How You Can See, Share and Support Palestinian Children’s Art

Dear Friend,

If we are prevented from hearing the voices of children living through war, how can we hope to protect them or help them heal?

Last month as you know, powerful organizations that defend Israel’s reputation at any cost, bullied the Museum of Children’s Art in Oakland (MOCHA) into canceling an exhibit of children’s art from Gaza.

Dear Friend,

If we are prevented from hearing the voices of children living through war, how can we hope to protect them or help them heal?

Their goal was to silence children who witnessed and experienced the horrors of Israel’s 2008-2009 three -week assault on Gaza. As part of the Middle East Children's Alliance’s psychosocial program in Gaza, Let the Children Play and Heal, the children told their stories with crayons, colored pencils, markers and paper. For many, drawing was the only way they could communicate what happened to them and begin to recover from trauma, overcome their fears, and face the future.

Thanks to you, and thousands of people around the world who protested the censorship of children, the art is now being shown at our new venue in Oakland, and the images are being circulated online worldwide.

Now—and over the next six weeks–I’m asking you to:
See the children’s art. Share the art with others. And support MECA’s project in Gaza that uses art to help children recover from trauma.

In upcoming messages, we’ll introduce you to some of the children who created the pictures.

At the same time, we are asking you to help MECA raise $56,000 over the next six weeks to bring teachers, social workers, art therapists, and art materials to thousands of children at their schools throughout Gaza.

A gift of just $45 will enable one child to attend a month-long series of art, writing or drama classes. But please know that any amount will make a difference.

Today, children in Gaza are living in fear of the next attacks and under an Israeli blockade that deprives them of so many basic things that every child needs and deserves.

Please, see, share, and support the children’s art.

You can carry the children’s voices far beyond the confines of the Gaza Strip.

Many thanks,

Barbara Lubin
MECA Director

P.S. I am leaving for Gaza in just a few days. While I’m gone, MECA staff can wire your contribution, along with hundreds of others, to help support “Let the Children Play & Heal” so the children can continue to cope with their fears and memories by making art.