|
PALFEST
Palfest was warmly received in Nablus and is sure to return next year
Project Hope was proud to help host Palfest, the Palestine Literary Festival, in Nablus. PalFest brings together notable Palestinian authors, with other Arab and international writers, poets and musicians for a week of literary events throughout Palestine. The festival was started in 2002 by Mahmoud Darwish, and counts among its patrons and supporters Ahdaf Soueif, Emma Thompson and Seamus Heaney. Despite the festival's success, Nablus had never before been able to participate in the festival because the city has been under almost siege for the past 10 years.
Project Hope volunteers were very pleased to play host to PalFest and to help organize two successful events in the area. Project Hope organized the locations, and its volunteers assisted the special guests while providing them with tours throughout the Old City of Nablus.
The first event was "Pathfinding", a literary event discussing the politics and emotion of land, home, journeys and returning. The event included world-renowned authors Suad Amriy, Raja Shehadeh, Hala Shrouf, and William Sutcliffe and was hosted at the Hammam Ash-Shifa Turkish bath in the historic Old City of Nablus. Project Hope volunteers assisted in organizing the venue, setting-up the performance and accompanying the artists.
The second event was an evening of poetry, spoken word, hip-hop beats, and visual art called "Unchecked Beats". The night was MC'ed by Suad Amriy, and featured local poet, and Friend of Project Hope, Falastine Dwikat; Palestinian-American poet/hip-hop artist/stand-up-comic, and also friend of Project Hope Remi Kanazi; famous spoken word artist Suheir Hammad; as well as local poet Najwan Darwish; and hip-hop/visual artists Tashweesh. The event was held in the historic Qasr al-Qassem building, the architecture and planning annex of an-Najah, in Beit Wazen, a village just outside of Nablus. Project Hope assisted with organizing transportation to the venue. |
|
GRAPHIC NOVEL NOW FOR SALE
Twelve graphic novel stories have been printed into a book and are being sold to support further projects of this kind
The official book launch for West Bank Graphic Novel Stories was held on Tuesday June 1, 2010 at Beit Zatoun. In addition to a display featuring excerpts from the novel, the editor of the novel, Rebecca Cox, spoke about her volunteer experience teaching and working with the students to compile the graphic novel. The course was provided by Project through the Fine Arts Department of An-Najah National University in Nablus under the direction of Toronto-based volunteer Rebecca Cox. The course took place over several weeks last summer - May to June 2009. The students were provided only with the technical know-how on how to create a graphic novel - the stories are their own.
West Bank Graphic Novel Stories is the collaborative effort of 12 students: 10 young women, 2 young men. Some fictional, some autobiographical, all based on the daily realities of life under occupation, the stories in this graphic novel give insight to the reader what is was like growing up during the Second Intifada which began in 2000.
The stories provide a wide range of experiences, urban, rural and refugee. In On This Earth We Deserve Life, author-artist Ahmed reveals his struggle to find the means to further his education - to pass high school and enter university - despite poverty and deadly street encounters with the Israeli military. In Freedom to Play author-artist Samia reveals how random violence flares up at any moment debilitating kids' access to education and play-time.
West Bank Graphic Novels are now on sale after an official launch at Project Hope's office. Proceeds from the novel will be used to hire the twelve authors to carry-out either a summer or after school course with children in their home communities.
|
|
NEW AMAZON WISH LIST
Volunteers at Project Hope work hard planning lessons to make the language and art courses here as beneficial as possible for their students. However, due to various political and economic restrictions, Palestine suffers from a shortage of books and other materials, making for scarce educational resources for Project Hope students and teachers. To rectify this, Project Hope has compiled a Wish List of books and games- both English and French, and a list of art supplies. These items will undoubtedly make both the teaching and learning and much fuller experience.
On the side panel of this newsletter are the wish lists. If you feel that you would like to donate an item to Project Hope, click on any of the links, browse through the items and add the books or games you would like to donate to your 'shopping cart'. (If you would like to buy something from more than one list, you can change between them by clicking on the links to the left of the 'Amazon' Wish List page.) The address for Project Hope will automatically become one of your shipping options. Should there be any problems, do not hesitate to contact us.
We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your support, and thank you in advance for your donations to support this initiative.
|
|
ROBOTICS COURSE
Graduates of the robotics class pose with their diplomas
This spring, Project Hope organized a special course on robotics, specifically for hearing impaired students, and focusing on the design and creation of robots using recycled electronics and other materials. Project Hope coordinated with the Palestinian Red Crescent Society in organizing this class.
The course trained students on how to make robots using recycled plastics, paper and other material. Therefore, this course not only imparted technological training, but also instilled the spirit of environmentalism in the students, teaching them that left over parts can be reused in constructive ways rather than simply being thrown away and harming the environment.
In addition, the course was significant in that it was organized as a joint effort between Project Hope and the PRCS, as well as a science teacher, sign language translator and social instructor from the school. Project Hope regularly cooperates with local schools and community organization in order to provide educational opportunities and recreational relief to disadvantaged Palestinian youth. Likewise, the PRCS in Nablus adopts extracurricular rehabilitation and training programs as well as academic educational curricula in its annual plan for the students in the rehabilitation centers. Part of these programs include empowerment programs for the hearing impaired and disabled, allowing challenged students to acquire the professional skills which enable self-sufficiency.
|
THROUGH THEIR EYES INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION
Through Your Eyes exhibition at Beit Zatoun in Toronto
This March, the first of a series of three exhibitions took place in Toronto. The exhibit 'Through Their Eyes' consisted of photographs and graphic novels from Palestinian students revealing various aspects of life in Palestine: from checkpoints and bullet holes, to landscape and architecture. Over two hundred friends and supporters attending the opening night in Toronto. Several weeks later, the exhibition moved to Montreal and then traveled across the ocean to Amsterdam for the last week of May, to smaller by appreciative audiences.
A unique event was arranged for the opening night of the exhibition in Amsterdam. A past Project Hope volunteer plays the carillon church bells in the oldest church (the Oude Kerk) in city center of Amsterdam. The Carillon is a uniquely Dutch "instrument." With a similar concept to a piano, two rows of long sticks are gripped by and a row by foot, which are attached to a series of at least 23 bells. One Palestinian and two Iraqi songs were played to mark the Project Hope gallery, to be heard over the city of Amsterdam. The music was played by the Carillon at the Oude Kerk as well as the Zuiderkerk. The duet between church bells created a beautiful stereo effect for the guest of the exhibit and the city of Amsterdam to enjoy.
|
|
HAKIM'S AWARD
On Tuesday the 13th of April, Project Hope Director AbdulHakim Sabbah was presented with an Award of Special Appreciation by the Dar Al-Funoon (House of Arts) center in Askar Refugee camp. The award was in recognition of Mr. Sabbah's hard work and dedication in providing support and fostering a meaningful partnership between Project Hope and Dar al-Fanoon. The staff and volunteers of Project Hope were welcomed as guests of honor to a celebration of Palestinian music and dance at Dar Al-Funoon.
Project Hope has been a long-time friend and partner of Dar al-Fanoon, sending its volunteers to help teach music, dance and visual arts. The evening of appreciation began with a world-class dabka (Palestinian folkloric dance) performance by Dar al-Fanoon's dance troupe of local young men and women from Nablus and Asker refugee camp. The group performed Palestinian dabka to traditional songs about the land of Palestine. Following this performance, younger students in the music classes performed a number of Palestinian tunes (including the national anthem which got a standing ovation) playing the violin, piano, guitar and tableh (Arabic drum.) After a vocal performance by the young girls in the group, the boys from the dabka group returned to the stage. This time, instead of Palestinian folklore, the group busted out with an amazing hip-hop and break-dance jam
The show's finale was a guest performance by a traveling Swedish music group who gave an acapella performance of Swedish songs celebrating spring. The evening ended with Dar Al-Funoon honoring Project Hope with an award, as well as enjoying some Palestinian food. Project Hope wishes Dar Al-Funoon continued success and looks forward to continuing working together as both organizations continue to grow.
|
|
|
Safaa's Trip to Spain
Safaa is current working with Project Hope in Nablus as one of two French Language Coordinators
One of Project Hope's Palestinian volunteers (now a staff member), tells us about her trip to Spain where she represented Project Hope at a conference for intercultural dialogue:
"It was my first time to Spain, visiting the city of my dreams and participating in the very first Anna Lindh Forum (ALF) to represent Project Hope. The Anna Lindh forum 2010 is unique civil society gathering for intercultural dialogue. Over 700 participants of civil society organizations were invited to discuss important issues through a series of workshops. The themes were related to "Youth and Education", "Cultural and Artistic collaboration", "Peace and Coexistence", "Migration and diversity" and "Religion and Values". These workshops formed the first, "Agora," component of the conference - agora meaning "open place of assembly" in Greek, referring to classical Greek democratic ideals.
The second component was "Medina", where the participants shared and exchanged their ideas and experiences, and presented about their best organizational practices. Medina is Arabic for "town", and has connotations of an enlightened and civilized city.
It was in the Best Practices session where I talked about Project Hope's "Bridge to the World" program, presenting the concept of this project, its goals and the challenges. A lot of participants showed interest in the program (which aims to connect Palestinian children and youth with their peers around the world through internet communication technology), particularly as it is related to Palestinian children's issues. In fact, the sessions where Palestinian youth and children's issues were discussed were the most attended by the participants, and Project Hope received a lot of positive feedback and attention.
The forum was a great chance for me to talk about Project Hope's valuable work as well as to meet in person some of Project Hope's partners in France, as well as other youth representatives from other parts of the Euro-Mediterranean region through the intercultural fair, cultural exchanges and concerts.
I tend to think that as we live in a world full of political, social and religious conflicts. The ALF had tried to create a small world where peace and dialogue are the bridges that connect those 700 participants despite their differences, working together to bring a concrete bridges to the real world."
|
|
