For the second year in a row, Italian cultural association Dante Alighieri Amman and the non for profit company Sela organized two summer camps for kids to raise awareness towards archaeology and cultural heritage in unprivileged communities. The project has been financially co-supported by the Italian Embassy in Jordan.
During the four week activities, kids have experienced educational workshops designed to “tell stories”, learn simple notions of local “history” through archeology and cultural heritage, and create an historic enhancement performance.
The camps were based in two areas, Hesban and Petra (Wadi Musa), to target underprivileged communities leaving near archaeological sites.
Sela and DA Amman have collaborated with Laboratorio San Gallo (Spinoff of the University of Florence) for the scientific supervision and the Andrews University (Archeological mission of Hesban) for the site of Hesban.
This initiative aimed to encourage social engagement with archaeological sites, to strengthen community interest around continuity of the past into the present and oral traditions discovering the importance of the archaeological patrimony.
The activities of the two camps included visits to the sites, restoring and painting pottery, mosaic making and more. Every activity was paired with historical information about each site. Then, kids have prepared costumes and scenic materials used in the final activity. As a matter of fact, the outcome of this fascinating experience was an historical enacting that kids acted in the archeological areas, performing scenes of everyday life: the market, the making of bread, soldiers’ parade and more. Italian actress, Tiziana D’Angelo, facilitated the preparation of the script and the artistic performance.
Several participants from each camp have been selected to replicate the historic performance in Amman in early October 2019 at opening of the Heritage Days in Jordan which the Ministry of Tourism will organize with the European Union and Eunic.
