Rashi Mishra
The FreedomTheatre
Jenin Refugee Camp, Palestine
Omar, a young boy from the camp, said, “I like to perform on the stage because I like it when the audience claps for me. It makes me feel important. I feel that people care for me.”
A day before the culmination ceremony of TFT’s summer camp, I was talking to the children and workshop trainers at the camp to understand the importance that learning arts and performing on stage holds for them. Excited to go onstage the next day, most of them articulated in different ways how much they enjoyed attending the summer camp and learning new things.
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Music workshop at the summer camp. Photo credit: Mohammed Mouwia TFT has been organizing summer camps for children from the Jenin refugee camp and surrounding areas for the past four years. Each year, the children attend one month of workshops on singing, dance, drama, painting, and photography, and then present a culminating performance.
I spoke to Nabil Al Raee, the artistic director of TFT, about the idea behind these camps, and he explained that they are organized mainly to introduce the children to various forms of art through play: “Playing can bring a lot of challenge and curiosity for the kids, and for them to learn through playing will bring out their creativity. They will themselves think about the inputs [for creating a performance piece, and] what they want to share.”
One of TFT’s main goals is cultural resistance, which they pursue by working with the youth to foster their ability to think critically and independently and be creative, thus freeing them from the psychological effects of the occupation. The apartheid situation that is enforced by Zionist movement targets not only the economic and social well-being of the Palestinian society but also attacks their cultural identity and sense of self worth, so as to kill them from within. Children and youth are most vulnerable to such tactics of occupation. Countering this intimidating force necessitates rebuilding the Palestinian identity and creating a space for nurturing holistic growth of these young minds.