Hakaya - The scent of my homeland

March 2008...when I first walked in to albalad theatre I found a group of very nice loving parents to a small beautiful baby named Hakaya

I was introduced to this great child, and in like an hour I was totally in love.

a couple of days after i was there...in the center of this parade of storytellers, artists, performers, organizers and volunteers. we spent one of the most amazing weeks of my life...this year...late February 2009 and first of march i was there...i was there in the process of delivering this baby to life... Amazing experience that I felt like sharing !

There was Praline the sweetest Lebanese French lady that happens to be one of my idols and the people I look up to theatrically , her passion, and humanity is just overwhelming and soothing and made an impact on my Ammanie hectic daily life. And then comes Denise, with her motherly love and beautiful spirit ,she carries the scent of our homeland, our Palestine in her outfits, words, laughter and stories . Then you come across an ever young Egyptian lady, Arfa , one of the most unique humorous people you might ever meet, when she tells her stories, we laugh, and then again we stop and stare in how talented and special this woman is. Those are only 3 ladies of so many other participating artists. But those are the dearest to my heart. And of course, you wouldn’t imagine how magical it was meeting the new comers to the festival, new faces…This year, one of my favorite friends Toleen Touq decided to step in and work as the project coordinator, adds more fun and love to the whole experience, Toleen did an amazing job…she was very inspiring and motivated.*Thumbs up for Toleen* Another unique character was Dina…our beautiful diva. she is one of the reasons that kept us all going…her smile and playful yet efficient character was outstanding. Raed, what can I possibly say about Raed ? this man I hold so much respect to, hes the manager of Albalad Theatre, very special man that sometime I feel he's like a god-father to us. And Serene, an outstanding lady, Mais was also a new face to me, very nice person. Now comes Suad, what a sweetheart ! a hardworking dedicated lady, with huge amounts of love to the theatre and to Hakaya. I hope I didn’t forget anybody ! you all were fantastic.

Oh! A couple of more faces were also very interesting and left an impact in our hearts J George & Raneen ,a very cute Palestinian couple…young spirits and very sweet people, very talented and touching. I found myself very attracted to them, probably cause they also had the scent of my homeland…those people I will never forget, I just hold so much respect to them…

Then comes the energetic Lebanese Fares & Zaina…those guys are just fantastic, we became friends in no time…hopefully we'll see them again

Hmmmm…who else ?

I wish I can write about each and every person I met in this festival, they are too many and I can keep on writing for ages about them…

Now back to the festival,

The Launch of the Hakaya Festival (9 -15 April)

On 9 April, the Al Balad theatre, under the patronage of his Excellency Mayor of Amman Engineer Omar Al Ma'ani, will inaugurate the second edition of the Hakaya festival organized this year as part of the Amman Municipality Centennial Celebrations. The festival is organized in Amman on an annual basis since 2008 in partnership with the Amman municipality, the Arab Education Forum, the Arab Theatre Training Centre, the Swedish Drama Institute and the French Cultural Centre in Amman.

The festival is part of an Arab initiative with a Mediterranean dimension- HAKAYA- whose mission is to reclaim the centrality of storytelling in learning, art and life. Within this same momentum organizations like the Tamer Institution for Community Education in Palestine will organize its annual reading and storytelling week between April 1^st and April 7^th, and Al Jana in Lebanon will organize their Janana reading week between April 12^th and April 19^th.

The festival will open with an artistic performance entitled A Letter to…by El-Funoun Palestinian dance group that consists of eight tableaux inspired by the drawings of Palestinian Caricaturist Naji Al Ali, in addition to Palestinian folkloric dance segments.

The festival also hosts renowned Lebanese director Rojer Assaf, whose name has been synonymous with Lebanese Theatre for the past 30 years. His play Fatima's Gate showcases the atrocious war waged against Lebanon in 2006, and is now considered a visual and oral record that documents the victims’ stories, and the destruction that befell Lebanon during that period.

The performances during the seven day event will be held at different cultural venues and governorates around the Kingdom.

The festival's program also includes storytelling performances by Denise Assad and Raneen Basharat from Palestine; Sayed Ragab and Arefa Abd Al Rasoul from Egypt; Al Madinah Theatre Group from Morocco; Lara Naser from Jordan; and Praline Gay-Para from France.

In addition to the above activities there will be two workshops, the first one facilitated by Denise Assad to encourage parents to connect with their children through storytelling, and the second one by Praline Gay-Para to develop storytelling skills amongst young budding storytellers from Palestine, Jordan, Syria, and Egypt.

Writer and artist Noora Ameen, from Egypt will present her Alexandria based program “Our Stories” to Jordanians who wish to share their personal and collective stories at Gallery Adraj.

There will also be two movie screenings: Fernando Meirelles's Cidade De Deus (City of God) and Sandra Madi's Perforated Memory.

A round table discussion that celebrates oral societies will bring together storytelling and theatre artists, educators, and researchers in the field. Ammani Stories is another activity that will bring together Jordanian architects in an innovative discussion on the stories behind the architectural structure of a city like Amman. There will also be a meeting about training in the performing arts in Palestine.

A book fair organized by Azkadunya will offer people an array of books about storytelling and biographies, as well as the opportunity to buy and sign the recent bilingual book If I Had the Choice (Arabic/English) by Dr. Faihaa AbdulHadi. Al Hadi's book chronicles Palestinian women’s of daily life during years 2002 to 2003 of the second Intifada.

A Pebble by the Sea, the chronicle of the first year in the life of HAKAYA project narrated by Munir Fasheh and others will be available for sale and signing, along with the matching film, on the opening day.

The vision of HAKAYA maintains that writing, reading, and literacy are tools that help develop the intrinsic world within a person’s mind and imagination. Writing, reading, and literacy constitute the fabric that weaves the social and cultural network between people. Through the Hakaya festival, writing, reading and literacy will not only be viewed as tools that connect the mind with the text but also tools that connect the mind with life itself.

The Hakaya Festival partners in 2009 are the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the Royal Film Commission, Ruwwad Association, Gallery Adraj, and The Dukes' Diwan.

Hmmmm…this post is really long ! I'll shut up now ! and will come back with photo-blogging VERY soon

XoXo