From Challenge # 67
May-June 2001
Hanitzotz News
Baqa Center in Majd al-Krum conducts art project at local school
In February the routine was broken at a school in Majd al-Krum. The initiative came from Umaima Nasser, head of the Parents' Committee - and a founder of the Baqa Center in this Galilean village. She had seen the work at the Baqa Center in Jaffa, where Dani Ben Simhon and Ron Holtzman have been guiding children in art projects for more than a year. She asked them to help bring life to the walls of the Omar Ibn al-Khattab School. Ron reports: "We decided on a plan that would make the children full and equal partners in the work, choosing the subjects and doing the actual painting. We held a series of meetings with thirty youth, shaping the program together. The children studied painting techniques. They learned to work in a group. Abed al-Salam, a local artist and student, joined us. He says: 'What the children went through here is simply a revolution! Never has anyone asked them what they want to draw, no one was ever interested in what they think. Art lessons in the Arab sector amount to outlines that the kids have to fill with paint, no more.' "For the painting, we picked a day of no classes. Along with the pupils, members of the Parents Committee came to the yard. They were very pleased with the whole idea, but they asked the artists again and again: 'OK, the kids will be partners, but you will do the actual painting, right?' The answer came quite soon - when the children, and then the parents too, took brushes and painted their school."
Women's International Day
On March 10, 200
women celebrated Women's International Day at a nature reserve on Mount
Carmel. We came from all over the country, including 30 jobless women from
Jerusalem. The Arab Women Workers Project, a section of WAC (the Workers
Advice Center) organized the event. For the occasion, Hanitzotz Publishing
House issued a pamphlet entitled: The Voice of Women. The articles present
a mosaic of our activities in workers' rights, women's education, video
and art. At the event on Mt. Carmel, the organizers talked about our present
reality and the prospects for change. The gathering then divided into working
groups. Afterwards we watched a puppet show by Edo Marionette, a troupe
from Japan. (See next item.) This was followed by music, which spilled
over into a bout of dancing such as hasn't been seen on the Carmel since
the Maenads passed through.
Baqa centers host the Edo Marionette Group from Japan
The Edo Marionette group is a three-person puppet show founded and run by Nitzoro Kamijo. In cooperation with the JVC (Japanese Volunteer Center) in East Jerusalem, our centers in Jaffa, Majd al-Krum and Nazareth were privileged to host the group. Although puppetry with strings has existed for 350 years in Japan, only four such groups remain. They present folk tales connected to the land. One of the crucial principles is to perform on the street, said Kamijo, at "eye level" with the audience. The actors did most of the stories in Arabic, which they had studied for the sake of these performances. The spirit was universal, human and humorous.