August 11, 2010 - Daily Star - Arts and crafts key in prisoner rehabilitation – group

By Maya Yazigi
Arts and crafts key in prisoner rehabilitation – group

BEIRUT: Arts and crafts can play an important role in supporting the rehabilitation process of prisoners, according to a human-rights organization.

The organization We are all Human hosted an exhibition over the weekend at UNESCO Palace in Beirut. The exhibit showcased some of the works by inmates from Roumieh and Aley prisons.

“We hope that people will give prisoners a second chance,” said lawyer Chadia Abou Zaki, of We are all Human.

According to the human-rights group, that second chance can come in a variety of ways.

“The support required from society is both psychological and financial. The prisoner doesn’t need donations, he has a skill, and uses it to make a living out of it,” Abou Zaki said.

All the items at the exhibition were for sale, from pictures to wooden ships, chains, drawings, Shiite religious souvenirs, jewelry boxes, brass frames, water pipes with wooden ornamentation and decorated wooden tables. The prices range from $10 for a chain up to $340 for one of the wooden ships.

One painting shows a German flag and an inscription: “German Center Lebanon Private Branch,” which is a thank-you note to an organization that has been involved in an effort to see former German convicts interact with Lebanese inmates to encourage rehabilitation.

One of the organization’s future plans is to give Lebanese prisoners the chance to work in Germany, which will begin by teaching them the language.

Members of the Lebanese community in Italy have contacted We are all Human to collaborate with the group on future projects.

Among those who visited the exhibition were Minister of State Mona Ofeish, Interior Ministry envoys, television personality Ghada Eid and lawyer Pierre Daccach, head of We are all Human.

Only prisoners with good behavioral records are given the opportunity to take part in the arts-and-crafts program. Some of them are convicts, while others are awaiting trial. Crimes committed by prisoners include murder and drug-related offenses.

The country’s prisons don’t only hold Lebanese nationals, so the organizers of We are all Human chose a name that would include people of all nationalities, religions and ethnicities.

The We are all Human group has been working for a year now to raise awareness in Lebanon about accepting rehabilitated prisoners. It hopes the exhibition will help remove the stigma that former inmates can face.

“We should give them a second chance, because maybe somebody – we, or one of our relatives – could be in their place,” said Abou Zaki.

Further exhibitions are scheduled throughout the country, beginning in Aley in two weeks time.


For more information on about We are all Human’s activities, please contact Chadia Abou Zaki at (03)684-922.