Recapping Our Visit to Zaatari

Laurie and Jean volunteered at Zaatari Syrian Refugee Camp in Jordan during their spring visit in 2015. While Jean taught young adults Laurie shared arts and crafts with the children. The visit was facilitated by IRD and sponsored by Jean and Laurie's own fundraising efforts through Studio Syria. Money donated by friends and family paid for art supplies. 

Life in Zaatari has become more orderly in the past two years but it still a grim home for 85,000 people. Many still live in tents and electricity was not available while we were there. 

One of our art students graciously invited us for lunch at his home.

Laurie loves to work with children and her crocheted bracelets were as popular as ever. 

At the end of the week Studio Syria handed out "fun packs" which contain paper, notebooks, activity booklets, colored pencils, sharpeners, pencils and markers.

While the children were busy with arts and crafts Jean taught young adults how to draw and tell their stories through making comics. 

 

IRD employee Mays Abu Lail was an enthusiastic translator and friend during our drawing classes. 

The IRD library needs more children's books and Studio Syria donated some generously provided by Karen Asfour. Here we found one of our donations made a couple of years ago. It has been well used! 

 

Iyad Fanan stands outside the art trailer that Studio Syria helped to stock with art supplies. If you have donated to Studio Syria you have helped to make all this possible. If you would like to donate please visit our website at studiosyria.org All donations are spent on educational supplies. We take no overhead or any other expenses (except 7% for book keeping) so if you give a dollar we will spend 93 cents on pencils, paper, paints and other educational supplies. Thank you for supporting us.

To see the results of our comic book workshops at Zaatari please scroll down.

This spring Jean led a workshop at the Malki Children's Center in Amman. She donated children's books and art supplies including Studio Syria's education and fun packs.

The Malki Center was founded by the Salaam Cultural Museum out of Seattle and offers psychological counselling to Syrian children who are recovering from trauma from their war experience. It is a wonderfully uplifting place that shares classes in yoga as well as dancing, story time and meals. There is even a whole room full of sand. A trained psychologist is on hand to work with parents and children. 

Donations to the Malki Center can be made here. Donations to Studio Syria to buy more art supplies can be made at the Studio Syria website. 

Spring in Jordan 2015

In May Jean and Laurie returned to Zaatari Refugee Camp near the Syrian border in Jordan. While Laurie taught crochet, played with the children and handed out education kits Jean taught art workshops to young men. One of the workshops focussed on comics. Here are the amazing results.

Sadly we ran out of time before many of these pieces were finished. We will return in the fall and continue this project so that these talented artists can tell more of their stories for their friends and families from Syria and for all of us around the world. 

Graphic Novels at Zaatari Camp

In August 2014 Jean taught several graphic novel/cartooning workshops in Zaatari Camp near the Syrian border in Jordan. She worked with a young men's English language group. And a young women's cosmetology class. As a first experiment teaching this age group and this subject the workshops were excitingly successful.

Participants were encouraged to write and draw small moments from their daily lives in the refugee camp - but sometimes deeper messages were also written.

 "My life in the past was filled with sadness, death and tears. But I moved on, and now all I want is to live in the future and take care of my children."

"I hope to return to our country soon. I wish I could have a child.

Life is unbearable without plants and trees." 

 "I feel sad because I know that a lot of kids and young people die daily in my country and I cannot do anything"

"I am in jail. I do not know why. 

They torment the prisoners horribly.

I feel so lonely. I wish I could see my family.

I miss my family in Syria. 

I am out of prison. 

I am back home. I can meet my family now."

Translation for these drawings was generously donated by the wonderful people at Translation4All in Bellevue, Washington. 

Jean will return to Zaatari Camp in April and continue these workshops. It is hoped that with more instruction and time to explore story lines the resulting comics will give a voice to those in the camp who feel they don't have one. It will be a way to express grief - and a way to imagine a happier future.

As always, Studio Syria distributes as many art and educational supplies as possible during these workshops. Participants go home with enough supplies to continue their artworks and to share with friends and family. There can never be too many pencils in the homes of refugees! Studio Syria will continue to distribute pencils, pens, paper and books in 2015. Thank you for your support. 

Happy New Year

Happy New Year from Studio Syria. We send best wishes for a brighter future to all refugees living far from home. Thank you to all who donated to our programs. Here is a quick recap of what we achieved in 2014.

Jean and Laurie taught graphic novel workshops in Zaatari Camp near the Syrian border in Jordan. Young adults received training and art supplies to take home after the workshops. We partnered with IRD for this program and want to send a big thank you to Julie Whittaker.  Earlier in the year we taught children in Zaatari with the help of Save the Children Jordan.

Studio Syria worked with many generous knitters and crocheters from all over the world to donate hand made hats and clothing to refugee families. We partnered with our neighbours in Seattle, the Salaam Cultural Musuem, who shipped hundreds of hats for us and distributed at their amazing free medical clinics in Jordan. Thank you crafters for sending us such tangible love to pass along to those who need it most. See pictures of all the hats on our Facebook album here https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.739508169399253.1073741834.665325273484210&type=3



Laurie Balbo man handled thousands of balls of yarn (donated in Seattle) and held workshops in partnership with Collateral Repair in Amman sending proceeds from sales back to refugee families. Thanks to Karen Fardel and Tracy Bonaccorso (with her trusty van) for wrangling the yarn on the Seattle end.

We spent a day teaching art with the Salaam Cultural Museum and their medical team in the Jordanian town of Salt.

When Jean posted on Facebook that she was teaching kids in freezing weather who had cold feet, Studio Syria supporter Christine Tappert in Duvall, Washington, stepped in to raise money for socks which Jean was able to purchase and distribute in Amman - all with a turn around of a couple of weeks. One of the joys of being a small and lean organization!

We distributed hundreds of education kits to Syrian refugee children living in Zaatari Camp and in farm fields and urban lots. Thank you to the artists who contributed to our activity booklet - Anna Witte, Dave Badders, Chris Rollins, and Kutaieba Alsamman who translated it into Arabic. And thank you to the Pollination Project who granted us money to print more of these popular booklets. 

We spent a day with the ebullient folks at  Dar al Yasmin teaching kids how to make their own books.

And Jean spent a wonderful day teaching in a vacant lot in the border town of Zaatari Village, partnering with Samantha Robison and AptArt.

From Studio Syria to our wonderful supporters we send a huge thank you and 'shukran'. And from the many people we had the joy of working with this year, whether in Zaatari Camp, a dusty farm field or in an empty city parking lot - thank you for your resilience, your patience and the creativity you shared with us this year. We send heartfelt wishes for a speedy end to the violence in Syria and a return home in 2015. 

Please help us to continue our work in the New Year by donating at www.studiosyria.org.

Thank you from our hearts!