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Drawing dreams – Arts classes for Gaza’s refugee children

22 May 2015

At 10 o’clock in the morning in an UNRWA school in Shujjaiya in eastern Gaza city, about 25 pupils sit around large wooden tables covered with pink, purple and blue silk paper, boxes of water colour paint and long, thin brushes. The atmosphere is relaxed, the children smile.

Arts classes in UNRWA schools form part of the Agency’s efforts to mitigate the psychosocial effects of armed conflict on the Palestine refugee student population in Gaza and are generously funded by Emirates-based charity Dubai Cares under their US$ 3 million project ‘Supporting access to education and mitigating psychosocial effects of armed conflict on the Palestine refugee student population’.

“The drawings today are very different from those when I started with these arts classes,” said art teacher Marwa Amer Al Assar from the Elementary Co-ed School in Shujjaiya, a neighbourhood infamous for the extensive shelling and devastation during last summer’s conflict. “At the beginning, the children drew the war, they drew destroyed houses and they used black and dark red colours in all their paintings. Over time, they started to change, and today they often paint their dreams, and what they wish for themselves and their family in the future.”

Painting dreams might be normal for pupils in many countries, but Gaza’s school children have all witnessed destruction, displacement and death over the past seven years in repeated cycles of military conflict. They were born and live in an enclave that spans just 365 square kilometres, isolated from the rest of the world and ravaged by poverty and high unemployment. The Dubai Cares project was launched in January 2015 and includes the recruitment of 364 sports and arts teachers (female and male) in 190 UNRWA schools, who help children develop positive coping mechanism through sport, art and psychosocial support. The project runs until November 2016.

Teachers, school principals and counsellors involved in the art project agree that the positive impact of the classes is already noticeable among the students, particularly regarding their social behaviour. “At the beginning of the year, the students refused to work in groups, they were all very isolated. They had to learn how to share, how to work in teams and how to be open to new suggestions,” said art teacher Marwa Al Assar. © 2015 UNRWA Photo by Khalil Adwan“Our home was destroyed during the last conflict and we lost everything. My mother was crying all the time. I felt very sad,” said Hiba Abu Sirya, a fourth grade student from the severely affected Al Nazaz area in northern Gaza. “My mother is still always sad, but drawing makes me feel happy. I like to paint the spring and to draw trees, houses and colourful things,” she added. © 2015 UNRWA Photo by Khalil AdwanIn the Shujjaiya Elementary Co-ed School boys and girls attend arts classes together. Due to the Dubai Cares project, over 175,000 male and female students attend weekly art and sport classes structured around themes and concepts that reinforce psychosocial counselling efforts. “Art is like magic; children become calm and joyful when they have the chance to be creative and when they are surrounded by colours.” said arts teacher Mai Murad. © 2015 UNRWA Photo by Khalil Adwan “I was so scared during and after the conflict. The sound of the bombing was always in my mind. This sound really hurts a lot. Coming to the arts classes helped me to concentrate and feel peaceful. I like to draw happy faces and beautiful houses,” said nine-year-old Malak Musleh from the al-Muntar area in the east of Gaza city. © 2015 UNRWA Photo by Khalil Adwan“Before we started with these arts classes, the school environment was dull; the students found it difficult to pay attention and concentrate,” said Mai Murad, who began painting the walls and doors of her school in Beach Camp with flowers and clouds to bring some colour to the lives of refugee children. “In my class, I have one student who rarely smiled; I started to involve her in drawing activities and over time she became a different person,” Mai said. © 2015 UNRWA Photo by Khalil Adwan

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