Syrian, Turkish children on stage together

ISTANBUL

A group of Syrian and Turkish children have taken the stage to perform a theater play whose scripts they have written together.

As part of a project run by the Istanbul-based association “Mavi Kalem” (Blue Pen in English), a group of children living in the Fener and Balat neighborhoods in the Fatih district have built their own stage props and designed their own costumes during the workshops that last one year.

The children’s play was then displayed on the stage of the non-profit institution of Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV) in the Beyoğlu district on Nov. 20, marking United Nations Universal Children’s Day.

The song titled “Give Us Our Childhood Back,” which is the favorite song of Syrian children, was vocalized and performed in Arabic during the theater play.

During the theater play named “A Journey in Wonderland,” which was previously staged at Kadir Has University and the Zeytinburnu Public Education Center, the children treasured up valuable experiences and memories encouraging their creativity and self-confidence, Mavi Kalem said.

The association implements a number of projects with Syrian and non-Syrian refugee children living in the Fatih district.

The association’s general director, Filiz Ayla, previously told Hürriyet Daily News that the association came to being during the Marmara earthquake in 1999.

“We were a group of volunteers working in harmony and we decided to continue working, establishing Mavi Kalem in 2000 with three major target groups: Children, women and families affected by disasters and emergencies,” she said.