Reaching out to others

Radio Hayah speaks to Mutaz Adawi

Arabic

I’m with Mutaz Adawi from steps centre here in the Dheisheh camp in Bethlehem, Mutaz what is steps centre?

Thank you Paul for this interview, Let me tell you a little bit about myself, My name is Mutaz Adawi I am a Palestinian, culturally Muslim and a refugee, I live in Dheisheh refugee camp, I was born here and I am still living here and I have B in applied English language and right now I am doing my MA in a program called master international cooperation development at Bethlehem University and in brief steps centre is an after school program, some people prefer to call it a day care program  of which kids from here who study at the UNRWA schools at Dheisheh basics elementary schools for boys and for girls , they spend some time here  3 to 4 days a week for about 3 hours a day of which we take care of them regarding several aspects, we take care of them , of course we take care about the academic achievements so we help them  in their homework, we help them in their exams if they have and the main thing we are working under is that we want to create an atmosphere that has fun and education together so when the kids spend about 3 to 4 hours here, sometimes 3 sometimes 4, it depends, we make it in a way that can make the kids love education because unfortunately due to the current educational environment in the schools, kids hate education because the schools in general they lack a lot of basics that can make the education atmosphere interesting to them, so we see that this is something that is really absent from the current education atmosphere or environment in general so we are trying to bring it here, so we spend the day half ,half  we spend half of the time helping them in their academic issues and their homework and their test and their exam, whatever, whatever they need and the rest of the time we try to bring fun to those kids because as you know Paul, you are a person who is familiar with the refugee camp here and how life circumstances are here, so those kids they really lack a lot of things, a lot of fun part in their life, I don’t think they have the opportunity here to practice their childhood, so in a way we are trying to bring this childhood here we are trying to make some fun interesting activities like hand craft just like art, music, sports and more importantly we are trying to focus on English as a main theme of our work .

When were you started and why were you started?

I started this project based on my personal experience as a Palestinian refugee who grew up in this place and studied for 9 years in the UNRWA schools  and I saw that as a kid I really didn’t have the opportunity to practice my childhood and then I said our place here lacks a lot of things, and one of these things is that those kids they have the right, they have the right to practice their childhood just like any other kid in the school, the fact that we are stuck in this screwed up conflict doesn’t mean that those kids shouldn’t have the right to practice their childhood shouldn’t have to have their very basic rights and dreams that each and every kid and child in this world fanaticises. So for instance from my personal experience I am 28 years now and I remember very well how I used to see every thing here as a sardine can, I mean the house is tied the school is tied, if you want to go out side your house if you want just to play, you will not find any refuge to play but the streets so space here is a fantasy to those kids, so I said maybe I can bring space here and I was lucky to find this place here which is near the camp, its spacious and it can give those kids that are feeling that they have space in their life. Also I remember very well from my personal experience how my school looked like and unfortunately it is still the same even though I left it 10 years ago, even more I remember very well how the lack of space affected the way that I got my education, I remember very well when we were in the school we were I think 40 and sometimes 45 kids in the same class, you can imagine how miserable things will be when there are 40 to 45 kids are stuck in the same place, one teacher who is ….. I used to blame the teacher in the past that they are not really professional, that they are not really doing their work and then I gave it some thought and I saw if I was teaching in that school I would do the same because this is how it is you are stuck with 40 to 45 kids in the same tight and you are supposed to finish the entire curriculum by the end of the year, so what should you do?  So within these circumstances there will be no quality education so I said “I can bring quality education here”. What we are trying to do is that right now I have 2 classrooms and I have 8 kids only in each classroom so there is 1 teacher in each classroom and this teacher is giving the time and the attention to the kids and this teacher is giving quality education. Sometimes we could spend 1 hour only with one kid, when we see this kid is struggling with Math or with Arabic or probably English, we sometimes we give 1 hour just to, for 1 kid, to make sure that this kid get or understood what is there in their curriculum.

So I believe quality education is very important here and its really absent from the current educational environment and most importantly I believe that languages are the keys to the heart, Languages are important means that can really open the mind, open the heart to so many things in your life and I believe that Language is also a key to success in your life.

So we work here under a very important theme which is English, Unfortunately we study English for 12 years in schools like from my own experience I studied 9 years at the UNRWA schools and then 3 years at the Palestinian public school and by the end of studying English for 12 years in the schools I could barely just say 2 or 3 sentences, I would just be stuck after how are you?

So I said English was an important means to me personally to make some kind of success in my life and to open my mind and to open my heart to so many things here in this reality, So I said probably if we work in English we can help those kids to make some progress in their lives to make some, in a way to build some good values in their life because when you are open to another culture, of course you need to know the language of that culture, so I say the language is very important to create openness inside your mind, inside your heart. So we are trying to focus on English here as a main theme of our work, when we hold activities we are trying to hold them in English, When we hold exercises, sports, we try to hold them in English, we are trying to make English as a main in a way trying to give them the spirit of English here based of course with our limitations, we are not English native speakers here but from my knowledge and from my education as I told you I studied the applied English language so I have some knowledge regarding teaching English as a second language and I try to bring my experience and channel it to those kids so in a way they would probably after 3 or 4 years from now they will be able to speak English, to understand English and see the spirit of English.

Are you also teaching the kids about responsibility as well, living here in the camp?

Yeah, exactly, this is all so another main theme of our work which is we are trying to bring live values to our work so for instance as I told you we are really stuck in this screwed up conflict but as long as this conflict continues we are stuck with something else in this camp here which is the victimhood mentality and this is something that affects almost every single aspect in our life, If I take you for a tour here in the camp, we just walk the streets and you will see the trash everywhere, then for me I used to bring people here to the camp and the first question they would ask me “Why don’t you guys clean the trash here?” If you ask me the question 6 or 7 years ago I would tell you because we are just temporary living here, and then I stared thinking, give it some deep thoughts, “those people are right” we are living here in this place and we are sinking in the victimhood mentality to the point that we are not capable to clean the trash around us, so this is a major issue that we face here. We have a lot of issues that we ourselves should fix, should deal with but unfortunately due to this victimhood mentality that occupies our minds we are not capable to do those very basic things including cleaning the trash. But this showed you that there is a lack of responsibility towards our community, towards our place, the place we are all living in. I mean those kids unfortunately due to this current situation as I told you the lack of space, if those kids decided to go to play somewhere they would just go to the street and that street is filled with trash and you will find them sometimes playing with rats, So this is something that really makes me sad when I look at it. But it showed me also that we have a deep issue of lack of responsibility, so we are trying here to bring that responsibility toward this place. For instance when the kids come here they find the classroom clean, they find everything clean because last time they cleaned it before they left. So they feel that they are part of this place, they are part of this classroom, they are the ones that benefit from this classroom so we are trying to involve them in the process of being responsible on whatever is needed to this classroom at least cleaning at this point also we are trying to in a way to distribute responsibilities, that kid for instance, your role today is to give sandwiches, the other one, your role here if anyone needs water it is your job, another kids if anyone needs a paper or something from the cupboard it is your job to bring it to him, so in a way we are trying to engage them in the process of the education because they have to know that at the moment they are benefitting from something, they have to be responsible and they have to be responsible in general. And this is my dream at some point that those kids would bring that sense of responsibility with them outside the centre at least when they are walking on the street they will not throw trash on the streets, maybe at some point its difficult to ask them “Go clean guys”  but at least we are not contributing at making it worse and worse and this is also something that I am aspiring to do at some point, maybe next summer I am planning to do or create a summer camp here and what I am planning is that the main theme of this summer camp is to volunteer, to show our responsibility toward our community, probably we could go and clean some places, we could probably paint some places, help people who may need help because unfortunately the volunteer issue is something absent from our culture, Like if you ask me here I studied at a local university here for 4 years and I am doing my MA now and if you ask me to what extent you think you had time to or you volunteered in your life? I would say I just volunteered for very few hours when I was in the college just because it was something mandatory, that’s it, But volunteering is something very, very important and I believe it is completely absent, nobody is pushing towards, we have to show our responsibility towards our communities in general, not just towards the camp but in general, the aspect of volunteering has to be there it has to grow up with us. It has to be with us in order to show that giving is not only materialistic, giving is not only money, you can give from your time, you can give from your efforts, you can give from the thing that you can do. So this is something that I hope that at some point I would be able to teach and to be able to raise the kids with the volunteering, the concept of the giving even if it was from your time, from your efforts, from anything simple that you think “Oh its just simple but maybe I know some Arabic but maybe you can teach someone else Arabic just because you know some Arabic, so this is also something I am trying to teach them here which is the concept of giving, which is part of the responsibility.

Now there are three refugee camps here in Bethlehem and you’re in Dheisheh camp , tell us a little bit about the camp and the difficulties it faces.

Dheisheh refugee camp is the second largest  refugee camp all over West Bank the population is about 17,000 Palestinians who are stuck in less than 1 km square, so you can imagine how the place will look like which is not that much different than a slum, regarding the services here we get the education from the UNRWA, the United nations relief and work agency, there are 2 major schools, one for Boys and one for girls, each one is divided into 2, one for elementary one for basic, as far as I know there is about 2100- 2200 kids are studying in those schools and we usually study there from the first grade until the ninth grade, regarding the health care, we have a clinic here  that is also supported by UNRWA and it is just for the very basic treatment, regarding the municipal issues just like cleaning the trash, it is also under UNRWA so UNRWA is responsible for cleaning and doing the municipal issues, Regarding the electricity and water here which is something controversial because the vast majority of people here they don’t pay electricity, they don’t pay water which is unfortunately part of our victimhood mentality, That we are refugees here so we are not paying electricity, we are not paying water until we get the right of return or something like this, But what I am saying is this is part of the unfortunately victimhood mentality.

Regarding the life here as I told you, it looks like, exactly like a slum, the place is just like a forest of cement, If I take you all over the camp you will not see a green area, you will not find a small park for the kids of which the can play or they can have some free time, some fun time, the place lacks a lot of facilities that give life to this community in general.

Do people in Bethlehem see the people in the refugee camp as second class citizens?

To be honest with you, I personally whiteness some personal stories of which people are condescending the refugees or consider them as second or third class but I don’t believe in general that the Palestinians or probably in Bethlehem look at them as second class, Of course we cannot generalise, of course you will find personal issues here and there but I don’t believe its something in general people are condescending us here.

So do the kids here in the camp need to see change?

I believe yes, I whole heartedly believe in this, I saw this from my personal experience with those kids, Let me tell you something, we Arabs are well know about that… our screwed up time, Like I have a meeting with you at 2, ok 5 minutes 2 minutes then it will end up 2.30, but can you imagine that I am dealing with the kids here on a weekly basis, 3 to 4 days a week, we start usually at 2 every day , we are functioning on  Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, I would find the kids here at 1.30, which is for me something, it’s an indicator that shows that those people they would love to change their life, they would love to see attention in their life, they would love to see care in their life, They stay here 3 to 4 hours, they come half an our before the time and they would love to stay more, this shows me that those kids they would really love to change, they would really love to see to see that someone is caring about them, someone is giving them attention, someone is giving them quality time, quality education and I really see a lot of progress, a lot of those kids for instance they have talent. You know I chose them in the very beginning randomly based on their needs, based on the financial needs and after a process of evaluation we pick those kids, but I never knew that any of them had a talent, Just here I figured out that the vast majority of them they have talent, they sing, they paint, they play music, even though they never practice these things. So of course they would love to change, they would love to see that attention in their life, someone is really taking care of them, someone is really taking their hands and making them, helping them to make progress in their life.

Now you have already mentioned free water rand free electricity, does that actually create irresponsibility as well amongst the children; are you trying to deal with that as well?

Yeah, definitely, your house is part of your education, when you grow up in a house or which the parents are telling you we are not paying electricity, we are not paying water because we are refugees and because we shouldn’t pay because we are refugees, this in my own opinion it strengthens the victimhood mentality, I believe so. Like for instance here we don’t leave the place, we check the rooms, the lights are off, the water is ok, no leakage nothing so I think part of the responsibility that we are teaching them is Yes, its part of it the fact that it is free doesn’t mean we have to waste it OK, we are stuck in this place, like I am renting this place, OK the owner doesn’t pay Electricity, fine, I cannot force him to pay electricity  so the fact that it is free doesn’t mean I have to waste it because unfortunately wasting electricity and wasting water is something that I see here in the camp. So I think when those kids see something different that look here in my house, we are probably wasting electricity and water and in this centre we are spend about 16 hours a week, we see there is someone else taking care about the water and electricity so I think this would create a counter education to the kids, if it probably did not change them now it would probably change them on the long term.

Are you making a difference here in the camp?

I really hate the big mottos, “I’m going to change the world, I’m going to change all these….. I really…. I would love if we could all of us change this world but changing this world is so difficult, It’s a very, very big motto. So I believe in the change on the very micro level, if everyone just changes on his level, on your personal level, on your community level, I think at some point we would have or we would witness the change on the changing the world motto. So I believe I am creating at this moment and at this time, I am creating positive change in those kids life, when those kids see attention and they see care I believe they would get to that realisation that we have something in this life, we are unique, we have something to loose, our life is not cheap, I don’t want to loose my life, I have something, I have someone who cares about me, I have something who Is waiting for me if I didn’t show up today in the class or not, I have someone, I have the teacher here who’s giving me 3 to 4 hours from her time every day, so I believe those kids or in a way we are trying to create that positive change in those kids that… to tell them or to show them that you’re life is really worth it, You’re life is precious, you have something in this life based on this everything here is just a result of this thing, you are precious to us, your life is precious to you and you have to appreciate that.

Why do you do what you do?

As I told you this entire centre is based on my own personal experience and I said if we just want to continue complaining and just want to continue moaning and just to whine and just to cry I don’t think anything would change, I believe that someone on the very, very micro level should just start doing something towards change, so I believe that in what I am doing there is this change that I would like to be apart of , As I told you my place here lacks this Idea and this idea, I get to know this idea of the after school program or the day care program from my interaction with Americans, with Europeans and I said why don’t we have this idea here because we really need it, why don’t we have it here? Why do those kids have to spend their time in the street? No they have to spend their time in a safe place of which they will get a good education, quality education, not poisoned education. So I said I have to start this change myself, preparing this place took me about 2 years because I started by myself  and on my own, I get some support from friends here and there but it took me about 2 years just to prepare those classrooms to prepare the facilities to prepare the bathrooms, to make it ready to function. Then at some point we get some support from here and there and we are able now to function so you asked me why did you start this? Because it is part of my responsibility towards my community, Those kids are our kids, those kids they have the rights, they have to stop dreaming about their rights, their rights they have to come true, they have to see their rights in reality and I don’t believe that any kid in the world is better than those kids, they are all the same and the fact that they are stuck in this place doesn’t mean that they have to less than the other kids, so I believe that this is the least that I can do to my community, this is the least that I can do to those kids so they will not see what I saw when I was a kid.

What is your prayer finally for the future of Dheisheh?

There are tons of prayers (Laughs) Just like some of my friends, Guys you need intensive prayers (Laughs) But what I said is that my prayers is that at some point this conflict is going to settle with equality and we are not going to witness that negative, or the consequences of this conflict on our life, I pray that at some point the life here would look normal just like any normal place in this world, I pray that at some point we would find freedom in our life, we would find equality and justice in our life and I pray for those kids that there would be more and more centres and more and more places like mine here  not only in this camp, all over Bethlehem all over the refugee camps because such ideas are really needed in order to create a better education, in order to create a flourishing future for these kids, I believe that such centres like mine are really needed, so I am hoping that at some point we would find more centres, I hope that at some point I would be able to expand my work and able to absorb more kids in my centre here because I believe that this is really life changing process when they are part of such a centre like this.