Announcing Arts Council Funding!
We are so excited to announce that Makani has been awarded Arts Council funding for our refugee-led theatre project ‘The Women’s Strike: A Refugee Lysistrata’.
“The most important thing is that I’m still dreaming”.
Jouhayna was one of ten refugee women who took part in our project ‘Film For Freedom’. Watch her film, a story of her own transformation, here.
Meet the Makers: “My name is ‘dreams’”
“My name is Ahlam, it means “dreams”. For me Makani represents a dream being woven together, like the crochet threads I work with, building a new home, a new life.” Our artisan Ahlam shares her story of divorce, displacement and making dreams come true.
“Breaking the chains of shame by amplifying my voice”
One young woman’s uplifting story of losing her home and education, of early marriage and motherhood, and then turning her life around.
“I started to see life in colour after it went dark”.
Watch ‘Mira’s Eyes’, a beautiful film by Mona Fattali as part of our project ‘Film For Freedom’. Mona’s film explores how work has helped her find strength, despite all that she has suffered.
“The link between past and present” - Block-print training with Studio Kunukku.
With Choose Love’s support, we have collaborated with Studio Kunukku to teach ten Syrian refugee women living in Beirut the craft of block-printing, helping to preserve this traditional under threat and providing employment for vulnerable women.
“No one has ever asked us what WE dream of”
Through The Dream Project, women like Worrod are being supported to fulfil the career dreams they have been denied due to war and gender oppression.
Announcing National Lottery Funding!
We are so excited to announce that we have received funding from the National Lottery Community Fund for our project ‘The Women’s Strike: A Refugee Lysistrata’.
“I can’t even describe the happiness in my kids’ eyes when they saw their school supplies arrive”
The incredible generosity of Makani’s supporters meant that 116 Syrian refugee children living in Lebanon’s camps, whose parents couldn’t afford basic school supplies, could go to school.
Khouloud, a Syrian Love Story.
Khouloud works with Oshana, which provides craft therapy, community, and financial independence for Syrian and Palestinian refugee women, through the creation and sale of handcrafts.
Giving Refugee Women the Stage
Displaced women from all over the world shared a stage with award-winning actor Sinead Cusack and Oscar-nominated filmmaker Waad alKhateab, in ‘Film for Freedom’, an evening of refugee women’s film, theatre and conversation in the stunning surroundings of west London’s Leighton House.
“They did not invite us to empower us, they knew we are powerful”
Reflections on a week of theatre workshops, by Niveen.