ART AN' THAT

For the past few weeks I’ve been helping out with some arts classes being run for a children’s centre in the Old City.

The centre works with the most troubled primary school children from all the schools around Nablus. All have emotional or behavioural difficulties and most, if not all, have been affected by having a family member being a “martyr”, usually the father. I’ve been working with children and young people in one way or another for the past eight years and, especially during my time in Northern Ireland, have seen the effects of trauma and family instability on children. Even so, I can’t quite get my head around the amount of emotional suffering children in this situation must be going through.

BOY WITH BIG DRAWING

Before I went along for the first time, perhaps unsurprisingly, the group was described to me as “the kids from hell”. Far from putting me off, this made me all the more keen to come along. Nice, polite kids who do what they’re told kind of freak me out a wee bit. Kids who keep you on your toes are much more what I’m used to.

In truth, though, the behaviour in the classes hasn’t been too bad. The groups have been a manageable size, there have been plenty of volunteers there, we only work with them for an hour at a time and the children have been doing arts activities that are pitched at the right level and that keep them engaged. So, rather than being wee terrors, the kids have been super cute. At every class, I have a new favourite.

GIRL WITH BIG DRAWING

One thing that does trouble me slightly, though, is watching the children play. Toy fighting tends to be a lot more violent over here and a lot of their playing involves pretending to shoot each other. While this is understandable, given the circumstances, I still find this a touch disturbing.

At the classes, I’ve been working with Marjolein and Aurin, two volunteers from the Netherlands. Working with them has been a real joy. They are both excellent practitioners, genuinely good people and I’m lucky enough to be able to call them good friends. (I’ve decided I like Dutch girls.) On top of that, I’ve been working with Muhammad Bustami and Shaker, two local volunteers. Again, they’re good people and now good friends.

I’ve also been very impressed with the teachers at the centre. Marjolein has been doing training for them in working with the effects of trauma on children and I accompanied her for the first couple of sessions. They are mainly young women not long out of teacher training and lacking in any significant teaching experience but, despite this, their instincts seem to be spot on and they show a high level of understanding of the needs of the children.

So, these classes have become something I to look forward to twice a week. It’s been great having the chance to work with children. (All of the other groups I have are with teenagers or adults.) Monday is my favourite day of the week. I have four classes pretty much back to back all in different parts of the city. After two creative writing workshops, I rush down to the Old City for the arts class, spend some time doing arty stuff with some really cute kids, then get a falafel on the way home at the best falafel stand in Nablus.

There are worse ways to spend a Monday.