With the COVID-19 crisis, many daily jobs and tasks went ‘online’, which in turn forced us to ask ourselves the question: Can we somehow do our training sessions online?
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Our Uber driver dropped us off at the side of the road, as we had asked him to do. He had already started to drive off, but stopped and opened his window to warn us. We assured him that this really was the right location and we walked down some little steps next to the highway.
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In this huge and poor neighbourhood of Caïro, El Ezba, there is only one school for the million people that live here. I underestimated the poverty and limited resources of the people here (more than half of the people in Cairo live below the poverty line) and this makes the need for a local organisation like Ruwwad even more important then I thought. They bring the community together and create positive opportunities for youth and children.
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It is the second day of our three days training in Erbil (Kurdistan) and we are about to finish our lunch break. Lana, one of the trainees, came back to the workshop room a bit earlier to share a Kurdish Lullaby with me. She sang a beautiful melody with a clear voice and shining eyes.
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This training in Irbid (Jordan) was one of the most beautiful trainings we did so far, because we felt, we saw and we heard the power of our approach during this week. Of music coming from deep inside. Of personal stories that were shared. Of a courageous and diverse group of people that became a family.
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This was the 5th training in the center of Ruwwad in Tripoli (Lebanon) and one of our wishes came true this time. We were able to combine old and new Sounds of Change trainees in one training, because we strongly believe that peer to peer earning is more effective than only learning from us.
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"I’m usually too shy to express myself and to sing, although people tell me my voice sounds nice. Here I found a place to do this. I felt there was a safe place to share and practice what I always loved." (Basma, Sounds of Change trainee in Cairo/Egypt)
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‘Trust no one’.
The tattoo on the left forearm of the heavily armed Lebanese soldier at the entrance checkpoint of the camp says a lot about how this young man probably has been affected by the history of this country. And exactly trust is what our training with the youth team of Azahir was all about this week.
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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…
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In Amman it was the third time we worked with the team of Ruwwad. The trainees from the NGO Ruwwad offer community service for children and youth in exchange for a full scholarship for their studies. They work in Jabal Al Natheef, a marginalised urban area located in eastern Amman, home to the Mohammad Amin Camp, an informal Palestinian refugee site with an estimated population of 54,000.
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We conducted the first training of our new project with the volunteers team of Ruwwad Palestine, based in a small village called Budrus. The village of Budrus is famous for it's non-violent resistance.
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We are spending the Christmas period in Bethlehem, Westbank. Such an interesting and historical place to spend this time of the year. It might sound very romantic and peaceful, but in the Westbank it is not very peaceful at the moment. And it's definitely not the most beautiful time of the year, for the Palestinians we work with. Violent clashes every day, the cold effects marginalized areas and the political situation is…
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Maite and Lucas conducted the second training with the team of Ruwwad Jordan.
It's so lovely to see how the volunteers of Ruwwad have developed since our previous training. They started to implement music activities in their children programs already. They work with the children on active listening, working together and communication. Being able to use music is a great added value to the skills they already have.
Lucas and Maite have trained a group of teachers and therapists, mainly working at the Hope Flowers School in Bethlehem, Palestine.
This week we worked for six days with twelve teachers and therapists – all women - from the Hope Flowers School in Bethlehem.
Maite and Lucas have just finished the first training with the volunteers team of the NGO Ruwwad in East Amman, Jordan. What an amazing week we had, in this newsletter we will share our experiences.
Sounds of Change supports the creative and (inter)personal development of the volunteer scholars of Ruwwad, in order to become strong community builders.