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Drawing about Palestine
On May 15, 2013 the Center observed the anniversary of the Nakba.
The Nakba means “the catastrophe” in Arabic. It marks the anniversary of the 1948 war, when Palestinian refugees fled their homes and Israel was created. This year is the 65th anniversary.
At the Center, we remembered the Nakba by doing programs about Palestine. The idea of our program was to create artwork and writings about Palestine – and then share them with American students and others to give the students, and their nation, a voice.
The older children wrote a “free write” about Palestine and the younger students drew pictures. We will share these pictures and writings with you on this blog.
The first student work is from Haneen, an 8 year old girl.
Her work is a good example of a problem we faced — we asked and asked the students to draw happy things, but most students presented sad drawings that made our hearts break. Haneen decided to do two drawings – a happy and sad depiction of Palestine.
Goodbye to our American Friends!
During the past year, students from the Orphan Welfare Association (OWA) in Baqa’a Camp, Jordan have been exchanging letters with Pen Pals from AB Regional Highschool in Acton, MA, US.
For the OWA students in Jordan, ranging in age from 6 years old to 16 years old, their Pen Pals were their first “American friends” and the first exposure they had to American people, culture, and life in general. The letter exchange both showed the OWA students the value of developing their English language skills and gave them a sense of connection to American people. Similarly for the AB students, this exchange provided insight into a corner of the world that Americans do not know much about; they have learned about life in the Middle East –> life in the Arab world –> life in Jordan –> and even more specifically, life in a Palestinian refugee camp in Jordan.
This video shows some of the OWA students saying goodbye to their classmates. Not pictured here are many other students, including high school students (Alanood, Rawhy, Mohammed, and Hana), who participated throughout the year. All of them send their love, thanks, and farewell to their friends in America.
Rap and Graffiti
In the past weeks, a new teacher has joined us: Khalid.
Khalid is a university student with a unique talent… He is a rapper and a graffiti artist. Khalid came to the Association and shared his passion with the students. For many students, it was the first time they heard of these new arts, and for all it was the first time they learned the skills behind it.
Khalid taught students how to write rap and shared his songs with them.
He gave words to students to perform – and they loved trying to rap just like him.
Khalid also showed them how to do graffiti — and while doing so, he made a sign for the Association. (“Palestine”)
The older students learned about graffiti and even got to try it out for themselves!
Of course, Khalid also performed his own rap for the students.
He gave all the students a chance to perform something as well. Many students recited poems or sang songs — the littlest one of us all, Ban, was the first to contribute a song she memorized!
All in all, it was an amazing program that introduced our students to new types of art, encouraged them to be creative, and gave them a voice.
International Earth Day
Last Monday was International Earth Day.
At the jama3ia, we decided to have our own celebration — a Baqa’a Clean Up day!
In general, there is a big problem with trash in Jordan. This is also a big problem in Baqa’a. Many people leave their trash on the ground ( litter ) and there are not good services to clean up the trash.
Photos taken by students in Samir’s Photography Workshops
It started with the youngest kids. We talked about why its important to clean up after ourselves and not leave trash on the ground. Then, we colored pictures about the environment. Finally, we finished by learning a song (“Look Around — What is there? — Pick up trash! — Clean the Earth!”)
Nadine filmed the students’ work and she will make a video for the jama3ia to remember the day!
Next all the older students become to work on their own project — cleaning up the jama3ia!
Together, we cleaned the roof and the outside. There was a lot of trash and glass, but we finished quickly with everyone working together!
Now, the jama3ia looks beautiful and we will be able to play outside during the nice summer days!
All the above photos are from Ihab and Marah.
You can look at more photos from the day in the post below!!
Baqa’a Clean Up Day! – Photos by Marah and Ihab
ya3teek al3fia!
The Baqa'a Times 