NEWS / PROJECTS: Syrian Refugee Children Capturing and Sharing Their Lives with Disposable Cameras

The Syrian civil war has been raging for over four years now, and millions of Syrians have fled their homes and into neighboring countries as refugees. As refugees struggle with basic necessities and figuring out their futures, a new project has popped up to give refugee children a creative outlet and a voice through photography. Hundreds of children have been documenting their tumultuous childhood experience using disposable cameras.

It's all part of a one year project known as "Lahza2″ ("Glimpse" in Arabic) by Zakira("Memory" in Arabic), a photo-centric NGO. The organization partnered up with Unicef to provide 500 disposable cameras to refugee children between the ages of 7 and 12 who are living in tent communities across Lebanon.

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NEWS / AWARDS: Syrian Educational Channel Wins 2 Gold Awards in Cairo Arab Media Festival

Cairo, (SANA)- Syrian Educational Satellite Channel has won two gold awards at 16th Cairo Arab Media Festival for the documentary "Hanania" and short film "Plant…Don't Cut Down". Sixteen Arab countries participated in the Cairo-based Festival.

Last October, the Channel won one gold and two bronze awards at the Jordan Arab Media Festival in the category of children's programs and drama production. 350 works from most Arab countries about children show production and children drama production participated.

The Syrian Educational satellite channel won during its demo broadcast a silver award at the fifteenth Cairo Arab Media Festival and a silver award at the eleventh Gulf Festival in Bahrain.

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PROJECTS / PHOTOGRAPHY: Adolescents find their identity through photography in Syria (MIDDLE EAST)

Adolescents find their identity through photography in Syria

Article and photos by Pawel Krzysiek

DAMASCUS, Syria, 12 January 2010 – Last summer, a six-week photography workshop invited 24 young people from Syria, Palestine and Iraq to bring their perspectives to issues affecting their region. The participants addressed issues including identity, gender equality, children’s rights and integration. Thousands of photos emerged, many of which were exhibited in galleries in Damascus and London.

The ‘Bridging the Gap’ workshop, organised by the UK-based Refocus Project [www.refocusproject.com] and supported by UNICEF, brought participants together for a summer of photographic training. Boys and girls from different backgrounds worked alongside each other to explore and document their environment. They produced images of the world through their own eyes, examining both the achievements they perceived and the struggles they faced.

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