On Friday 1 August, I will be hosting Craft and Create for Palestine, a poetry, arts and crafts activity day at City Screen Picturehouse in York (in the basement), along with some volunteers who are part of York Palestine Assembly, Yorkshire Palestine Collective, the poetry community and Stride for Palestinians. The event runs from 12.30pm to 5.30pm.
Craft and Create for Palestine
It is a family friendly, collective fundraiser and there will be stalls offering books and toys, Palestinian food, and a raffle. And there will be York’s first ever open mic for young ones!
There will be readings from the book Moon Tell Me Truth, which features poetry written by children including Palestinian children. All of those who support Palestine are welcome to come along and read some poetry. The poetry workshop will be led by Minal Sukumar and will be tailored to be suitable for all ages.
There will be a chance to participate in a collaborative creative work with paper doves, watermelons or Palestine maps, as well as other Arabic/Islamic-based arts and crafts activities. There will also be the opportunity to watch a tatreez demonstration (traditional Palestinian embroidery)and to create your own through different creative mediums.
All proceeds will go directly to the families detailed in the linktr.ee via their GoFundMe accounts.
The need to humanise and dignify Palestinian lives
We live in a time when the dehumanisation of Palestinians is accelerating, and we’re bombarded day after day with increasingly distressing images of the starvation in Gaza as we scroll through our news feeds. So, it is ever more important to facilitate spaces of solidarity and help to support Palestinian families and individuals. Direct aid is one of the most impactful ways we can play our part.
One of the key aims of this event is to amplify the voices of this group of Palestinians and to emphasise the fact that, as well as deserving the rights of basic human dignity and aid, they are human beings with ambitions for the future, career goals and dreams of their own.
The funds generated by the event will be providing life-saving support such as food, nappies, medicine and milk formula on the ground. This is becoming increasingly more urgent daily due to the extortionate price rises that are now being demanded in Gaza. The funds will also support people’s livelihood, enable them to make use of their talents and help towards visa costs.
I have a personal connection with these families and individuals, often talking regularly on social media, and I consider them dear friends.
The therapeutic value of art as play
Art through play is a powerful tool. This creative event pays homage to the kind of psychological support that is so desperately needed for children in Palestine now.
As a therapeutic play practitioner, I am always advocating for the importance of play – it integrates both hemispheres of the brain and creates attunement and, in turn, new neural pathways are formed and strengthened. Play dampens the amygdala responses, instead enhancing the prefrontal cortex if consistent and repetitious play is sustained. Hormones like oxytocin are produced when a child plays and creates.
For children trying to survive in Palestine today, such healing is not possible because their trauma is ongoing, as well as intergenerational. But creativity is often used as a way to manage and process their emotions, even amidst their experience of genocide. The need for trauma-focused mental health interventions for Palestinians, including children, is vital.
For example, Ibrahim, who’s included in our GoFundMe campaign, is one of the many families who has a child with autism. He has dedicated his life to providing therapeutic services and treatment for children with these additional needs.
We all deserve to be treated with humanity
Every child, every human being, deserves the right to play freely, to be met with acceptance, to have their feelings validated and to have a safe home.
Events like Craft and Create for Palestine help to provide children in particular with the opportunity to respond to and create their own art or poetry. The volunteers here will be facilitating a welcoming and warm environment which encourages creative expression. While the basics for survival are crucial, sustaining empathy and humanity must be at the forefront of everything we do in our solidarity with the Palestinians.
Tickets for this event are available via tickettailor.com.
