An interview with START: Sonia Brewin and Laila Demashqieh

 
 

Launched in March 2007, START brings art into the lives of socio-economically and culturally deprived children throughout the Middle East, and uniquely encourages artists to become volunteers in the field of humanitarian aid and education.

Tell us about START Summer School - what you hoped it would achieve, the goals you had set out and any future plans you have for the START Summer Schools.

Sonia Brewin: START is a non-profit programme that was launched in Dubai during 2007. The Middle East has one of the fastest growing refugee populations and a large number of children placed in orphanages. By partnering with UNRWA, SOS and smaller NGOs during July 2009, START hosted an art summer school for 400 Iraqi and Palestinian children living in Jordan. Local and international artists guided children through painting, drawing, collage and photography. START Jordan has a year round programme of creative activities for children in need but the summer school was a particularly focused time of outings and inspiration culminating in an exhibition at the Dar Al Anda Gallery.

Laila Demashqieh: We organised START Summer School for refugees and orphans, with the intent to give them the opportunity to discover their artistic talents and to offer a therapeutic tool to find an outlet for the many difficulties they are faced with in life. Our main goal was to provide a stimulating setting in which the children participate in art activities that give them joy and confidence. We wanted to let them “think out of the box” and develop awareness of themselves as creative individuals in a society. Jordan piloted this project and we are now looking at doing summer schools in other Middle Eastern countries as well.

The majority of the children are orphans and refugees, where did they mostly come from?

LD: Most of the 400 children that participated were from either Iraq or Palestine. We worked together with the UNWRA, SOS villages and our Majesty Queen Rania’s Madras sati Programme.

What do you hope that event such as these will bring to the region?

LD: We hope that the START Summer Schools will inspire children in the region to become confident and creative individuals. We would like to open doors for them and widen their horizons.

Did you come across any difficulties during this summer school in terms of logistics and legalities?

LD: We faced many difficulties and I often felt very frustrated this summer! I was disappointed with the lack of professionalism and the poor organisation skills I came across. I expected higher standards from the well known institutions I worked with. Real joys to work with though were the volunteers. They were a group of wonderful talented people from Australia, England, Ireland, Dubai as well as Jordan who were always enthusiastic, optimistic and helpful. They never complained and they were an enormous support to me! Transportation was perfectly smooth as well, for which I am ever so grateful to the local school that lent us their buses.

SB: There are still many countries in the region, which do not officially teach art on their academic curriculums. All children enjoy drawing, using paints, touching clay and so on. It is not only a joy to do these things but it also aids manual dexterity, visual literacy and creative skills. Children who are deprived of creative activities also lack scope to express their imagination and hopes. START is increasingly working with international artists and events such as the summer school are good focal point for more galleries and artists to get involved in supporting children in need.

Was it emotionally difficult for you and the volunteers to work with the children?

 

LD: The children were wonderful! Seeing the smiles on their faces made it all very worthwhile for us. Many of them are very talented and they were all lively, lovely and appreciative. Of course hearing their problems and thinking about their situations breaks your heart, but it was good to see them enjoying themselves. Most of them are not used to talk about the difficulties they face daily and they keep their emotions locked up inside. It gave us great satisfaction to help them express themselves and seeing them progress as people and as artists.

SB: The children are a blessing it is an honour to work with such positive shining and talented young individuals. The artists were all inspired.

Do you think that providing children with workshops such as START Summer School not only gives them an arts education but also acts as a therapeutic tool for them?

LD: Definitely! I think that my answers to the questions above more than accurately express my thoughts on this question.

* For more information about START, visit www.startworld.org


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