Sunday - March 15 - 2009
Sponsor: Sabina
Facilitators: Sabina, Lina
We were quite humbled when the highly acclaimed Al Jazeera asked to join us for our outing this day – for they’d be composing a short documentary on El Rahelet.
At one point, Sanaa and Maha, the 2 camp teachers, were being interviewed for the feature down an alleyway. Lina was swarmed by kids, completing her face-painting masterpieces. Sabina was down in the garden with some of the other children, picking flowers. So, all of my Arabic speakers were occupied and unable to attend to the explosive confrontation one of the boys had with his friend. This boy was livid - and I found myself having to hold his arms as he was flailing, crying, steaming mad, ready to pounce on his friend. As I tried to contain him, I found it difficult not to laugh. The boy was so little, yet so intent on getting revenge. I had a flashback to the scene in A Christmas Story when Ralphy goes “ape” and starts pounding the bully that had been taunting him all school year. In the movie, Ralphy was so little, nostrils flaring, tears in his eyes, thick glasses falling off his nose - but still so little. To me, it’s just funny when such a small kid gets infuriated like an adult would. It’s almost cartoon-like, and I find it quite comical. But, to respect the young boy, and as not to infuriate him even more, I did my best to contain my smile and him at same time.
However, my stifled laughter coupled with my poor Arabic was a recipe for disaster. Simply, the situation called for Arabic intervention by one of the camp teachers- and by a teacher that could keep a straight face with this cute, enraged boy. Quickly, I went to take him to Maha, even if it meant disrupting the interview. On my way escorting him to her, dragging his feet and kicking the whole way, he managed to squirm away and run back to get revenge on his friend in a fury. I motioned to Maha then went back to intervene.
When I caught up, I found him sitting very calmly on the lap of one of the Al Jazeera camera crew members. This man had apparently witnessed what had happened, dropped what he was doing, and took it among himself to give the boy a bit of a safety, hugging him while talking the boy down, very calmly, very sweetly. The boy was completely at ease. The crew member gently whispered one last bit of advice to the boy, and then kissed him on the head. The boy walked away with a new glow and rejuvenated spirit.
I approached the crew member. “I like kids too” he said smiling.
