The hardest thing I have ever seen is sick children dying in the hospital in front of me and cameras.” Mona Al-Hajri

 

In the corridors of the hospital, a man who appeared to be poor put his sick child on the bed and stood aside, waiting. The child was diagnosed with platelet insufficiency and placed in the intensive care unit. His treatment would be costly. The father excused himself and disappeared from the scene – he could not afford the treatment.

 

Mona was moving in the corridors of the hospital, where she worked as a assistant, carrying the camera that accompanied her wherever she went. When she first saw the child languishing on his bed alone, she already knew his story. She took a picture of him, and posted it on social media. She presented his case to solicit the cooperation of the director of the hospital, as well as donors and benefactors, and was able to save the child’s life.

 

Mona had studied laboratory medicine. After graduating she could not find a job. Her poetic talent, however, helped her to be recognised by the director of a hospital in Hodeidah, when she gave a poem at a public event. She started to work in the hospital in addition to her volunteering activities. She witnessed much suffering. Some parents came from remote areas carrying their children, only to see them die in front of them.

 

She worked to seek treatment for the cases that needed help, in coordination with pharmaceutical firms and supporters. She established a mobile pharmacy in the affected areas. She posted images and presentations on social networking sites about patients who needed treatment. She also helped coordinate courses for girls in the fields of environment, health and hygiene.

 

After fleeing the tragic situation in Hodeidah, Mona is now a displaced person in Sana’a. In the activities she participates in, and in the fields of health and education, she is trying to represent the cause of her province and draw attention to the plight of its people.

Number of Targeted people : 10 (5 male, 5 female).
Number of days: 2 day.
Hours: 2 hours
Workshop goal:
Inform artists how to do the work in a way that suit the project purpose.

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How it contributes in achieving the goals:

– Sketches presented by the artists were discussed, and the extent of their relevance to the stories written stories. Some amendments seen by the project’s management were presented as to reflect the core idea of the project in presenting a good image of the Yemeni women.

Workshop Main Topics:

– The 9 participants who attended the workshop commented on the sketches they made of the stories of the women participating in the project. Each artist was given one story to represent in a work of art.
– Each artist explained the idea of his work, the symbols used, and its relation to the story it represents.
– Artists have commented on each other’s work and proposed amendments or additions.
– Artists were given drawing tools to start paintings.

Artist Notes:

– Artists had concern of interfering in their artistic work, however, they only received comments on the content of their paintings and the importance of high lightening the gender in them.

Comments on the achieved work:

– Artists were given ideas of the form of women to be drawn, they should bear in mind avoiding problems of any form by coding the shape of women, and adding the popular adornment of Yemeni women to indicate the belonging.
– Some sketches were dull and lack any beauty of the idea, so artists participated to overcome this problem.
– Focus on how women are presented in a gender perspective.

– Targeted People: 25 artists (male and female)
– Date: 7-9 October 2018.
– Hours: 4 hours>

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Training objectives:

-Raise artists’ (male and female) awareness of the concept of gender and women’s issues
-Increasing the artists’ knowledge of the role of Art in changing gender roles.

How it contributes in the capacity building:

-25 artists (male and female) in Painting art, photography, acting, production, singing and lyricism benefited from training as they became aware of their role during the war in producing works that enhance the positive participation of women who resisted difficult circumstances.
-Male and female artists learned new information about women status in the community and learned about the background that established gender discrimination concepts.
-Artists from different fields shared their ideas aiming to reach the single goal of expressing women’s issues.
-25 Male and female artists learned about the women status in the community, their rights guaranteed by international resolutions and laws.