister tells me. Together with Qamar, her mother and sister, we sing a joyful song of Fairuz. (listen to Fairuz singing Kan ez-Zaman)

MwB trainees Seereen, Amira, and Fadi join me in two workshops in the al-Hussein hospital for children with cancer. Qamar, 19 years old is not a child anymore but she loves music, and we spend some time with her singing, while I play on the guitar and the cello.

2 weeks ago

“Fabienne, I have very bad news.”

“...”

“Qamar died.”

“...”

1 week ago

Together with Fadi and a group of volunteers from the Basma Society, we are going to give a workshop to the children in the hospital. The new volunteers are eager to see how we do music with the children, so they can use it as well during their weekly visits to the children with cancer.

Before we walk together to the hospital, we sit in the Basma center and we discuss which songs and movements we will do. We are all in a good mood and ready to play with the children. But when we arrive at the hospital, reality hits us in the face once again. Yasser, a four year old boy just passed away. Instead of playing music and having fun with the children, we sit with Yasser's mother and try to comfort her, as far as it's possible in such circumstances.

Today

Today we work with four children. They remember us from the other workshops and are less shy.

As promised, we brought every child a music instrument so they can play with us. Ameer loves the tambourine, and Tamara is very excited with her bell-shaker. At the end of the workshop she discovers that the guitar can make sound as well when you hit on it. She gives the shaker to her mother and hits the guitar carefully, playing with the beat of the song.

Little Tamara is extremely musical, always clapping on the beat!

Rowan remembers the songs and sings and dances with us. Her mother, a kindergarten teacher, makes sure we teach her all the words, so she can sing it herself with her children.

Sameera and Ameer can not leave their beds, but that is fine; we sing every song twice, one time in front of Ameer's bed and one time in front of Sameera's bed. Rowan and Tamara walk with us from one side of the room to the other, followed by their mothers.

We should not forget the mothers. They are very strong, supporting their children day and night, while dealing with the emotions that come with a child that has cancer. When we sing the bye bye song to Sameera and her mother, her mother starts to cry. “She is only one year and seven months...”

What can we do? We give her a hug and continue to sing the song:

“Bye bye bye Sameera,

How are you today?

Insha'allah (in God's will) we will see you

always healthy”

(Translated from Arabic)

* the kids love that their photos are taken, but for privacy reasons, I changed their names

"They still knew my name!"

2011-01-22T10:33:00.000-08:00

It is the third time that we give a music workshop in the kindergarten in al-Ma'sara. Al-Ma'sara is a small beautiful village south of Bethlehem and probably no one would have ever heard of it, if it was not for the brave people of al-Ma'sara. Women and men, young and old, made their village a well known positive example of nonviolent popular resistance. Al-Ma'sara is surrounded by settlements that are build on land that belongs to the farmers of al-Ma'sara, traditionally growing olives and grapes and making honey.
The agricultural village with less than 900 inhabitants has been holding weekly nonviolent demonstrations since November 2006, when construction of the wall began in the area.
But thanks to the active people of al-Ma'sara, successes have also been seen. For example, some of the land has been saved and returned to the farmers of al-Ma'sara.

Although the young children might not understand yet what is going on around their village, they do see the settlements, the wall, and experience the night raids of the Israeli army in their village. We don't know how the children perceive all this and how this will effect their future.

What we do know, is that the children are very creative and enjoy singing and dancing.
Today, we taught them a Palestinian children song about going to the market and frying an omelet, with lots of olive oil and olives. It's a rainy day, there is no electricity in the kindergarten so the room is pretty dark and cold.

With our jackets, hoods and scarfs, we imagine ourselves on the market, buying tomatoes, cucumbers and even water melons. We sing the song and show the movements: going to the market, baking bread, breaking eggs and stirring the omelet, sharing the omelet with friends and last but not least, thanking grandmother for making us the omelet. As always in the al-Ma'sara kindergarten, the lovely teachers join us in the music workshop.

Buying big water melons in the market

I can not agree more with Amira, one of the MwB trainees that gave this workshop together with Seereen:
"It was really great and also better than the one before, they are really lovely kids!"

And Seereen added:
"I was shocked that after one month they still remembered my name! I am so happy for that. I liked the kids because of their enthusiasm for the workshop and their interaction.There was a special girl I liked a lot: when I asked her to do some movements with sticks she chose new movements without copying movements I had done before."

300 kids!

2011-01-14T08:48:00.000-08:00

Today MwB trainees Sa'da and Samar gave a music workshop for 300 children (age 5-13) and their mothers from the Bethlehem area.

Both women work in the Ghirass Cultural Center*, which hosted the event. Sa'da is a librarian in the center's library for children, Samar is the supervisor of the adult literacy program & the educational toys library program.

During their work in the center and the outreach program in the villages Battir, al-Khader and Zakaria, they taught the children songs from the MwB training. Today finally all the children could sing these songs together!

Making movements to the music

The children are copying the movements from Samar and Sa'da

Sa'da clapping with the kids

Sign to be silent: Hand in the air!!!

*Ghirass Cultural Center is an educational, cultural and leisure center that gives the children of Bethlehem district a safe place to learn, play, meet friends, develop and grow into young adults. It addresses the needs of the children of Bethlehem district, from birth to 16 years. The center is affiliated to Bethlehem Arab Society for Rehabilitation.
The center was established in 1994 for two main reasons:

The need for a safe place to learn and play became apparent during the first Intifada (uprising against the Israeli occupation) where the children were the innocent victims of the closure of schools and curfews.

Ghirass was also set up due to the prevailing academic philosophy at the time and the lack of cultural education in the schools. The Center recognized the importance of giving the children of Bethlehem an opportunity to learn their traditional music, dance and handicrafts and to gain knowledge of Palestinian culture, history, literature and ecology.

(This text was copied from the website of Ghirass Center)

Thank you Madeleine for making the pictures!

Kindergarten for Every Child

2011-01-12T14:13:00.000-08:00

“Here to the left.”

“There is no left.”

“Oh. So take the right and then left.”

“That's not a road.”

“Oh. So continue straight.”

“This is the last house. You want me to continue? It's dark, it's just desert here. There are wild dogs.”

“Oh. So make a reverse until the road is wide enough to turn and then go to the left.”

“I'm not sure my car will survive this road. This is not a road anyhow.”

“Don't worry, it's a road......Oh. It's not. It's a field of olive trees.”

“Fadi? Maybe it's time to call H.'s father again and ask him where to go now?”

We, MwB trainees Fadi and Wafa' and me, are invited to the house of H. in the village Abadiyeh. Wafa' lives in Abadiyeh and knows the road. At least, she knows it by daylight. But it's dark, and there are no lights outside.

We drive back to the entrance of the village, where we ask a man on the road for help to find the house. By chance, he H.'s uncle. He joins us in the car and shows us the way. We pass the road that was not a road, we pass the olive field, and we pass the last houses of the village. In front of us is the desert, the dead sea, and Jordan. But we see only darkness. Suddenly, behind a hill, we discover some light. This is where the family of H. lives, the six year old boy that has a severe skin disease. H. has difficulties to breath, can barely walk and his hands are misshaped. But what worries us the most is that he is not going to a kindergarten. We feel that H. needs to play with other children. His parents are afraid that the other children will be nasty to H. because of his disease.

Fadi talks with the parents and uncles of H. and explains to them the importance of a social environment. In the end, they agree that H. will try to go every day with his mother for two hours to the kindergarten. Wafa's mother works in the kindergarten and will explain to the other children that H. is a normal child, and that they don't have to be afraid of him, even if he looks different from them.

After this serious conversation, I take out the guitar and we start to sing for H. and his little sister. In no time, eight other children join. H.'s cousins who live next door joined us, and together we sing songs and play small percussion instruments. For a moment, we form a group, a group of children, mothers, fathers, and grandparents. H. is included, smiling, and shakes two shakers together with the music.

We hope to play music with H. again, but not in his house at the end of the world. We hope to play with him in the kindergarten, together with many other children!

They just want to be children!

2011-01-09T12:57:00.000-08:00

“The day we spent with the children was wonderful. It is important that we do not pity them or see them as poor children.”

Fadi, a MwB trainee and a volunteer as the project coordinator of Basma (“Smile”) Society, talks with me about the New Year's event that was organized by Basma Society and the Bethlehem Arab Society for Rehabilitation: a day of fun for children with cancer and their families in the al-Hussein Hospital in Beit Jalla.

Four MwB trainees, Fadi, Mohamad, Amira, and Seereen gave a music workshop to these children. For a moment, the children could forget the harsh reality they live in and sing and move to the music.

Fadi continues:

“For us, the people that are not sick, it is important to know how to deal with the children that have cancer. The children want to be seen as normal children. They have the same needs as any other child, they want to play, to talk....they just want to have contact with others!

We try to make the children feel 'normal', we try to get their minds for a moment out of the hospital and out of their disease.”

For Amira, Mohamad, and Seereen, it is the first time to give a music workshop to children with cancer. Although it is not an easy thing to sing and stay positive while they knew that these children are very sick, they did a great job and they gave the children lots of joy.

After the workshop, Amira and Seereen summarized their thoughts:

Amira: “Briefly there are no words that can describe my feelings. Honestly it was the workshop that I loved the most and I want to keep working with them inshallah (in God's will).”

Seereen: “The workshop with the children with cancer was fun and something new for me. I loved the children and I felt great affection towards them. I'm very happy because I did something to make them feel happy and escape from the pain for a few moments although I didn't do a big thing. But what I saw was happiness in their eyes, and that made it great....Allah protects them”

The children and Seereen listen to Amira, who is telling the children the story of the Donkey Song!

On the Palestinian news website Panet, an item was written about the event. The short text is in Arabic, but the many pictures you can see on the website don't need any translation!

M. helped the workshop leaders, looking for nice songs that we listened to through the red speaker. He was a great DJ!

You Are Late!!!

2010-12-26T08:11:00.000-08:00

We are late.

In the last two weeks we were a bit too early, but today we are late.

I'm not sure why. We don't have a good reason to be late. We just left too late.

It has been three weeks now that Karolien and I play music with the Bo'az boys, a group of boys, age 9-30, with special needs.

To be honest, I think it doesn't really matter that we are late because most of the participants of the music workshop don't know how to read the clock. They won't realize that we are five minutes too late.

How wrong I was!

S. is surprised to see us entering the living room.

“I thought you would not come today!”

You see, I think, even S. who is the best talker of the group, did not expect us to come.

And again I'm wrong.

“Why did you think we would not come? We come every Wednesday!” I try.

“Because you are late!”

“Late? We are not late! Well, maybe just a couple of minutes...”

“No you are late, look at the clock!”

I look at the clock and S. is right, of course. We are five full minutes too late. Maybe even six.

I apologize and realize that S. has just taught me a lesson. I feel ashamed that I thought this group would not mind us being late, just because some of them don't talk, sit in a wheelchair or are autistic.

***

The first time, M. didn't seem to make any contact with me during the music workshop. He rocked his body back and forth, slowly.

The second week, I tried to follow the advise of a music therapist: “when you play the guitar, try to play in the same tempo as his body movements”. When I sang the welcome song, in which every participant of the workshop is addressed with his name, I changed the tempo when it was M.'s turn. I play the welcome song slower to match the rocking movements of M. The other participants seem to enjoy the slow version of the song, but M. doesn't seem to care much. The same happened in the third workshop.

This time, during the fourth workshop, I want to adjust to M.'s movements again, but suddenly I realize it is not needed. M. starts to move already in the same tempo as the guitar while I am singing the song to the others. Maybe this is just by chance, but maybe....M. found a way to communicate with us by rocking his body in the same tempo so we know that he is with us.

***

I feel frustrated that I can not make any contact with A. He is very calm during the workshops and doesn't seem to react on anything. I suspect he is blind and severely autistic. The only reaction I ever got from A. was when I played the cello. He smiled.

During the fourth music workshop, Y., a supervisor is joining us. I'm happy with this because he is very active and the whole atmosphere is very positive. Y. sings the songs with us and offers support to the boys when needed. When I announce that next week I can not come to give a music workshop, Y. reacts by telling the groups that he will practice the songs with them until I come again. This makes me so happy, because it means that these boys, who obviously love music, will sing with their own supervisor during the week.

After the workshop, I ask him about the boys. He tells me where they come from (Hebron, Gaza, Jenin) and I decide to ask him about A.

“A. can not see, right?”

“Yes, he can only see some shadows. But he is as good as blind.

And deaf.”

Deaf??? The boy I'm trying to get contact with for four workshops now is blind and deaf. Aha.

That's why he never reacted to his name or to the music.

But the cello? He did smile, Karolien saw it as well.

Again I ask for advice from a music therapist. He explains to me that deaf people can not hear anything through their ears, but they can feel sound in other ways, especially the lower sounds like the sound of a cello.

The supervisor tells me he communicates with A. by touching his hands, and A. likes to smell things.

Next time I will give him a balloon, so he can feel the music, the guitar, through the vibrations of the balloon.

***

We listen to some music, and every time there are three clear beats, we clap with our hands. Well...S. , Karolien and I clap with our hands. The others don't. I look around, hoping that more will join the clapping. Nothing happens.

Nothing?

Suddenly I see B.'s foot tapping the 3 beats. Happy with his input, I tell the group that not only we can clap the three beats, but we can also tap them with our feet. When B. sees me tapping the three beats with my feet as well, he starts smiling.

But nobody else joins us, no clapping and no tapping.

I. a boy with very high muscle tension, suddenly hits his ears a couple of times. Although this was by far not the movement I expected or preferred, I decide to go for it and copy his movement as well. I. starts laughing and during the rest of the music, he chaps his ears.

The whole group seems to be more relaxed and I notice how almost all the participants make their own movements on the music.

***

Next time, MwB trainer Marijke will join me in the workshop, and hopefully afterward I can be joined by one of the MwB trainees.

Reflections on Violence

2010-12-16T07:41:00.000-08:00

I'm waiting in my car at the checkpoint to exit Bethlehem and enter Jerusalem. Perfect time to write a report for the MwB blog.

Today Ahmad al'Azzeh gave a nonviolence training for eight trainees.

The women receive this training from Holy Land Trust next to the musical training from MwB. I hear you thinking are these women so violent they really need this training?

The answer is no, these women are not violent at all. But they live in a society under occupation and have to deal with violence on a daily basis. Besides that, lots of the nonviolence techniques can be very useful during the music workshops the trainers give to children, like a positive body posture, nonviolent communication, and leadership.

During the workshop, no answers were given by Ahmad; the women had to find answers together by discussing, sharing experiences and listening to each other. They learned to be open for each other's interpretation and to accept the different views on violence-related issues.

New for the group was the division of three different kinds of violence: personal, structural and cultural.

Personal violence is any direct violence between people, like a husband who hits his wife.

Structural violence is embedded in social structures, for example gender discrimination. This form of violence was difficult to grasp in the beginning, but after some discussion, one of the trainees came up with the following: Structural violence is invisible but you can feel it. The group shared experiences at the checkpoints as an example. Sometimes nothing violent happens at the checkpoint, but you might still feel violated, you can still feel hurt, angry, frustrated or sad. Nothing visible happened, but the fact that you have to pass this checkpoint in your own country, that soldiers with guns have the possibility to abuse their power, that you have to wait for an hour, or that the soldiers check your bag, can make passing the checkpoint a violent experience.

I realize again that while I'm waiting in my car until it's my turn to show my passport and let the soldiers check the stuff in my car (and every time again I see them wondering, what is she doing with a parachute, wooden sticks and a guitar???) that I'm lucky I can pass this checkpoint and enter Jerusalem. Because all the people I met today in Bethlehem, the trainees, the trainer, the falafel seller, any random person in the street, are not allowed to just enter Jerusalem like I do. I suddenly realize that this is structural violence as well. It is not visible, nobody can see how I feel while standing in line in front of the checkpoint and feeling frustrated because I can pass and many of my friends can not. It won't leave a blue mark on my skin, it won't break my leg, but it can still hurt in a way.

Up to the third form of violence: cultural violence. Cultural violence can be used to justify structural or personal violence. If it is normal in a culture for a husband to hit his wife when she comes home too late, the woman can interpret the beating different from a woman who lives in a society were hitting is forbidden and not accepted at any level.

I'm sure I'm not explaining it clearly and I probably still don't understand the complete idea. That's what happens when you have to follow a NV workshop in Arabic....Anyhow, both women groups will receive five more workshops in nonviolence so I will still get many chances to learn and understand better!

During the evaluation of the workshop some of the participants mentioned they usually don't like to attend lectures so they were very happy this workshop was so interactive. They liked that everyone was free to give her own opinion and that they were challenged to really listen to each other instead of immediately reacting. The evaluation was very positive, except for one remark: can we please have a heater next time??? We are freezing!

Yes, winter has arrived in Palestine as well.

Storm in Silwan!

2010-12-13T11:30:00.000-08:00

MwB workshop leader Fabienne gives weekly music workshops in Madaa Cultural Center Wadi Hilweh, Silwan, East-Jerusalem. These workshops are part of the music project “Silwan Ta'azef” (Silwan Plays Music), funded by the Dutch organization Kinderpostzegels, Prelude, and private donations.
The pictures in this post were taken in 2009 during music workshops in Silwan and do not represent the children of this story.

It's storming outside. Finally the first real winter day in the year came two months too late.

I'm sitting inside the room with 7 boys, age 5-8, leading a music workshop in Silwan.

But another storm is raging outside. The second group, 10 teenagers, came half an hour too early, like they do every week, and they try to catch my attention while I'm trying to divide mine between the 7 kids inside the room.

First they ask if they can attend the workshop with the little ones. “No.”

Then they try it by banging on the door.

Then they try the windows.

One climbs on the roof and falls down (“Fabienne! Fabienne! M. fell from the roof!”)

10 more minutes.

5 more minutes.

The little ones seem distracted once in a while by all the shouting, banging and knocking from outside, but in general, they are well-involved in the singing and dancing.

We finish, the little boys run outside, back in the storm, and the storm of teenagers runs inside.

Body percussion (pictures taken during music workshop 2009)

I don't have the energy for this group of wild kids, but suddenly I remember the sentence I read last week from my professor. He gave us a list of 101 things to do with youth at risk. Because I was in a hurry, I only read one line: enter every lesson with a positive attitude.

And that's what I decide to do. Although they made me crazy with their behavior outside of the room, I decide to give them a new chance and act as if nothing happened outside, as if I was not annoyed and as if I have all the energy in the world to handle these teenagers.

And it worked. We start with some body percussion and sing two songs.

We work on the English text of one of the songs and relax while singing the Arabic song.

A. seems to be abstracted today and actually he looks two years older than last week. I realize he is the oldest in the group and might feel the activities are too childish for him.

After we finish the Arabic song, M. asks for the “Macaroon” song. I thought he made a joke, because this is the song I do with the little ones. I tell them this, but the group insists on singing the silly song about macaroni.

Singing (picture taken during music workshop 2009)

We start singing, learn the words and make movements with the song.

A. is doing the movements with so much conviction that it makes me feel as if we were in a theater workshop. He sings as if this is the most important thing in his life and for a moment he forgets to play his role of being the coolest, oldest guy in the group.

It is beautiful to see how these teenagers can be children for a moment, but it also makes me sad, because I realize how sparse these moment are in their lives.

Life in Silwan is extremely difficult these days, especially for the children. The fear of house demolitions, arrests by Israeli police, night raids by Israeli army and violence is always present.

Some of the songs I sing with the teenagers in Silwan are about life under occupation, and they love to sing these songs.

But apparently a song about macaroni can be a big hit too!

Playing musical games (pictures taken in 2009)

A Morning of Dancing and Singing!

2010-12-07T10:05:00.000-08:00

Two special events took place today: a music workshop for children with cancer and their mothers, and a music workshop for diabetic children and their families. Because of the Islamic New Year, the children didn't go to school and could join the workshops in the morning.

The report about the workshop for children with cancer will follow later; for now you can read about the other workshop that was attended by more than 200 people:

Diabetics Friend's Society Bethlehem organized a fun and educational day for diabetic children and their families, in el-Funiq Center, Dheisheh refugee camp.
Zainab, Yasmeen and Anaya, trainees that receive music training from MwB and non-violence training from Holy Land Trust gave the workshop together with project leader Fabienne.

Gregor, a flute teacher in Ramallah joined the songs with his flute; Nina, a volunteer at HLT took pictures to document the workshop.

During the workshop, children were invited on stage to sing and dance, while their parents watched, and sang and moved along with them.

During the 'bye dance' every participant got the chance to

greet his or her neighbor through movements on relaxing music.


Yasmeen told the children the story of “Chashaboo” (Woody), a child made out of wood (that happens when your father is a carpenter...)


After which the children danced the "Chashaboo Dance"

Chashaboo Dance

Although we planned to sing the song while the children were sitting with their parents, they got so excited that they all ran to the stage. They sang with beautiful loud voices and imitated the movements that go with the song, shown by Zainab

I would like to thank all the volunteers of today: Zainab, Yasmeen, Anaya, Gregor and Nina, but most of all, I would like to thank all the children for dancing and singing in such a nice way! They are the ones that give us the motivation and inspiration to continue our work.

Another Music Workshop in al-Ma'sara

2010-12-02T06:44:00.000-08:00

On Monday the 29^th of November, six military jeeps entered al-Ma'sara village. The Israeli authorities delivered demolition orders to a mosque and the owners of two homes in al-Ma'sara.

Two days later, MwB in cooperation with HLT gave another music workshop to the children in al-Ma'sara, offering them a moment of relaxation and a safe space to express themselves.

The workshop leaders were welcomed by the wonderful staff of the kindergarten and around 30 children were already waiting for the music.

MwB trainer Fabienne gave the workshop with Seereen from Dheisheh Refugee Camp and Amira from al-Azzah Refugee Camp. Both women are receiving music training from MwB and non-violence training from HLT. The benefits of the non-violence training were clearly visible during the music workshop in al-Ma'sara. Seereen and Ameera used positive body-language and non-verbal communication, and managed to create a safe environment in which all the children could participate and express their creativity.

Some impressions of the workshop leaders:

Fabienne: ”I was positively surprised to find out that the children remembered the song we sang during the workshop two weeks ago. Not only did they remember the song and the movements, they sang with much more confidence than last time. Later their teacher told me that she had repeated the song many times during the last two weeks. I was very happy to hear this, realizing that the music workshops have much more impact on the children if their daily teachers continue with the material we offer them.”

Amira: “About the workshop today, it was nice and I really liked it, especially the kids they were so cute! And if you ask me if I want to repeat it again the answer will be 'of course!' because I really love to work with such children.”

Seereen: “It was a great time spent at al-Ma'sara's kindergarten. It was a really good chance to know and discover a village in my country that I had never heard about before. I'm really interested to participate in the workshops from MwB and HLT and to give more workshops to the children.”

Workshop for youth with special needs

2010-11-24T12:28:00.000-08:00

We were welcomed by nine boys with special needs from the group Bo'az in Beit Jalla. Most of them are teenagers, the youngest boy is only nine years old and the oldest in his early thirties. Every member of the group has his own special needs and receives support from the wonderful staff of Jemima (www.jemima.nl), the organization that provides them with everything they need.
Karolien, a Belgian volunteer in al-Azzah Refugee Camp, joined me and was a great help during the workshop.

We opened with a welcoming song in which every participant was greeted with his name. Although some of the boys did not show any reaction when hearing their name, they all reacted to the sound of the guitar. Some started smiling, others rocked their body with the music.

After the song we played a musical game with a balloon. Issa was a bit afraid from the sounds, but Mohammad loved the balloon and made a nice decoration out of it so we could hang it in the room.

Then we sang an Arabic song about macaroni, here is the translation:

I'm a very poor man,

I don't even have a little house,

and I had to sell my pants,

so I could buy some macaroni to eat!

In Arabic it rhymes....

Issa was not afraid anymore and he asked to repeat the song many times. We will sing it again the following weeks and since the song has eight more verses we won't get bored!

We played another musical game in which the boys had to clap with the music. It was difficult for Anwar to clap, but after half a minute he found a solution: he stamped with his foot on the ground. This was a perfect idea so we started to clap and stamp with the music.
Later, everyone got a music instrument to play with the music. Sameh loved the African shaker and later he accompanied me with the shaker when we sang and played the 'Bye Bye' song on the guitar.

I was very impressed by the involvement of the boys. They all had their own way of expressing themselves and showed creativity.
For the coming period, Musicians without Borders in cooperation with Holy Land Trust will continue to give the Bo'az boys weekly music workshops.

World Diabetes Day in al-Masara

2010-11-15T02:05:00.000-08:00

On November 14 was the World Diabetes Day. This year, the theme was diabetic children. Every day another 200 children around the world are affected by the disease. In Palestine, 10% of the population suffer from diabetes.

Two of the new MwB trainees, Zainab and Yasmeen, are volunteering for the Diabetes Friend's Society Bethlehem. In the morning, we traveled to al-Masara where the DFS provided free testing of blood pressure and blood sugar, followed up by a doctor in case of need.

Al-Masara is a beautiful village inhabited by about 850 Palestinians. Many villagers are farmers, cultivating their lands, growing olives, grapes and making honey. This might sound idyllic if it weren't for the Israeli separation wall which has cut farmers from their beloved lands, and threatens to grab more land in the near future. Many of the children in al-Masara live under the poverty line and experience stress from the regular army incursions at night.

While the doctors and nurses were taking care of the mothers, their children got a music workshop in the local kindergarten. Physical action is one of the basics tools to prevent stress and diabetes, so we danced and moved a lot in the workshop.

It was the first time for Zainab and Yasmeen to give a music workshop and they did a great job.

After we finished, the village asked us to return every month to continue the singing and dancing with al-Masara's children. We hope to return soon!

G. is a little boy of four years old. Two years ago, he stopped talking.
One night, he Israeli army raided his home at night, accompanied by big dogs. While witnessing this violent event, G. got in shock and expressed his fear of the dogs by stopping to talk. G. was in the music workshop today but did not sing with us yet.
Maybe next month he will be ready. And if not next month, we will try again the month after!

trainingsweek in Silwan and Bethlehem

2010-11-07T09:34:00.000-08:00

During the last week of October Otto de Jong and Sherwin Kirindongo, two trainers from Musicians without Borders, gave seven workshops to Palestinian trainees in becoming music workshop leaders.

Two training days took place in Silwan, East-Jerusalem. Silwan suffers from ongoing settler violence and army incursions, resulting in violent clashes between the Palestinian residents and the Israeli forces and settlers.
Ten young people from Silwan and Beit Safafa participated in the workshop. Most of them are active in the Madaa Silwan Creative Center (www.madaasilwan.org) where they work with children in various fields, like dabke (traditional Palestinian dance) and theater.
The training was focused on a nonviolent and positive approach to working with children, using music as a tool for non-verbal communication and expression of creativity.

The other workshops were held in al-Awdah Center in al-Azzeh Camp, Bethlehem. Divided in two groups, 16 women participated. Most of them live in the refugee camps and small villages around Bethlehem, like Dheisheh Camp, Batir, Shawahrah, Nu'aman and Husan.

The participants experienced the positive effects of music through drumming, body percussion and singing, and learned how to use music in their work with children.

The trainees were also trained in giving and receiving feedback, an important skill for a (music) workshop leader. At the beginning of the week it was still difficult for some participants to give feedback in a positive, constructive and empowering way, but at the end of the week all managed and felt comfortable giving and receiving each others' feedback.

During the coming months, the two women groups will receive more training in music from MwB and non-violence from HLT. At the same time, the participants will lead music workshops for children in their own communities under supervision of MwB. The children that will participate in these music workshops include children from refugee camps, children with learning difficulties, children with cancer, and children with diabetes.

Day of fun for children from Dheisheh!

2010-07-17T08:05:00.000-07:00

On Monday the 12th of July, Anas, Ahmad, Diya, Hisham, Mohammad and Yousef took 40 children from Dheisheh Refugee Camp to a parc in Beit Jallah where they had a day of fun, including music and rap workshops!

More pictures from music workshops in Ghirass Cultural Center

2010-07-17T07:46:00.000-07:00

Ghirass Cultural Center

2010-07-15T11:07:00.000-07:00

During the one-month summer camp of Ghirass Cultural Center in Bethlehem (www.ghirass.org), 13 trainees gave in total 42 music workshops to more than 150 children. The children, age 6-12, are divided into six groups. The oldest groups sing songs, dance, rap and play Arabic percussion. The younger groups sing, dance, play musical games and rhythms with sticks. Every day the workshops end with an activity for all the children together: on the stage every group shows the others what they have learned during the day, for example a dance or a song. This is also the moment when all the children can sing together: children from Bethlehem, Beit Jallah, Dheisheh camp and children with learning difficulties, the young ones and the older children, they all experience the beauty of singing together!

MwB in Beit Ummar, video by Center for Freedom and Justice

2010-07-11T08:16:00.000-07:00

Video of the trainees in action

2010-07-10T13:01:00.000-07:00

Workshops for the Elderly

2010-07-10T09:50:00.001-07:00

Project leader Fabienne van Eck gave two music workshops to elderly women in Taybe and Bethlehem. They sang traditional Arabic songs, enjoyed playing musical games and practiced voice exercises. At the end of the workshop in Taybe, the 25 women played the tambourine and started to dance and sing traditional wedding songs. We hope to be able to continue working with these groups after the summer.

Jordan Meningitis Foundation

2010-07-03T08:34:00.000-07:00

This is the thank you letter for Naji, Maher and Yousef for the music workshop they gave in December 2009 to children that survived Meningitis.
Although some of the children can not talk anymore and have problems expressing themselves, they all react very strongly on the music. The Jordan Meningitis Foundation is doing amazing work for these children and their families and we hope to visit them more often in the future!

Love&Peace for Childhood: SOS Children's Village Bethlehem

2010-06-15T10:28:00.000-07:00

The SOS Children's Village Bethlehem provides family-based, long-term care of children who can no longer grow up with their biological families. In the Village they currently have 90 children and another 40 boys and girls living in the SOS youth houses. The village was established in 1966 (see also http://sos-palestine.org/). When the SOS children start to live independently after having finished university or a vocational training they are called SOS graduates. SOS Bethlehem's graduates have founded an association in order to keep a close link of the former SOS children to the ones that are still in the village. Furthermore this association is supposed to strengthen the SOS graduates in the society.

The recently-elected board of trustees of the Children's Village Graduates Association CVGA organized a Love & Peace for Childhood Day in Bethlehem on Sunday 13th June 2010.

"Love & Peace for Childhood is a day when we will attract the attention and concern to abandoned children, we believe that there are millions of children who do not get education, shelter, health… so on. If we succeed on that day, this day will be an anniversary that will be launch to the world from Bethlehem by Children’s Villages Graduates Association. This is why CVGA asked for you and other people for the entire world. Therefore we together have to do our best and pay hard work for that day."

Maher, Hisham and Anas gave a short music workshop during this event, in which 50 children actively participated and many others were watching.

Music workshop for Basma Society, Bethlehem

2010-06-15T10:16:00.000-07:00

On Saturday the 12th of June, the Basma Society organized a birthday party, where Fadi and Maher gave a music workshop for the children and their mothers.
Basma Society provides moral and financial support and guidance to all age groups of cancer patients and their families. They organize recreational activities in which the children and their families get a chance to smile (Basma in Arabic means "smile").
For more information about the beautiful work of this organization, please write to the following address: basmasociety@yahoo.com

workshop for children in Beit Sahour

2010-06-02T06:05:00.000-07:00

On Monday the 31st of May Fadi gave a music workshop to children that graduated that day from the kindergarten:

Workshop with children from the Basma foundation

2010-06-02T04:12:00.000-07:00

Maher and Fadi gave a music workshop with the organization Basma. Fadi wrote the following text about this day:

"We love children and we love to work with them. That's why we did a workshop with children in Bethlehem that have cancer. The workshop was very successful and we managed to break the border between the children and us, the workshop leaders. we asked the children what kind of activities they liked and we played these games together. I hope the children felt the same as we did, because for us it was a very special and beautiful experience."

فادي و ماهرمن مخيم عايدة عملوا مع مؤسسة بسمة

فادي كتب عن هاذا اليوم:

"نحن نحب الأطفال كثيرا و نحب العمل معهم. لقد قمنا بعقدنا ورشة عمل مع اطفال مرضى السرطان في مدينة بيت لحم, كان تقييم الورشة ناجا جدا من قبل المشاركين , فقد استطعنا أن نكسر الجليد وبددنا الحاجز بيننا وبين الاطفال المشاركين. عبَّروا لنا عن العابهم المفضَّلة ولعبناها معهم كما شاركونا في جميع التمارين والألعاب الهادفة بحماس وشوق.

كان شعورا جميلا فاق العادي, أتمنى أن يحظى الجميع بمثلة."

Second music training for women

2010-05-11T14:00:00.001-07:00

Benefit Concert in Denver, CO

2010-05-03T01:33:00.000-07:00

The following invitation is written by the Association of Students for Human Rights (ASHR) from the Korbel School of International Studies at Denver University:

On Saturday, May 22, 2010 at 7:30 pm in the Mercury Cafe, the Association of Students for Human Rights (ASHR) from the Korbel School of International Studies at DU wishes to invite you to Composing Cultures of Peace, our second annual awareness concert that emphasizes the great need to support rehabilitation efforts in post-conflict areas. In addition to informative speakers on the topic of post-conflict rehabilitation, drawing prizes, and a cash bar, the concert will feature bands Sun Red, Kissing Party, and Action Packed Thrill Ride.

All proceeds from the concert will go to Musicians without Borders, an international non-profit organization who works in refugee camps and post-conflict zones throughout the world, providing struggling children and families with free community-based education, summer camps, and services focused around music, art, and recreation.

As witnessed in the well-known cases of Palestine, Rwanda, Haiti, and the Balkans, the cessation of conflict or tragedy rarely equals the cessation of suffering and hardship in any given region. ASHR supports rehabilitation organizations like Musicians Without Borders who realize that even after a conflict ends, physical, psychological, and social wounds require healing of all kinds.

Please join us on May 22 to learn more about this topic, see great bands, and fundraise for an incredible cause.

Tickets are just $10 and will be sold at the door.

We hope to see you there!

More pictures of workshop in Batir

2010-04-22T06:48:00.001-07:00

workshop for children in Batir village

2010-04-22T06:39:00.001-07:00

Anaya, Rena and Hanan gave a music workshop for 60 children in a kindergarten in their village Batir.

Article

2010-04-10T11:02:00.000-07:00

An article was published on www.silwanic.net
You can read about the music workshop in Dheisheh camp for children from Silwan and Dheisheh at the following link:

English:
http://silwanic.net/?p=2147

Arabic:
http://silwanic.net/?p=1958

Music workshop in Batir

2010-04-01T08:14:00.000-07:00

Today was the first music workshop given by three members of the new MwB women group from Batir: Anaya, Rena and Hanan.
They did a wonderful job with the seven boys, age 12-14, that performed dabke, a traditional Palestinian dance, before the workshop started.
The workshop leaders made music with the children while singing, using body percussion and sticks. They finished the workshop with the "who is the leader" game, in which the children take turns in being the leader and showing the others movements and rhythms, while the child in the middle has to guess who is the leader.
Although the boys were a bit hesitating before we began the workshop ("what do you want to do with us....?") they immediately joined once we started, had lots of fun and asked us when the next workshop would be!

making sounds and rhythms with sticks

Playing the "who is the leader" game

Talents in Batir!

2010-04-01T07:48:00.000-07:00

Today I was very lucky: Anaya, Rena and Hanan from the new MwB women group invited some very talented youth from their village Batir to share their traditional culture with me.
Seven boys, age 12-14, danced dabke, a traditional Palestinian dance, and Esra' , a young girl, recited the poem "Afwan Fairuz". The poem is about the longing for Jerusalem.
Batir, the village where Esra' lives, is only ten kilometers away from Jerusalem, but she and many other Palestinians are not allowed to enter this city.
She recited the poem with lots of emotion and musicality in her voice and one of the women in the audience told me she got the shivers while listening to her beautiful voice.

Esra' reciting the poem

The dabke of the boys was very impressive. They worked in a very mature way with each other and showed different dance techniques.

Boys from Batir dancing Dabke in the
Batir Center for Women and Children

Fabienne van Eck
Local Project Manager

SOS Kindergarten Bethlehem

2010-03-27T01:56:00.001-07:00

Today was the first workshop for children given by three women from the new MwB group in Palestine. Ameera, Arwa and Sereen gave a fun workshop for children in the SOS Kindergarten Bethlehem in which they danced, sang and played rhythms. They did a wonderful job and the children were very excited and asking for more....

Sereen gives every child an imaginary water drop
to dance the 'shower dance'

Playing rhythms with sticks

Saying your name while making music

Saying your name while making music

Arwa makes the balloon bigger and smaller, while the
children follow the movements with their arms

Workshop for children from Silwan and Dheisheh in Dheisheh Camp

2010-03-25T05:26:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday March 24, eleven students from the music project in Silwan (www.madaasilwan.org) visited Dheisheh Camp to join a music workshop given by Anas, Ahmad, Bassam, Hisham, Mohammad and Yousef. Diya helped preparing but couldn't join the workshop because of his exams in school.

It was the first time the children from Silwan and Dheisheh met and actually the first time for the Silwan children to go to the Bethlehem area.
Two children from Dheisheh spoke about their life in the camp, and two children from Silwan explained to the Dheisheh youth how it is to live in Silwan.

Talking about Dheisheh Refugee Camp

The Silwan children sang and played their favorite song "I Love you Silwan" (Ba7ebek ya Silwan) and the children from Dheisheh performed rap songs that they wrote themselves.

The Dheisheh workshop leaders organized a great workshop with different musical games and songs in which the children were motivated to work together as one group and to communicate and listen to each other in a respectful manner. All the children were excited and very active during the different activities.
On the way back to Silwan, the children practiced their new beat-box skills which they learned from the Dheisheh children and they couldn't wait to get off the bus to tell their friends and family about the trip.

We hope to visit Dheisheh camp soon again to let the children meet each other.
But of course our dream is to bring the Dheisheh children to Silwan and Jerusalem one day....

For more pictures, go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/madaa.silwan/TripToDheisheh#5452541731228489122

Music workshop leader training (February 2010)

2010-03-22T04:38:00.000-07:00

Foto report of the music trainings in Bethlehem and Jenin

Training February

2010-03-13T09:51:00.000-08:00

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.

New music training for women!

2010-02-08T09:44:00.000-08:00

At the end of February we will start with a new Music Workshop Leader Training for women in Bethlehem.

Info about the training you can find at: (only available in arabic)

http://www.musicianswithoutborders.nl/InvitationTrainingWomenArabic.pdf
http://www.musicianswithoutborders.nl/p_palestine_downloads.htm

اغنية جديدة

2009-12-13T08:15:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-11T12:05:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-01T11:21:00.000-08:00

Worskhop from our colleagues from Srebrenica (Bosnia Herzegovina)

Workshops in SOS Children Village and Jordan

2009-08-16T08:11:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-07-30T15:31:00.000-07:00

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

من نحن! Who are we?

2009-06-18T04:15:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-18T03:39:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-13T13:59:00.000-07:00

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)

2009-04-16T08:14:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-13T12:21:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-13T11:42:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-07T07:16:00.001-07:00

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.