We Paint! Darfur Refugee Center; Tel Aviv, Israel

Site: Darfur Refugee Shelter, South Tel Aviv
Time: 2:30-4:30 pm
Contributors: Ali Abakar Ishkary, Babiker S., Bhareldin Nueueu, Babiker Mohammad Osman, Mohamed Abdula Adam, Noureldin Adam Haruun, Abad Abdulskuhuor, Adam Ali, Atba, Adam Muhammad, Arbab Gumma, Muhamed Bakara Salle, Ali Abdula Ali, Adam Ahmed Adam, Yhaya Edmas Hammid, Sailk Uhaya Knaff, Colombo, Hamed, Maya Tobias, Rachel Ellison


Today's We Paint was much different than any other before. Maya works with a group of people who teach English to the refugees who have escaped the dangers of life in Sudan, and who have usually spent some time detained in a prison before reaching Tel Aviv. A substantial number of men live in this apartment-sized cluster of rooms. Without citizenship and waiting for worker's permits, they sit around most of the day playing cards and speaking with journalists who meander in and out, until they can change their individual situations. The group at this shelter seem to care for one another as a pack of brothers. They support one another and make eachother laugh in spite of their distressing situation.

We set up the canvas in the main room, whose perimeter is lined with about 30-40 mattresses where residents sleep at night and lounge in the daytime. Before we finished setting up, the first artist was ready to paint. Noureldin Adam Haruun was the guinea pig who continued to direct the subsequent participants in a narrative work. Midway through we stopped for an explanation of the story. The men explained that the painting told the story of how these men reached Israel; leaving their burning villages, escaping Egyptian prisons and gunshots, and stories beyond my imagination. When the canvas seemed to be full, the men asked me to paint, so I added the first splash of color-- a ribbon of blue and purple. While the day began using only a cool color palette, the reds and yellows were introduced later. This and the flipping of the canvas at different points were new elements.
While more refugees will keep entering already crowded shelters like this one, it is hard to know what to do first to help these people, and there is a lot to be done. Considering their plight, the group seems like a motivated group, willing to work hard to create a new life for themselves.
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