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NewsTranscript
00:00 I am Pragya and I bring to you excerpts from the year-ender issue titled "We Bear Witness".
00:06 The issue is dedicated to the people of Gaza and what they went through.
00:10 A feeling of freedom, Muhammad Ayman, as told to Vinita Mokhil of Outlook.
00:17 Muhammad Ayman, co-founder of the Free Gaza Circus, is determined to entertain Gaza's kids.
00:24 My friend Yusuf Khader and I, both born and brought up in Gaza, started the Free Gaza Circus in 2018.
00:32 We also opened a school in North Gaza to train youngsters called the Free Gaza Circus Centre.
00:38 Circus culture is practically non-existent in Gaza.
00:42 Youngsters in Gaza were watching circus performances on social media.
00:47 We knew they were enjoying this, so we thought, why not have a circus group in our homeland?
00:52 We started the Free Gaza Circus to give youngsters and students in Palestine a chance to take up
00:58 something new, to connect better with the community and their teammates, and to experience
01:04 a feeling of liberation through performing in the circus.
01:08 There are many hardships that people, especially unemployed youths, have to suffer in Gaza.
01:14 Everyday life is a struggle for most Gazans.
01:17 We set up the circus because we wanted to give youngsters a chance to feel free.
01:23 It is a place where young people can be unselfconscious and freely express themselves through their bodies.
01:30 Before the war, we were in North Gaza.
01:33 We had 180 students during the school year.
01:36 In the summer break, there were over 2,000 students at the centre.
01:41 They were of all ages, 10-year-olds to teenagers, the whole bunch very excited to learn and perform.
01:47 We were like one big family.
01:50 We shared many laughs even in tough times.
01:53 When the war started, we had to evacuate to the south.
01:56 Our group got scattered.
01:58 We lost track of our students.
02:00 A few of us ended up at Jabalia camp and regrouped.
02:04 We heard that the centre was badly damaged in an Israeli attack.
02:08 But how can we go back there and check?
02:11 Now, we entertain the children and adults at the camp.
02:14 I like it when the children's faces light up.
02:17 When we perform for them, we hope that it takes their minds off the horrible violence that they have seen and suffered.
02:25 Forget the bomb strikes and ruined homes.
02:27 Forget the tears they have shed.
02:30 It distracts them from what is going on and gives them a sense of safety.
02:35 We give them a feeling of freedom for at least a few minutes.
02:39 It may be just a feeling.
02:41 It may not be real.
02:42 But we are happy to entertain them as the war rages on outside.
02:47 We also encourage them to do movement activities along with us.
02:52 This helps to release the fear and negative energy they have been bottling up inside because of the war.
02:59 We gather athletic people as we move from camp to camp.
03:02 So our group is growing these days.
03:05 We have performed at many of the UN Relief and Works Agency schools where displaced Palestinians are living today.
03:12 We will continue to do this as long as we are here.
03:15 The war can't stop us.
03:17 For this and more, read the Year-Ender issue of Outlook.