Mood Swings:
Transcending borders
By Gamal Nkrumah
I couldn't tell you how or when Zohra learnt to draw and paint. But she has been producing beautiful works of art for the past two weeks. She loves to paint red, orange and yellow flowers and girls wearing colourful dresses. Daniel, on the other hand, is fond of drawing guns and pistols. Last Monday, however, he was persuaded to paint his biblical namesake in the lions' den with fierce looking beasts lazing about in the sun.
Daniel and Zohra are Sudanese refugees in Cairo whose parents have fled Sudan for political reasons and because of the civil war raging in the southern part of the country. They both have been attending a summer school organised by the Sudanese Development Initiative Abroad (SUDIA), a non-governmental organisation that assists refugees, displaced people and vulnerable groups from Sudan and other Horn of Africa countries. SUDIA's summer school project in Cairo caters to some 150 refugee children. The children are divided into three groups -- one in Heliopolis, another in Nasr City and the third in Maadi.
I had the opportunity recently to be involved in a small way with the project in Maadi. I learnt a great deal about the children and their parents. And I also learnt from the refugee children. They come from very different backgrounds and they are obliged to work together and take turns helping with the children. In adapting their schedules and activities to the refugee children's needs, the volunteer teachers, themselves refugees, gain a more meaningful understanding of their situation. They see themselves in a better light.
Refugees have become a feature of our communities. Many of the children cannot be enrolled at state-run schools and their parents are often too poor to send them to private schools. Yet, they are part of the Cairo scene.
The children associate refugee life with violence. All are refugees and even though they come from different social, ethnic and economic backgrounds, they all suffer from a deep sense of alienation.
Daniel, painting yet another gun, paused for a few minutes, perhaps thinking what gun to paint next. I studied his face. He looked attentive, obviously proud of his work. Why did he paint guns? He didn't ask what the problem was, he just shrugged his shoulders. The refugee children paint guns because the weapons probably played a very important part in their lives back in war-torn Sudan. I cannot tell you if any of the children in the group were child soldiers, but what I can say for sure is that many of the boys especially if asked to paint an object instinctively opted to paint guns. Which would be rather odd in the Cairo context, but not so in the case of the experiences these children have had. Guns were in all probability a prominent feature of their socialisation. But then, children often paint objects they have never seen but have heard about. Guns, the refugee children are repeatedly told, hold the key to their present predicament. Warring factions are fighting with guns and that is why the children and their parents were forced to flee the fighting.
Some parents come to the summer school to drop off their children in the morning and to pick them up in the late afternoon. The children are aged between six and 16, and they are grouped into different classes according to age and interests. Three main subjects are taught: art, drama and computer skills. The children also learn about the history and geography of Sudan, mainly through story-telling, drama, music and song.
What child wouldn't benefit from positive role- models? The teachers are Sudanese refugees themselves. They work primarily on a voluntary basis, and are acutely conscious of being role-models. Amadou teaches art, and is an aspiring artist himself, who has exhibited his work in Cairo. He derives much satisfaction from teaching the children the various painting techniques. Fatheya, another Sudanese artist now based in Cairo, enjoys encouraging the children to express themselves through their artwork. She helps them stick pieces of colourful paper, cloth, photographs and postcards together in fanciful collages. Some of the collages serve as reminders of images of Sudan, of loved ones left behind.
The refugee children learn more than just how to apply art skills. Many are psychologically damaged. They are frustrated because of a lack of proper schooling facilities and the shortage of schools and teaching staff who are sufficiently sympathetic to their special needs. Children generally adapt well, often better than adults, under changing circumstances, but they tend to be extremely vulnerable in unfamiliar environments. It took a couple of weeks for the kids to familiarise themselves with their new surroundings.
Shrieks of laughter filled the summer school. Being associated with a project that helps bring a cheer to refugee children is rewarding in more ways than one. My seven-year old son joined in the fun.
