In addition to English and French classes, it is also possible to teach classes in the creative arts, first aid, and any other subject or skill that is of interest to our volunteers.  There is not a set curriculum for these classes, but are rather provided when there are volunteers to teach them.  If volunteers have skills that they want to share, we help them translate their ideas and enthusiasm into an organized set of classes or workshops. The following are examples of recent courses that have been provided by Project Hope volunteers.

Drama:

Control over one's body and voice is a vital ingredient in ownership over one's life, confidence in one's self, and understanding of one's actions and interactions with others. These reasons and more demonstrate that drama, and the voice and movement aspects of drama training, can play an essential role in the well-being of the child. This is all the more necessary when a conflict situation has shattered a child's confidence in the world around him or her, placed the child's physical and emotional self in harm's way, and disturbed the child's mental peace.

Art:

Art is a therapeutic means by which the creation or viewing of art is used to help people discover and express their feelings. Unlike art for art's sake, which focuses on the finished piece, art therapy focuses on the process of creation itself. The activity is undertaken primarily for its healing benefits rather than for the creative end result; in fact, the piece of artwork may never be shown to anyone outside the therapy session, and it is sometimes never finished.  One of our recent volunteers has given art classes in the Nablus and Tulkarem areas.  The students have worked on life drawing and painting, watercolors, mask making, self-portraits, box making, impressionism and collage.  Through all of these projects the students explore their emotions and learn how to express them through the specific medium of the day.  In these activities, the students are encouraged to explore their creativity, overcome their self-consciousness and most importantly, to have fun. 
If you are interested in teaching art classes like the one described above, you can bring supplies from home, or Project Hope can help you to acquire what you need for your projects.

Photography:

Project Hope has provided photography classes in the refugee camps and the old city.  We have a number digital and film cameras available for future classes.  One of our volunteers conducted a photography class in Balata refugee camp that included both lecture and practical work in self-portraits, still life, landscape and streetscapes.  The students participated in a project called ‘My Camp’ in which they discussed who makes up the society in Balata.  The children then went to these people and asked their permission to photograph them and did a short interview with each person.  The culmination of this course was an exhibition of the students’ photographs with refreshments, music and the traditional Palestinian dance, dabka.

Circus:

Project Hope has worked closely with Nablus’ circus school, As-Sirk As-Saghir.  Many of our volunteers have worked with this group by giving classes in circus skills, stretching, dancing and also by helping to paint murals on the walls of their training room.  In addition to this work, Project Hope and As-Sirk As-Saghir often work together to organize parties and shows for the children and parents with whom they work.  These activities allow the children to relax and have fun and also provide the Project Hope staff and volunteers with the opportunity to expand their interaction with the students outside of the classroom.

Music:

Robotics:

A brand new course on Robotics was held in the summer of 2008 for teenagers. The course was a unique initiative in the field of Robotics, concentrating on building the capabilities of the children to understand Robotics as a science, how to build robots and how to deal with the experience of Robotics in daily life.
At the end of the course, the students could build a robot and also could reach a good level of understanding of how they can find Mechatronic solutions for many ideas. They could also apply successfully many electronic projects as well as Internet based research on the same subject.  This course was unlike other courses that have been taught through Project Hope and was very successful.  If you have an interest in electronics or robotics, you may be interested in continuing this project.


If you have an idea of a new project that you would like to do, or if you would like to continue one of the projects discussed above, contact us and we can discuss the possibilities.

See now some of the concrete works in Arts realized by our volunteers: