CAIRO: Four graduate students at the American University in Cairo (AUC) gave a presentation Wednesday about their trip to Shatila, the infamous Palestinian refugee camp near Beirut.
The students are part of Cairo to Camps group that set up summer art activities for Palestinian children in Lebanon in the past five years. They would travel to Lebanon with 15 to 20 volunteers during August, but last summer’s Israel war prevented them from going. To make it up five people made the trip from Dec. 27 to Jan. 7.
“The trip became more important after the war because we wanted to show solidarity [with the Palestinians], said Omneya Ragab, one of the volunteers.
Cairo to Camps encountered many obstacles as a result of the war. They had trouble recruiting new members and AUC refused to sponsor their trip, as it has in other years, because of security concerns.
But the students were surprised to find Lebanon quite safe. “I had just returned from Darfur, so I was impressed to see that in Lebanon you just don’t need security, Lina Attalah said.
Art workshops were the centerpiece of the students’ work in Shatila. At the beginning children wanted to draw only Palestinian symbols, the Palestinian flag in particular. But the volunteers had not prepared for a Palestinian-themed drawing class.
One child simply said, “We don’t have black, how can we draw the Palestinian flag? In an attempt to move past the obsession with the flag, AUC students asked the children to draw something else.
The result? Lots of trees.
On a more somber note, the volunteers and refugees produced “The Visit, a short film about Shatila. It was a largely depressing film with many shots of dilapidated houses, dirty streets, and ill-equipped schools. Yet the minute and a half footage of children’s theater – which was also part of the volunteers’ activity schedule – was memorable. They were absorbed in a creative endeavor in a safe and healthy environment.
Outside Shatila, Cairo to Camps volunteers saw the everyday realities of current political tensions and the legacy of old conflicts. “The Palestinians are very engaged in the political process, but they still fear that they might be a target, said Omneya Ragab.
When Ragab accompanied a Palestinian friend to the opposition sit-in in Downtown Beirut, her friend was unwilling to reveal his identity when they visited the Christian Free Patriotic Movement tents.
There is still a great deal of antagonism between Christians and Palestinians in Lebanon. Cairo to Camps volunteers could not get taxis to take them directly from Achrafiyeh and other Christian neighborhoods of Beirut to the Shatila camp, which is in the southern part of the city. They would have to take two or three cabs to reach their destination, though Shatila is not more than five kilometers away from central Beirut.
Asmaa Naguib found that most Palestinians feel that they are not a direct part of the current conflict, and did not fear being “scapegoated by Lebanese politicians, which is often an issue for them.
However, the Israeli bombings of Hezbollah strongholds in southern Beirut damaged many Palestinian neighborhoods.
Despite seeing extreme destruction and the hopelessness of life in the camps, the children of Shatila tried to appear cheerful and so when the AUC volunteers were stunned when one of the more outgoing girls told them: “If there is a chance not to live in this world we wouldn’t. It was a bitter reminder of the challenges they face.
Last night appeared more like a farewell to a project that has run its course. Although Cairo to Camps has been active for years, recent events have put into question the sustainability of such a project in the absence of volunteers, whose frustration and exhaustion was clear.
