Voices of the 18th OxHRF: ‘Gaza seen through the eyes of its children’

EL Laskar writes:

In our last blog, to commemorate Victory in Europe day, we shared snippets from the memoir of Mrs Prince who had been a child of war in Britain during the Second World War. We were thankful to have her story included in our exhibition this year. There were striking similarities in her story with some of the experiences of children in war zones today - abandonment, scarcity of resources, loss of loved ones, fear of being bombed and having a war zone as a playground.

As we mentioned in our last blog Rights of Children can often be overlooked and with approximately 415 million children growing up in war zones, global society needs to continue to invest in the protection and welfare of these children.


Please take a few minutes to listen to the reflections of Basma Eldoukhi, who has worked with children affected by war in Syria and Lebanon. Basma is a MA candidate at CENDEP from Lebanon and was part of the OxHRF planning committee this year.

This year our exhibition included a selection of pictures taken by children living in the Gaza Strip. Home to approximately 1.9 million people (including 1.4 million Palestinian refugees), years of conflict has left 80% of people reliant on international assistance, 95% do not have access to clean water and conflict is ongoing. We only had the opportunity to show a handful of the pictures from the project - the full selection will be showcased later this year at the P21 Gallery which is an independent London-based charitable trust established to promote contemporary Arab art and culture.

Each picture displayed in the Glass Tank at Oxford Brookes University was a testament that the creative arts can have a significant role in the caring,resilience and development of children in war zones. OxHRF would like to thank the Ajyal Foundation and Pressure Cooker Arts for letting us participate in the story of children of Gaza.

Ajyal Foundation writes:


Why are the Streets so small? Gaza seen through the eyes of its children.

To highlight the impact of conflict on children including their general wellbeing and education, Ajyal Foundation for Education and Pressure Cooker Arts (PCA) brings a unique exhibition to cities across the UK featuring images produced by 24 children, aged between 10-15 years old, in the Gaza Strip, Palestine. The images exhibited here are part of this exhibition.

The work formed part of a psychosocial photography project that emerged from a partnership between Nawa for Culture and Arts Association in Gaza’s Deir al-Balah and UK-based Pressure Cooker Arts (PCA).

Four young Palestinian photographers from Nawa Association worked intensively with PCA’s consultant photographer, Rich Wiles, to develop a curriculum that developed their photographic skills through exploring documentary photography. Each produced a personal documentary project within these workshops.

The four photographers then became ‘Lead Photographers’ as they worked with the children, teaching them the basics of photography through a collaboratively produced syllabus that explored photographic and conceptual elements including light, colour, emotion and freedom.

None of the children had previous photographic experience but they found in photography a tool with which to learn about their worlds and express their feelings. The title of this exhibition reflects the integral learning processes of this participatory project. During one of many field trips, the group of children visited the neighbouring Deir al-Balah refugee camp. Most of them had never been inside a refugee camp before despite its close proximity to their homes in the town.

Upon entering the narrow, winding streets of the camp a child turned to one of the Lead Photographers and, struck by visual differences and the intense over-crowding of the refugee camp in comparison to the town itself, asked ‘Why are the streets so small..?’

All of these children continue to live under siege in the Gaza Strip. All have lived through the horrors of war. All have lost a tremendous amount in their short lives. Yet none of these children have lost their creativity, spirit or humanity.

Somehow, they still live with hope.

To find out more about the projects please contact Ajyal and Pressure Cooker Arts

Ajyal Foundation for Education is an Oxford-based organisation established in 2018 to support the education of Palestinian children, youth and young adults in Palestine and other countries in the Middle East, particularly those living in refugee camps. The Foundation dedicates its work to improving the welfare and wellbeing of its beneficiaries, assisting them to come out of poverty by advancing access to high quality and innovative education at all levels.

Pressure Cooker Arts (PCA) is a UK based not-for-profit arts and advocacy organisation, cooking up creative projects with artists, activists and community-based organisations in the UK, Europe and the Middle East.

The Oxford Human Rights Festival would like to thank Ajyal Foundation for Education, Pressure Cooker Arts and Basma Eldoukhi for their support for this year’s festival.