Archive for June, 2010

VIEWS FROM WITHIN, CINEMARENA 2009- 2010

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The Lebanese Ministry of Social Affairs, the Ministry of Interior and Municipalities, and the Embassy of Italy in Beirut, launch the “Reference guide of NGOs and institutions working in Lebanese Prisons”, jointly produced within the project “VIEWS FROM WITHIN, CINEMARENA 2009- 2010” in the framework of the Emergency ROSS Program funded by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs/Italian Cooperation.

VAPA Association is finishing its intervention in the Cinemarena Project which is being held in 13 prisons all over Lebanon.  We gave prisoners graffiti workshops which they can later on use in their professions (shoe-smith…).  Graffiti artists reproduced the artwork done and the firt exhibition took place in March 2011 in an attempt to spread awareness about the prison’s conditions.The exhibition took place during the launching ceremony of the guide.

Cedric

2010
06/23
CATEGORY
Activities
Arts for Human Rights
Social
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SIMPLY ROOF!

The first anniversary of Roof 68 came up on June 4th, and VAPA could not let it go by without a celebration.  We organized a casual night to celebrate this anniversary gathering all our friends, partners, and everyone interested at Roof 68 for a night of 80’s music.  At the event there were more than a hundred people mixed between Artists and activists in the civil society from different nationalities (Italian, French, American…).

The best thing about the night was the social interaction between all the peculiar people who were there, I have to say mixing art with the civil society simple creates a “Big Bang”!

The picture was taken from Star Scene (Daily Star) who covered the event (http://starscene.dailystar.com.lb/featured/2010/06/roof-68-celebrates-1st-year-anniversary/).

2010
06/14
CATEGORY
Arts for Human Rights
Events
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Storytelling all over Lebanon!

One hundred years ago, the difference between one generation and another was between 20 and 30 years.   Today, with all the development we are experiencing a child nurtures in a totally different environment than another child 5 years later.

VAPA Association has always been interested in preserving the role of books in a child’s early life.  Through the Lebanese Ministry of Culture and under the Beirut World Capital project, we finally got the chance to work on this issue!

The occasion was the National Reading Week and the idea was to offer storytelling activities to public libraries all over Lebanon.  We contacted some of our friends from “Clown Me In” who were glad to offer their help in the storytelling.

The storytelling was performed by Sabine Choucair and Gabriel Munoz who decided to add a twist to traditional story telling by performing the events they are reading.  A selection of stories from three different languages were chosen out of the book “Let Me Tell You a Story” (A collection of 54 illustrated children’s stories and poems by authors of all ages).

The result was the participation of around 300 children in the activity which took place in the following regions:

  • Kamed el Lawz
  • Jib Jannin
  • Mansoura
  • Kfardebian
  • Achkout
  • Rayfoun
  • Srifa
  • Jwaya
  • Tyr
  • Tannourine
  • Assia
  • Batroun

2010
06/09
CATEGORY
Activities
Arts for Human Rights
Social
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Is there a Psychiatric Hospital in the South?

One of the dark corners we promised to enlighten our readers about is the condition of Psychiatric hospitals in Lebanon.

One of the activities VAPA has conducted during the past months was a full day painting session to patients of Al Fanar psychiatric hospital.  Don’t be fooled by the name, the hospital lies in the Nabatieh region in the South of Lebanon and not in the Fanar area north of Beirut.

During our intervention a documentary titled “HOME” about the hospital was being filmed by Newstime Productions in collaboration with Al Fanar Hospital and funded by the Italian Embassy through the Italian Development Cooperation.  The documentary describes the story and the state of the hospital, including the relationship between the patients and their families.

The premier of HOME will be at UNESCO Palace on Thursday June 10, 2010 at 7:30 PM.  We invite you to be there because the only goal of the documentary is to spread awareness so the screening is open to the public for free!

2010
06/07
CATEGORY
Activities
Social
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Awareness through Blogging

Conflicts, on a personal and group level, are mostly caused by “Ignorance”.

VAPA Association has decided to fight ignorance using its adversary, “Awareness”.  A blog was simply the most effective, simple, and cheap way to do this.

The awareness that you readers will be exposed to, is divided into two parts.  The first will be an awareness towards VAPA’s activities which you can benefit and learn from.  The second will be an awareness directed towards social and cultural problems hidden in the dark corners of Lebanon which people tend to ignore.

So our mission here is to direct the spotlight on these issues instead of bombarding our followers with promotional material.

We hope our blog triggers your interest, Enjoy!

2010
06/07
CATEGORY
Uncategorized
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