Child Smile - Theatre and Education in Gaza

This is a fundraiser for Child Smile youth theatre group, to help them continue their life-saving and joy-bringing theatre and education work from a tent in Khan Younis with children displaced by the conflict. In the words of Child Smile founding member Hassan:

"Child Smile is a group of theatre artists and facilitators from Gaza, who trained at the now-destroyed Theater Days Productions building. We believe that drama and theater are effective tools for helping children think positively and overcome crises, by freely expressing their thoughts and feelings with their peers, their families, and the local community. We are displaced artists, standing side by side with our Palestinian Gazan community in this humanitarian crisis to extenuate the suffering of displaced children. We believe that this is not the end. We will always have the opportunity to live and convey the children’s life-loving voice to the entire world through drama and theatre."

"ابتسامة الطفل .. هي مجموعة من فناني المسرح ومدرسين الدراما من غزة، الذين تدربوا في مبنى Theatre Days Productions الذي تم تدميره الآن. نعتقد أن الدراما والمسرح هما أداتان فعالتان لمساعدة الأطفال على التفكير بشكل إيجابي والتغلب على الأزمات، من خلال التعبير بحرية عن أفكارهم ومشاعرهم مع أقرانهم وعائلاتهم والمجتمع المحلي. نحن فنانون مشردون، نقف جنبا إلى جنب مع مجتمعنا الفلسطيني في غزة في هذه الأزمة الإنسانية لتخفيف معاناة الأطفال النازحين. نعتقد أن هذه ليست النهاية. ستتاح لنا دائما الفرصة للعيش ونقل صوت الأطفال المحب للحياة إلى العالم بأسره من خلال الدراما والمسرح."

£14,500 will allow Child Smile's team to work with 240 young people over 3 months to rehearse and present 4 community plays, reaching over a thousand more young people as audience members.

100% of funds raised will go directly to Child Smile's activity, and there are no administrative or overhead costs.

Link to full proposal -

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/6jgdmg1usr0x4r9281h6c/Child-s-Smile-Initiative.docx?rlkey=py8cz3zvkru67t277e6um95wf&dl=0

Hassan's facebook page with more videos of this life-saving work:

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000103501338

Child Smile is a graduate company of Theatre Days Productions (TDP). I am a theatre artist based in the UK, who had the honour of working with artists from TDP in Gaza in 2015. My website, with a page on TDP:

https://www.ailinconant.com/tdpsummergames

More on TDP:

https://theatreday.org/