In December, we reported on two film and art exhibitions hosted by our Palestinian project partner, The Al-Aroub Children’s Centre.

They show-cased photographs and film, capturing the daily lives and thoughts of Palestinian children growing up in refugee camps, in particular, those living in Gaza and in  Al-Aroub refugee camp in Palestine – where our project partner runs the children’s centre.

Yesterday, the children’s work was presented at the University of East London – an institution recognised for its strong commitment to development studies.

Raed Yacoub (pictured), from Voices Beyond Walls, another organisation who run the project in association with The Al-Aroub Children’s Centre, demonstrated to members of the university why the project is so innovative in its approach and positive in its outcomes.

“Our youth-led initiative - novel of digital storytelling and short-film making program – enables children to express themselves creatively while reflecting on their life in the refugee camps. Voices Beyond Walls not only support conducting the workshops, but also work on the dissemination of the children’s work and the advocacy of their human rights”” - Raed Yacoub, Voice Beyond Walls.

Our project partner – The Al-Aroub Children’s Centre - described Re-imaging Palestine as “a unique project of digital video, photography and storytelling workshops, letting children in Palestine express their cultural identity and personal stories.”

How it works

The project is essentially a “digital story telling workshop”.

The children work together to produce the videos, assuming different roles such as camera person, actor or editor.

They then engage in story telling circles, where children discuss issues affecting them. This is followed with story boarding sessions to come up with suitable ways to express these issues through film.

Finally they present their film to the other children and those involved in Voices Beyond Walls.

“It’s so very self- rewarding when the children stand up in front of the whole community and present their film” – Raed Yacoub

The project also boasts additional benefits by teaching new conceptual and technical skills to the children such as photography, filming, editing, I.T and community mapping..

In the digital storytelling workshops, the children were introduced to new techniques to help them visualize their neighborhoods and their own personal narratives. One of these techniques is using aerial mapping by  attaching a camera to a kite to map their neighborhoods from the skies.

Although Voices Beyond Walls has run their digital storytelling program for three years, the project at Al-Aroub Children’sCentre is still in its early stages, but its organisers hope to expand and make it a more regular and permanent project.

“Our workshop at Al-Aroub was the first of its kind in the camp, but we hope to take it further, particularly if The Al-Aroub Children's Centre continue to receive funding” - Raed Yacoub

Give now to help The Al-Alroub Children’s Centre continue to support children growing up in the Al-Aroub refugee camp.

Take a look at Voices Beyond Wall's website.

The video below features interviews with children who took part in project in Gaza. Watch to find out how they benefited.