Day 4
Workshop in the school, the mall, to the Arab market, The towns of Mazzra and Regba, workshop at Nes Ammim.
This is what we had come for and we were going to do our job for the very first time after many days. We had prepared and were open minded about our participants. We fully knew that were going to talk to 14-15 year old kids. So we were ready. We have handled sessions for kids of this age group in the US, Thailand, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and in many other places so there was nothing to worry. We went to the school and met Amy the teacher. She was kind to offer us some tea and snacks. Since we had just had breakfast we had no option but to refuse it. While we waited for the bell to go, Amy explained that these were especially noisy kids who were out of control. The teachers had a hard time to get them to listen. We were given all the background we needed and were ready to take them on.
We walked into the class and found a girl wearing a sleeveless baniyan and had her legs on the desk. She had a book on one had and a sandwich in another, she slouched and gave us a look. There was another boy who wore a really pant, t -shirt and a jacket. A girl who wore a thin strap sleeveless shirt that carried the words, “I hate drugs but people just don’t listen”. There were other students were similarly dressed. I must say that there were others who were modestly dressed as well. This gives you the impression of the class.
If you still didn’t get it: the desks were disarranged, the noise in the class room was clearly too loud and students sitting in different directions. As the teacher walked in the students didn’t mind the teacher and went about their own business. The teacher first called the class to attention and said that there were visitors from India and were going to do a workshop. This was the go word for us.
We took over. We started by rearranging the chairs and tables. Asked them put away their books and bags and we were good to go. We started with a dialogue and in a very systematic and interesting way introduced ourselves. We directed their attention to India and had a discussion about the diversity of the landscape and humanscape.
They were very interested as there was one boy whose ancestors were from Cochin. The students immediately guessed that there was a Jewish settlement in Kerala and were aware that Ido was from there. We then went ahead with many games and songs. The students laughed and enjoyed the sessions while they actively participated.
There was a short input on why we fear the unknown and how we talk about “OTHERS” and understanding differences in appearances, cultures and abilities. The students were quick to catch the theme and kept going with their questions. Their doubts were mainly connected to issues of diversity and differences. Since we were talking about a multicultural world with individuals having multiple identities it raised many questions.
We took the time to patiently explain with the help of other activities. By the end of the workshop they were fully convinced and wanted more of it.
In a reflective feedback session the students came up with some new insights on the games. They realized why they were running away from those who were different of those who they did not like. They shared about their perceptions of people who they did not know about. Many said that the workshop gave them a now understanding about good and bad, most importantly it helped them understand the current conflicts in their country.
Our next stop was the Mall. It was not so different from the other malls that you see around the world. Shops to window shop and huge stickers of discounts which you are sure that they are not discounted. We walked around the mall and decided to leave because it did not create any special impression.
The next stop was at Faisal’s. It was basically a grocery store that was arranged like a super market. Firstly it attracted Jews, Muslims, Durze and Christians. It sold almost all that was necessary to satisfy the gastronomical desires. Racks of middle eastern spices, a variety of packed and fresh foods, a whole range of fresh veggies of which broccoli, cabbage, carrots and brinjals found a special place. Particularly because of their size and weight. The binjals were about the size of my head. At the end of our super market tour we were attracted to the sexy olives that were placed in open containers. There were atleast a dozen varieties of them in all sized. They tasted so good. The second most attractive counter was the nut counter. It made me go nuts over nuts. They were huge in size and presented a variety that was not seen before. Just to give you an idea a single peanut was the size almost an inch and a half long. You could almost the almonds and other nuts in the same size. We went around and were happy just seeing them. That did not stop us from tasting a few.
On the way back home we went to a Muslim neighbourhood called Maazra. It had narrow streets, tall buildings and cars parked on the road. The lanes were windy and only one car could go at a time. It really requires skill to drive in these areas. All things remaining the same, it could be easily mistaken for a street in Thousand Lights, Chennai.
People mostly lived in tall buildings because they were able to add a floor to the existing structure and go higher if their sons got married. So buildings rules were disregarded as the houses expanded.
We spent some time visiting a holy place that was probably 2000 years old and was abandoned. There were still visible signs of people burning candles and lights. Then we drove off to a Jewish area. It was called Regba. The houses were so beautiful. The individual houses had a lawn, a garage and a beautiful look out. The roads were well laid. It looked like a gated community. This site had its own economic activities. They had a dairy farm and other sustainable income generating activities. It is hard to compare this place to any living in area in the US.
After this as we got back to Nes Ammim we thought about the contrasting images. One was like the street of thousand lights and the other like a neighborhood in the US and they lived adjacent to each other. That is the irony of this country. Clearly they were applying butter to one eye and slaked lime to the other. The Muslims who have lived for many hundreds of years get to live in the same ghettos and the Jews who came in later to that place or rather still pouring from other parts of the world get to stay in posh neighbourhoods. The argument was that this was the promised land and it was meant for them. They almost forgot “Love thy neighbors as thy self”.
Now it was time to prepare for our workshop on theatre. It was meant for the Nes Ammim Volunteers, an international group. The participants were from South Africa, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Spain. We concentrated on Playback theatre. We combined it with a series of exercises like mirroring, group mirroring, sound and motion, mimicking and so on. Due to the paucity of time we concentrated on acting. We were able to take the group with us in all the activities and ended up acting stories within a short span of time. It came out quite well and we had some time to reflect and process the stories. We must admit that this was just a mere introduction to playback theatre.
The day had to end atleast now after a series of power packed activities.
