On Sunday 1st September, my husband Ed and I are doing a relay triathlon (those of you who have known us since university will know how unlikely that sounds and will take pity on his Strava stats). I shall be swimming, Ed will be cycling and running.
We are raising money for Seenaryo, an award-winning arts and education nonprofit that was founded by my sister Victoria.
Seenaryo uses theatre and play to support people to heal, lead and learn. It works across the Arab region
Participatory theatre has a hugely positive effect on an individual's sense of agency. In the context of more than a decade of deep crisis across the Arab region, so many individuals' sense of agency has been eroded. I think of Tima, an Ethiopian immigrant mother in Seenaryo's film TILKA, blocked for years from seeing her young son because of a system in Lebanon that gives all parental rights to the father.
I think of the 8-year-old , Walid, who I followed for a week in 2016 while filming one Seenaryo "showbuild". He began the week with his eyes glued to the ground, the trauma of more than a year of daily indiscriminate bomb attacks and deaths etched into his face. He finished the week with his head up, looking proudly at us, his audience, as he and a group of other children took control of their narratives in a play of their own making.
Let's give more people that experience.