"Don't get any closer, the fences are powered by electricity and if the cameras see us"
After one of the training days, the director of Ruwwad Palestine, Samer Sharif, took us on a trip through the village of Budrus. His car was having a hard time on the rocky and bumpy roads. Budrus is a beautiful and friendly village, with flowers, trees and children playing on the streets. One dusty road led us to the outskirts of of the village. At some point, a big pile of garbage blocked the road and we continued our way by foot. Samer told us that this road used to lead to some other small villages, but they are now unreachable because of the separation barrier just in front of us. "Don't get any closer, the fences are powered by electricity and if the cameras see us, the soldiers might come and that's is very dangerous".
On our way back we passed by the school. From here you can oversee the valley. Sander and I made a little walk and some of the children joined us. Just behind the school I found a military object. I asked the children what it was and they explained that it was an empty tear gas grenade shell. I asked them if there was more of this and within 10 minutes we collected a pile of empty grenades.
Together we decided to create some Sounds of Change with them.
Ruwwad works with the youth of 3 little villages: Qibya, Budrus and Shuqba. The youth gets offered a full scholarship in return for their social services, which they practice in working with children from their own community. Sounds of Change trains them in using music in their work with these children. For more information about Ruwwad and the villages, see our previous newsletter from January 2019.
It was lovely to see how the team of Ruwwad had developed their listening and collaborative skills. The second level training is always very exciting, because our trainees will finish the week with giving a music workshop to children. They design and facilitate these workshop in small groups. Each group creates their own music activities and children songs.
Sander van Goor:
"From the balcony of our apartment we could see Tel Aviv at the other side of the separation wall. Not many people speak English here. The English word we heard the most, was “welcome”, tarhib in Arabic. Despite the occupation and the difficult circumstances, people are very friendly and made us feel welcome. The training with Ruwwad was a great experience. It was amazing to see how much these people grew in just 5 days. In self-confidence, creativity, musical skills and leadership skills. The last day of the training they worked with the children and both the trainees and the children loved it. This way the children also get the chance to be more creative, open, get more self confidence and learn social skills. Both the trainees and the children show a lot of resilience. Through music we create the changes that are necessary to also awaken more resilience within the rest of the community."