Healing with Art and Music: Nablus' Refugee Youth

At TYO, many of our beneficiaries have been exposed to violence from a very young age. The traumatizing environments most of them grow up in greatly impact refugees and childrens’ critical phases of growth and development. This in turn can lead to learning disabilities, trauma, PTSD, stress, and anxiety. 

Thus, healing trauma through art is a necessity in Nablus. Within the community there is a lack of awareness, support, and accessibility to open spaces for children to pursue art, due to the daily challenges many individuals and families are faced with. Because of this, TYO strongly believes that building an environment designated for creativity, fun, play, and joy is necessary in order to reinforce a positive spiral effect onto the children's lives. And that is why TYO’s approach to education aims to provide holistic support in order to help youth understand their development, make informed choices, build resilience, and nurture their leadership qualities. 

TYO is currently extending its arts program by integrating drama and theatrical performances into children’s daily schedules. The program is being coordinated and led by the drama teacher Sahar. Her goal is to create a space for young teenage students, who are often misunderstood, not heard, or have had their voices shut down, to find their voice and express their feelings through creativity and cooperation. Throughout this year’s summer camps, Sahar has conducted two projects: the puppet show and the shadow theater, and encouraged students to reflect on  universal basic needs such as love, care, respect for yourself and others, all of which can bring light into your soul.

“All of our souls have shadows,” Sahar explains. “You can battle these shadows by facing them, or make them bigger by running away from them. But as soon as you start running away from your fears the shadow becomes bigger, it haunts you and the shadow covers the light of your soul.” This is the theory and basis of the shadow theater.

“Your mouth says nothing, but your body is screaming, as the mind is set free.” Sahar describes. In the shadow theater, children learned to express themselves non-verbally, solely through their body language. The non-verbal expression is especially important in the process of developing the play as every student was asked to find calmness by soul searching for their inner voice and not be distracted by the loud voices they are surrounded by in the outside world. Sahar points out: “Sometimes your body expresses more than your mouth could ever put into words.” It's a method of regaining self and community awareness through silence.

Lojain, one of our 7th grade students who took part in the shadow theater, reflects on the importance of Drama: “it is a way to discover your emotions and those of others. Sometimes it’s hard to speak about yourself and express your opinion, feelings, and personality. But acting out scenes makes people understand the personal difficulties everyone has, solely by visualizing them.” Through art and theater, students are encouraged to face their own individual shadows that are hidden in everyone’s soul and only accessible if you dare to confront them and step closer to the screen.  

In the second summer camp, the Shadow Theater was focused on Humans Rights. The UNICEF Human Rights song played in the background as students reflected on what rights they had as individuals. Sahar wanted to help them understand the basic human rights each one of them has, regardless of religion, heritage, or gender. “This isn’t about politics or religion, but about humanity. You have rights. Be proud! You must fight for them and protect them, as they are yours.” she used to say, determined when talking to the students.

Students in Sahar’s classroom have not just learned about their rights, but they have had the opportunity to live their rights. From screening, to cutting, making scenes, staging, directing, structuring, everything is decided by vote of the students. Equality and justice whilst creating the play have a determining role.

“For me at first it was a challenge to act, as I felt stressed in big groups. But I discovered that I enjoyed acting and I am good at it,” Lojain said. At first, she didn’t want to participate in the shadow theater. So, she was appointed by Sahar to become the director of the play. By the end of the program, she grew more and more interested, and now she wants to participate in many more theaters both as an actor and a director, and maybe even develop her own piece on women rights and gender equality. 

The Shadow Theater is one example of how the Arts provide children with the space and opportunity to express themselves freely, to explore their personalities,step out of their comfort zones, to cooperate with others, to be heard, to be seen, and to find their voices. During this summer, students at TYO were able to recognize inequalities in society and imagine the future they want, by questioning and daring to verbalize their thoughts and ideas. We encourage youth to find solutions and to step in for their community: “The main problem in our community is that most of the people don’t know about their rights. Through visualization we can help them understand the inequalities that exist”, Lojain explains.
Lojain discovered a new side of hers that she never knew existed: she likes to act and isn’t afraid of being in big groups anymore. She has recognized the value in teamwork and has become an active and engaging player in the theater and in her new soccer team. Lojain is just one example of how Arts and Drama can positively impact students’ lives in Nablus, and at TYO  we hope to be able to take along many more children on this journey of self-awareness and development through the Arts.