The Caravan Europe (Hemland)

The Caravan Europe is an opportunity to bridge the gap between host communities and refugee communities in Europe who suffer from both a language and cultural barrier. By telling these individual stories we can humanize the ongoing refugee crisis and to open a dialogue between both communities. This is such an important step as we have witnessed with the performances of The Caravan in Lebanon.

The first Caravan Europe has already begun in Helmstadt, Sweden. Follow us on facebook here to keep up date with the project as it progresses.

VAN 12

“VAN 12” is a project that puts children’s voices at the heart of a street theatre performance through the use of recorded storytelling audio. Stories have been gathered through workshops and discussions with Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian children who have had their rights neglected or violated. The children have anonymously shared their experiences about how they are coping with violence, bullying, poverty, forced labor, and other violations of their legal rights.

 

The stories will be presented alongside a performance by a team of professional actors in public spaces around Lebanon on a fantastical, movable, drivable set. The overall goal is to use theater and storytelling to raise awareness among people living in both cities and remote areas in Lebanon of the importance of child rights, to teach children what their rights are, and to know where and how to find help. “Van 12” derives its name from the idea of a travelling troupe who present stories which teach 12 of the most fundamental protections from the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The Caravan Goes to School

The project, “The Caravan Goes to School,” is an innovative street theatre initiative to fight one of the greatest threats to young people in Lebanon. As the new school year begins, 180,000 Syrian and 50,000 Lebanese children are not enrolled in school, severely limiting their potential, according to UNICEF.

“The Caravan Goes to School” uses a creative, entertaining format to teach parents and children about the importance of education and to provide them with information on how to enrol their children this year.

The show is based on six true stories that address a range of topics, including early marriage and how it interferes with girls’ education, the challenges facing the Lebanese school system, the costs of not getting an education, and the success stories of those who persevered and how it has changed their lives.

The performance includes audios, clowning, puppetry and music and is being performed in public spaces around Lebanon every Friday and Saturday from Oct. 7 to Nov. 4, 2016, with the aim of reaching communities where children less likely to be enrolled in school. This project is part of the UNICEF Back to School Campaign #Ana_7ader.

The Caravan The World is Listening

The Caravan is a 30min participatory street performance based on eight recorded stories of Syrian refugees living in Lebanon.

Click here to read our blog post and watch a short documentary about the project.

Sabine Choucair writes about her personal experience working on the project on her blog which you can find here.

And lastly head over to The Caravan’s website here to find out more!

The stories are about love, discrimination, life and death all taking place within the last few years in Syria and Lebanon. They are told by men, women and children.

Four actors use The Caravan (a converted van) as their stage and the audience can join the performance at any time. The style is based on physical theatre, comedy, grotesque, big scale puppets and drama.

With The Caravan we toured 40 different Lebanese villages and Syrian refugee camps with two different casts ( Syrian refugees from the Bekaa valley and Syrian refugees’ actors). We also performed in  Sfax (Tunisia) as part of “Sfax the capital of culture” street theatre festival, kerkenna and Nabeul in August 2016. And as part of the JTC ( Journees Theatrale de Carthage) in November 2016.