Egypt November/December 2006.
Elisa Lane and Gwendolyn Rooker
Performances and Workshops with Sudanese Refugees in Cairo.
Gwendolyn Rooker and I returned to Cairo, Egypt for three
weeks of performances and workshops focused towards Sudanese
refugees. We also performed at some of the institutions which
we visited on our first trip to Cairo in February 2006.
THE STATS
16 Performances
21 Workshops (songs, rhythms, and theater games)
Total Audience Estimate: over 1,660 people
Total Workshop Attendance: over 880 people
SCHEDULE
Nov. 18: Arrived in Cairo
Nov. 19: Rehearsed our show and confirmed shows and workshops
Nov. 20: St. Andrew’s School- One show and one workshop.
Nov. 21: St. Andrew’s School- One show and one workshop.
Nov. 22: St. Andrew’s School- Three workshops.
Nov. 23: Rewrote and rehearsed our show, restructured the
lesson plans for our
workshops
Nov. 24: Sakakini School- A full day workshop for two adult
refugee drama groups Camara (moon) and Synodos (work together).
Nov. 25: Sakakini School- Show. Rehearsal for Romeo and Juliet
with St. Andrew’s drama group. We helped with the fight
choreography for two different scenes.
Nov. 26: day off
Nov. 27: Modern Education Center- one show and one workshop.
Nov. 28: Modern Education Center- two workshops and Howard’s
Café at American University of Cairo (AUC)- one show
Nov. 29: Modern Education Center- two workshops and one workshop
with the teachers
Nov. 30: Sakakini School- one show and one workshop and Sudanese
Community Development Project Education Center (SCDPEC)-
Two workshops.
Dec.1: Monisory Primary School- one show.
Dec. 2: Central School- two workshops. Romeo and Juliet rehearsal
with the St. Andrew’s drama group. We continued working
on fight choreography. Then the cast came over to our flat
to watch Romeo and Juliet on film.
Dec. 3: Day off
Dec. 4: Central School- one workshop.
Dec. 5: Cannossian School- Show and Fowler Orphanage- Show
and workshop.
Dec. 6: SCDPEC (Sudanese Community Development Program Education
Center)- two shows and two workshops
Dec. 7: Central School- Show
Dec. 8: Day off
Dec. 9 : Ezbet El Nakhl – Three shows.
Dec. 10: Day off
Dec. 11: St. Joseph’s School- Show.Antimora, Timora,
Timora
After settling into our apartment and rehearsing our show,
we quickly set out for our first stop at St. Andrew’s
School. St. Andrew’s is an interdenominational church
that provides free schooling to anyone in Cairo that needs
it. St. Andrew’s and all the schools we are visiting
on this trip are dedicated to providing education for refugees
from Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Congo, Somalia, and more,
Christian and Muslim alike. These refugees are unable to
attend schools with Egyptian children due to the extreme
racism against blacks living in Cairo, and the fact that
a lot of them are illegal residents not registered with UNHCR
(United Nations High Commission of Refugees).
The Sudanese refugees come to Cairo for a better life, most
often forced to flee their homeland. Most refugees have come
here knowing only their native tribal language and now have
to cope with the stress of joining a foreign education system
and adapting to a huge city, new culture, and facing the
effects of poverty and racism everyday. The stress these
children face on a daily bases is unfathomable.
Our job on this trip is to provide the space and time for
children to simply be children. At St. Andrew’s School
we performed two shows and lead five workshops. The workshops
consist of song, rhythm, dance, and silly theater exercises.
In one of the workshops with the younger kids, ages 6-9,
we lead them through a theater exercise in which you sculpt
a classmate like clay, making them into statues of varying
gesture and emotion. The kids found so much joy in this game
that they were perfecting the slightest details right down
to a strand of hair and how clothing was laying on the body.
Also, we taught them a song that goes, “I said a boom
chick a boom”. Afterwards, you could hear them singing
it all over school during recess and while they were in other
classes. If they saw us around in between classes, they would
come up to us and make sure they were singing the song correctly.
At the end of a workshop with the teenagers of St. Andrew’s
we asked them to share something with us, like a song or
dance or anything else they wanted. They ended up teaching
us this great song they sing in South Sudan that goes:
Antimora, timora, timora
Antimora Michael Jackson
Simba la la lalala x 4
Simba, simba, simbo
A day later, we learned from another young person that “Antimora”
means: “And Tomorrow.” They’re singing
English words! He also told us that the song came from the
Congo, and that “Simba” is written on the tea
boxes from there. Amazing! They also taught us a fun dance
to do with a partner. We are very thankful to the children
for sharing their stories and songs with us. Lessons from
Tybalt and Mercucio
A few days of our trip was spent working with the adult St.
Andrew’s Drama Group in preparation of their Valentine’s
Day showing of Romeo and Juliet. Gwen helped with the fight
choreography between Tybalt and Mercucio in the play. Gwen
was explaining the posturing and character logic between
the two characters. One of the actors had a natural intensity
and physicality about him while the other, a more shy and
artistic person, needed some extra direction. We found out
later that the two men playing the characters were from two
opposing tribes in Sudan with a history of conflict and competition.
The actor that had the physical intensity comes from a tribe
known for their fighting prowess while the other actor came
from a tribe known for their intellect.
An English Lesson
When we arrived at the Modern Education Center, we were happy
to see a familiar face. Isaac, the Sudanese actor playing
Tybalt in the AUC production of Romeo and Juliet, was substitute
teaching/volunteering at the school. We met with the principle
of the school, Mr. Mark, who took us on a quick tour of the
classes before we went out into the yard to clown for about
270-300 students. The students sang a song welcoming us as
their visitors, my face warmed with pleasure and awe. After
sweet giggles and curious stares concluded our show, we had
a very informative conversation with Mr. Mark, about how
the Modern Education Center came to be, what challenges face
the school, and about some of the other Sudanese schools
barely surviving in Cairo.
He told us that the school facility has been donated by a
religious organization, (although the school is not religious,)
and that the organization checks in from time to time to
see that their property is indeed a functioning school. The
money, however, that covers the costs of running the school,
including paying water and power bills, paying teacher’s
salaries, buying teaching materials, and much more, comes
from the Sudanese/African refugee community itself. UNHCR
helps some, but this money only covers about one month of
the school’s total annual costs. They’ve applied
for other types of grants, but without success. Money from
parents also helps a little. They can’t help much,
though, because almost every cent they earn goes to the exorbitantly
high cost of renting apartments from predatory landlords.
Several Sudanese have told us that they pay for one month’s
rent, what an Egyptian national pays in one year. For many
Sudanese, this injustice is financially crippling. When the
school’s funds run dangerously low, teachers work for
less pay, or sometimes they work for free. No matter what
obstacles there are, the community makes it work.
We taught five workshops at the Modern Education Center,
to over 200 fantastic kids, with the help of some wonderful
teachers who translated for us. The school emphasizes learning
English, hoping the kids will eventually be relocated to
an English speaking county/US, Canada, England, Australia.
Also, we were told that English is the official language
of Sudan. So, we taught the children our games and our songs,
and they in returned shared with us their songs and dances,
their bright innocent faces, and their strength.
Our final day at the Center, some of the teachers asked us
to teach them all the kids songs that we knew, so that they
could in turn share more songs with the kids. So, for about
two hours after class, we sat together, singing songs into
an old tape recorder and writing down the words. We taught
them the songs of our own youth; songs like, “Row,
Row, Row Your Boat”, “The Itsy-Bitsy Spider”,
and a beautiful South African song that the kids really like.
We even taught them the “ABCs” song. (This was
a great help to the teachers, who struggle with the correct
pronunciation of our alphabet themselves). It’s difficult
to come here and sometimes feel like we are offering so little;
the kids need textbooks, dictionaries paper and pens…
Still, the refugees by necessity are resourceful; these songs,
offer precious lessons about caring, wisdom, and the English
language. We learned that anyone who knows a song has a gift
to offer this world. Though, we may wish to give more. |
