To live - Franck Saurel
Published on
Story by
Nuria Serra
I would like to introduce you to... boys and girls who attend this place daily, they are between 10 and 17 years old and come from the Jenin refugee camp. They invade the theater as of 10am and fortunately that doors stay opened. I won't hide you that I became attached to all those children, you cannot imagine at all how they are thirty ...OF EVERYTHING.
They attend IT and theater classes, circus and capœira with me at this moment. Their emotions are multiplied by a thousand, they are highly sensitive, and take everything that ife can give. "I love you, do you love me?" is a sentence which is often heard, "habibi", I love you, a breathtaking hug, a frank and innocent smile, laughs... a rush of violence, a rush of love, a rush of violent love. Occupation imprisons them in this town and society imprisons them in this future of martyr... War is really a stupidity as it is said.
Despite of obstacles blocking their future, they come to learn and play. What a courage! Some people think that becoming martyr is a solution even though they don't fancy it, others understand that education and knowledge are a solution even if they don't access it. They play, meet, learn, whereas everything is against them, this place resists and they resist in this place. "At 17, I took 4 bullets and my body still have traces of a knife used during an examination" told me Fares who offer me a flower, thso famous flower which delivers its fragnances in the depths of the night...ALL, and I really said ALL decided to live.
Franck Saurel
Translated from French by: Hanan ben Rhouma