Awladna

Cairo, Egypt – Dozens of children on stage, performing with Tunisian artist Lutfy Bushnaq in front of their parents. What does all those young girls and boys have in common? They are all having a mild disability. Hadeel Maged is a 25-year-old almost blind girl. She was on stage with the famous Tunisian artist. “They sent me some songs to choose from so I can perform one with Mr. Bushnaq, I memorized them all”, she said, with so much pride in her eyes.

This is Awladna International Art Forum for the Gifted. A moment for children with disabilities to perform and enrich their artistic talents, amidst interaction between a diversity of children of different abilities and cultures.

The live performance for children with disabilities and their families took place during the second edition of the forum, in May. The artist gladly accepted the invitation and, as a thoughtful tribute, prepared a list of the most popular songs of the legendary late artist Sayed Mekkawi, one of Egypt’s most prominent blind singers. In return, Hadeel made a surprise for Bushnaq by performing some of his most difficult songs live on stage with her beautiful voice.

After receiving an honoring trophy for his contribution, Bushnaq expressed his deep appreciation of the experience “What I did was a simple act of humanity. I shouldn’t be thanked, I am so honored”.

The proud mother

Close to the stage, one woman is filming each and every second of the performance on her phone. It’s Hadeel’s mother, Manal. With her voice shaken by the emotion, she explains the long road to explore her daughter’s singing talent. It was not easy:“Hadeel wanted to join the faculty of music education, but a professor discouraged her. He said it would be challenging because of her visual impairment and the weakness in her legs”.

ٍSeeing how eager her daughter was to learn about singing, Manal decided to get Hadeel enrolled in the open education section in the same faculty, as well as giving her private singing classes in the Academy of Arts in Cairo. The approach which provided the young talented Hadeel with a more ‘tailored’ learning opportunity.

“She joined last year’s forum as well and the Alexandria Songs Festival. She enjoyed what I call art inclusiveness with other non-disabled singers, and I am forever grateful for Mrs. Sohair Abdelkader who founded this forum and gave Hadeel the opportunity to show her talent to the world”, added Manal.

About Awladna

Awladna International Art Forum took its first round in March 2017 under Presidential auspices, led by the Ministry of Youth and Sports represented in the Egyptian Sports Union for Mental Disabilities.

Thanks to the tireless efforts of the founder of the Forum Mrs. Sohair Abelkader, the support of the European Union (EU), UNICEF Egypt and other sponsors, a venue was provided for children with disabilities to perform and enrich their artistic talents, amidst interaction between a diversity of children of different abilities and cultures.

Through presenting various forms of arts involving children with disabilities, the Forum promotes inclusiveness of those children and empowers them and their families.

This year, the Forum had a wider global reach with the participation of 180 invitees from 30 different countries and 3000 invitees from 10 governorates in Egypt.

Over the 7 days of the Forum, the children and their families were engaged in different activities that included musical and singing performances, art exhibitions, awareness workshops and a marathon.

Mrs. Abdel Kader, who launched this initiative, has a dream: “an institute that provides housing and care for children with disabilities who lost their parents. Nobody cares for those children like their parents do and I always ask myself: who would be there for them if their parents are gone? If I ever have the chance to build this dream house, I am going to move in and take care of the children myself”.

Inclusive education

While Awladna Forum provides an inclusive art opportunity for children with disabilities, The EU, UNICEF and the Ministry of Education (MoE) collaborate to promote the concept of inclusive education in primary public schools through the programme “Expanding Access to Education and Protection for at Risk Children in Egypt”.

In 2017, 55 schools in Alexandria, Sohag, Gharbia and Matrouh governorates have been equipped to accommodate all learning styles and provide quality education for all children. This includes identification of students with learning disabilities using a variety of tools, improving the knowledge and skills of teachers, providing appropriate learning aids and meeting accessibility standards.

In an inclusive school, there is an emphasis on the full participation of children with different disabilities in all activities along with other students respecting their social and educational needs.

Students with disabilities are educated in the regular classes, and they occasionally leave the classroom to attend smaller, more intensive instructional sessions to receive specific services according to their individual education plan.