When you enter the ALPHA Center in Yater you barely have time to realize that you are there. A group of kids will greet you enthusiastically, humid kisses on the cheaks, small hands that grab yours and drag you towards the playing area, interested eyes that study and follow every move that you make.On Thursday, Friday and Saturday afternoon (as in the other 4 centers of ALPHA) children gather to play, read, learn or simply have some time for themselves. Indeed, our aim is to provide colorful and peaceful islands for children. Islands on which it is allowed to dream, to explore, to question, and to get to know each other with respect. But also islands that one must leave to meet with other children who come from other places...
If for us it might be common to move around frequently, mobility in the South of Lebanon and encounters between the children of different villages are rare. The reasons for this tendency are many: the lack of time and interest of parents to bring their children to new places, the lack of public transport possibilities, a dangerous environment due to unsafe driving or the presence of areas which are still polluted by cluster-bombs. Especially this last problem decreases the possibility of children to enjoy the nature and play around freely. For all these reasons, we have been experimenting lately with a participatory mapping project... We asked children to draw a map of their village with as much information as possible... Where are your houses? Where is the market? Which are the places that you prefer? And slowly Yater started appearing in front of us through the eyes of our children. Trees were made out of leafs and branches, houses were cut out of coloured paper, mountains and rocks appeared...
If for us it might be common to move around frequently, mobility in the South of Lebanon and encounters between the children of different villages are rare. The reasons for this tendency are many: the lack of time and interest of parents to bring their children to new places, the lack of public transport possibilities, a dangerous environment due to unsafe driving or the presence of areas which are still polluted by cluster-bombs. Especially this last problem decreases the possibility of children to enjoy the nature and play around freely. For all these reasons, we have been experimenting lately with a participatory mapping project... We asked children to draw a map of their village with as much information as possible... Where are your houses? Where is the market? Which are the places that you prefer? And slowly Yater started appearing in front of us through the eyes of our children. Trees were made out of leafs and branches, houses were cut out of coloured paper, mountains and rocks appeared...
Through participatory mapping children have the opportunity to visualize their village, to discover it from different points of view. They learn how to work in groups and take decisions together on how to represent their home-town. This process also stimulates curiosity for the surrounding villages, and represents a successful first step towards an exchange with the other ALPHA centers in Tibnine, Haris, Shaqra and Toulin. In the next future we will make the activities of participatory mapping available also to the other ALPHA children and organize excursions and mini-kermesse to encourage exchange between villages.
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