A few years ago, I visited the West Bank; the situation in Hebron especially affected me deeply. Hebron was once world-famous for its glassblowing industry. I visited one of the last glassblowing studios there and saw an object that was strange to me. It looked like a somewhat useless vase, but I was told that for Muslims, it symbolises a tear that puts them in touch with Allah. For the Christian Hebrews, they are Christmas baubles that bring peace. To support these glassblowers, we had 800 of them made for the performance ‘All the good’. Each object contains the ‘breath’ from a useless work of art, blown by a Palestinian man, although we don’t know whether he is Jewish, Muslim, or Christian, atheist or deeply religious. A glassy, fragile setting as the symbol of a horrific situation. 

What is happening in Gaza affects us all deeply.  

As a small gesture, these objects are being offered in support of a project in northern Gaza, where the Theater Day Productions (TDP) / أيام المسرح (Ayyam Al-Masrah) artist collective was operating. TDP aims for drama, theatre, and creative activities to become a regular part of the lives of young people in Palestine so that they can find their individual voices, discover their self-esteem, and develop their creative lives. Their credo: one theatre day a year for everyone in Gaza. TDP seeks to achieve this by working with the formal education system and local organisations working with and for children and young people. Today, their operation is reduced to collecting resources and flour to bake bread after bakeries were targeted by the bombings. 

This action aims to raise funds to support this collective that is unfortunately now unreachable. We have no contact with them at this time. However, this should not stop us from offering aid. At the moment, we do not know if they are all alive and well, but we do know that their building in northern Gaza is still standing. We will tie up the money in an account under the authority of Needcompany’s Chairperson of the Board and Pieter D’Hooghe, Company Manager. We are in close contact with Jan Willems, co-founder of this collective, who is currently in eastern Jerusalem. As soon as a ceasefire is declared, we will transfer the money to Theatre Day Productions to support reconstruction. Should this be impossible, the money will be transferred to a UN-recognised organisation.

We have valued the objects at 50 euro but we would like to invite you to pay what you want / can.

The objects are available in three colours. Unfortunately, they are too heavy to hang in your Christmas tree.

Jan Lauwers

UPDATE: Action for Gaza - Tears from Hebron 

On 27 November, Needcompany launched the ‘Tears from Hebron’ campaign for Gaza. Blown glass objects from the performance ‘All the Good’ were offered for sale. Thanks to your support, this campaign raised a total of €10,000. A heartfelt ‘thank you’ for this! This sum will soon be donated to the artists’ collective Theater Day Productions (TDP - Ayyam Al-Masrah) and will be used for both day-to-day operations and for the reconstruction – once a ceasefire takes place.

The TDP team is currently spread across different locations in southern Gaza, and they are working with children, albeit in primitive conditions. The children are being supported to play games and exchange stories with one another, to remain physically active, to be together but also to make room for joy in play in these very difficult times. Trauma processing has begun, but will take a long time.

In the meantime, ‘The children of Gaza’ campaign has been launched in the Netherlands and Belgium by Stichting JJ Theatre Days – the Dutch foundation that supports TDP. You can find information about the campaign here: 

- A Campaign for Gaza children -

For the children of Gaza there is no way out. Amid the long-term hunger and thirst, the noise of planes and drones and bombs, these children are witness to, and part of, the total breakdown of their society. Their parents, their schools, their friends, and their wider family structures have all disintegrated into the rubble of war. Still… with amazing Gaza resilience, those who are able are coming together to help… wherever possible.

The Gaza theatre makers of Ayyam Al Masrah (Theatre Day Productions) are among those still able to go on with some work. In the overcrowded schools-turned-shelters, the relief camps, or on the bombed-out streets, the drama-teachers/actors hold drama workshops creating a place where sadness, loss, and fear can be shared and expressed. The children have a space where relaxation is allowed, where tears of misery and tears of laughter merge, and where their childhood is allowed to be.

We are the companies, theatres, and artists from across the spectrum of the Dutch and Belgian performing arts. We understand the importance of the work of TDP at this time!!! From February 19, we will begin a multitude of actions to support Palestinian theatre artists to continue their work on the streets and camps of Gaza. We guarantee that every cent donated will go to the artists in Gaza and therefore to the children of Gaza.

Use IBAN NL56 INGB 0007 2281 31 and BIC Code (Swift) INGBNL2A for Stichting JJ Theatre Days, the Netherlands.