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- George telling an Arabic folktale in English and Arabic with the help of Omar, his Iraqi friend and translator.
Amman Summer Arts Camp
George Capaccio / Amman Summer Arts Camp
Amman Summer Arts Camp
The images on this page present an overview of George Capaccio's work with Iraqi and Jordanian children attending a summer arts camp in Amman, Jordan (August, 2009). The first few photos show some of the children involved in a collage-making project led by Sasha Crow, who organized the arts camp and ran the visual arts component. Sasha also founded the Collateral Repair Project, which is devoted to connecting Iraqi refugees in Amman with essential social services.
The next few photos feature George telling traditional Arabic folktales to the children. George incorporated some Arabic into his telling, much to the children's delight. But for the most part, he relied on a translator to make sure the kids understood the stories. Omar, who served as the translator and is seen standing beside George in one of the photos, was an Iraqi refugee who worked with the Collateral Repair Project in Amman.
The rest of the photos in this gallery begin with George leading the children in the rehearsal of a Palestinian folktale, which they would eventually perform for their families on the last day of the arts camp. (The published version of this story is titled Sitti and the Cats, written by Sally Balhous and based on her childhood memories of growing up in a village in Palestine.)
On the day of the performance, women volunteers from the community made up the children's faces to suggest the characters they were playing and also helped them dress up in their various costumes.
While family members checked out an outdoor display of their children's art work, George orchestrated a fun indoor activity that had been Sasha's special project -- having the children create a pair of papier mâché piñatas, which they worked on from day one of the program. Just before the show, they took turns swinging at the piñatas until each one broke open, spilling candies and other delights on the floor of the stage. A wild time was had by all!
The final set of photos captures a few of the scenes in our dramatization of Sitti and the Cats. At the end of the play, when the bowing was over and the applause had died down, the children spontaneously burst into singing a favorite Palestinian song.