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Child
Testimony:
Held in December 2000, the Testimony of a Child is
Sabreen’s most recently developed educational music
initiative. The recreational relief project was
designed to provide a needed release for children
from the difficult circumstances and tensions
associated with the latest uprising. Through a
combination of music and art therapy workshops, the
program sought to guide society, children in
particular, in coping with the state of violence.
The project, targeting students from grades 6-9 in
the Ramallah, Jerusalem and Bethlehem regions,
consisted of a series of workshops organized and led
by a team of professionals in music, theatre,
painting, poetry, and the mental health field.
Workshop sessions, each five hours long, included
experimentation with a number of art mediums,
including music, movement, theatre, painting, and
script writing. An exhibition later displayed the
children’s artwork to the public.
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The program was designed to be:
Therapeutic: The workshop sessions, conducted
alongside trained psychologists and social workers,
were designed to provide youth with the tools through
which anger, frustration, anxiety, and fear could be
released.
Expressive: The team designed the sessions to
tap into and enhance the children’ creative potential
through sessions in which they were able to improvise,
compose, and transform their feelings and emotions into
artwork.
Embracing a cause: The program was designed to
relay a child’s message to the local and international
community and generate awareness on the impact of violence.
The program’s pilot phase was evaluated by team members
as well as participants and proved to be a tremendous
success. Sabreen thus plans to continue the program
beyond the initial 40 workshop in 10 various public,
private, and UNRWA schools so as to continue providing
educational relief for the youth.
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