June 20 is World Refugee Day, an international day designated by the United Nations to honour refugees around the globe.
This year, the Centre for Lebanese Studies at the Lebanese American University in Amman and Beirut and our partner, the Centre for Development and Emergency Practice (CENDEP) at Oxford Brooks University, marked the day with a series of activities the week of 19-26 June. With the young people at the core, we constructed activities around a recently completed project that featured a unique meeting of art and academia and the recently published quantitative study entitled “From Education to Employment: Trajectories of Young People in Protracted Displacement in Jordan and Lebanon.
June 19, 2021 | Opening Reception A research on Display
A high turnout of the youth who participated in our project Trajectories of Youth from Education to Employment in Protracted Displacement showed up to see their works and listen to their peers’ stories. The young people’s feedback seeing their artworks part of a collective exhibition (check the virtual exhibition here) was very positive so were the comments they received from their families and close friends. Most stayed for the round table discussion to discuss their feelings and attitudes towards their realities led by life coach Maher Salameh.
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June 21, 2021 | Video Tammey Youth Space
Thirty young people from Palestinian refugee camps in Jordan visited the exhibition at Ras El Ain Gallery and participated in the discussion led by LIWAN’s Kamel Nabulsi about Tammey‘s research on refugee camps’ youth. The discussion sought to unpack some of the findings from earlier LIWAN research with the youth from the camps about the legal status, the socioeconomic situation, the access to rights as residents, the structure of the camps, the relationship between camps residents, and gender differences. They talked about their River of Life, the opportunities, challenges they faced, and their resilience to find life strategies.
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June 22, 2021 | A Preliminary Discussion of CLS-CENDEP quantitative report “Youth Trajectories in Lebanon and Jordan from Education to Employment in the Context of Protracted Displacement.”
A preliminary discussion with two of the twelve co-authors of the CLS-CENDEP quantitative report, CLS Amman Team Leader Dr. Oroub EL Abed and Project Manager and researcher Mohammad Hammoud, led the Zoom discussion on the general analysis of the quantitative report covering 1,400 young persons in Jordan and Lebanon.
June 24 ,2021 | A Round Table Discussion with Sawiyan
An excellent session with Sudanese, Yemeni, and Somali refugees at Ras el Ain to see The Trajectories exhibition and watch a few of the documentaries produced for the research.
The round table with Sawiyan centred around the new localization of refugee support and sought to question how refugees, non-Palestinians, non-Iraqi, and non-Syrians, manage to secure their basic rights through their community’s support. A highly successful kick-off for the project and very inquisitive comments about the River of Life’s creative production with evident interest.
We at CLS Jordan, as the regional coordinators of the project in Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey, aspire to establish a Refugee Hub to bring together refugees from all nationalities.
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June 25, 2021 | Stories from Youth in Times of Crisis: A Research – Art collaboration followed by a conversation with the artists.
A webinar brought together the youth working on two research- art partnerships in Lebanon and Jordan to talk about their personal experience. In Jordan, they drew their Trajectories, and in Beirut, they produced and acted in short plays.
Artists Dana Barqawi, Amman Curator, and Ruweidah Al Ghali, performance teacher who mentored the Beirut performances in collaboration with Al Jana Arab Resource, engaged in a discussion about the feelings, place, and perceptions of the youth. The webinar was livestreamed on CLS Facebook page.
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June 26, 2021 | Dardashat with Ruwwad Youth Community and Refugee Week Closing
Over 40 young people from Ruwwad toured the exhibition and showed interest in the tools used. The discussion was moderated by Baraah Khasawneh and started with many inquisitive questions. The closing of a week packed with activities included food and drink stations, live music, and a book market.
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