“At first people would ask me, “What is that bamboo stick that you carry around? It was a nay (flute), the instrument I am learning to play.” This is how Ahmad al-Aswad from Burj el-Barajneh camp describes his journey from a music student starting at the age of eight to becoming a music teacher today, as well as being a sixth-year student at the conservatory.
“Music has helped me fill in my free time, and quickly it became a means to relax and escape my reality,” he says. Despite having a degree in mechatronics, he was unable to find work in this field given the difficult conditions placed on Palestinian refugees in the Lebanese labor market. By chance, he started to give private lessons as well as a volunteer teaching in the same program he participated in many years ago. “I hope to become a musical composer one day,” he says.
Today, Ahmad is a member of the Al Kamandjati band. He is one of many students who developed their musical skills in the Beit Atfal Assumoud, part of the music program that is supported by Taawon and includes more than 60 children and youth eager to learn and play and develop their talents.
