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Moffet Elementary Celebrates the Arts, Culture and the Kids With Al-Bustan’s Arab Arts After-School Program


 In Arabic, al-bustan means “the garden.” For those at Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture, the phrase has a symbolic value, reminiscent of their mission to garner awareness and appreciation for Arab arts and language as an organization.

  “‘The garden’ can create and grow. It’s not just culture, but friendship and love and peace,” Hazami Sayed, Executive Director at Al-Bustan, said.

  An example of the many programs Al-Bustan spearheads is the “Arab Arts After-School Program” at John Moffet Elementary School (127 W. Oxford Street), which developed out of Al-Bustan’s nine year partnership with the school.

Al-Bustan Arts at Moffet Elementary

  On May 30, about 30 kids played the rhythms of Arabic music on drums and sang in the garden of John Moffet Elementary School. The performance was in celebration of all of the students’ hard work and learning achieved through the after-school program during the year.

  Three panels hanging from the fence with the phrase “the garden” written in three different languages — Arabic, Spanish and English — served as a backdrop for the performance.Al-Bustan Arts at Moffet Elementary

  With a student body of about 62 percent Latino and 13 percent Arab, former ESL teacher Margaret Laramee originally introduced the school to Al-Bustan in hopes of enriching the kids’ culture.

  “There’s Arabic-speaking kids. They should have a celebration of their whole culture,” Laramee told Spirit News. “It took off after that.”Al-Bustan Arts at Moffet Elementary

  Kids of any background are able to participate in Al-Bustan’s after-school program. In a diverse school and community, the intersection between cultures helps kids breed understanding for others and become well-rounded students and citizens.

 “The school already has an astonishing tenderness toward one another,” Laramee said.

 Drumming was what second-grader Wedad Abughoush enjoyed the most during the after-school program. Abughoush also enjoyed watching her non-Arab classmates learn more about the culture she was born into.

  “I really thought that it was inspiring for them and it was fun for me to learn new things,” she added.Al-Bustan Arts at Moffet Elementary

  Other community-focused organizations, like Astral Artists, Philadelphia Photo Arts Center and Taller Puertorriqueño, had tables at the event for kids to make crafts and do activities. All of these organizations have educated Moffet’s students about arts of varying mediums.

  Despite a preference for photography, drumming or singing, each organization agrees students of a young age can benefit from exposure to art.

  “I think art should be a part of everyday life. It should be considered an essential part of growing up and being with people,” Lorie Waselchuk, project manager for the Philly Block Project at the Philadelphia Photo Arts Center, said.Al-Bustan Arts at Moffet Elementary

  “Everyone sees art. Art is universal,” added Max Dugan, Al-Bustan’s Program Coordinator. “That’s part of the reason why it’s such an effective method to discuss culture.”

  The teachers for the after-school program, however, benefit just as much as the kids when the class analyzes Arabic rhythms, classical songs and even writes their own compositions.

  While introducing the students before the performance, Dugan teared up, saying his love for the kids is so strong he cries everytime he talks about them.Al-Bustan Arts at Moffet Elementary

  Moffet percussion director Hafez Kotain said, while in the classroom, they have taught him just as much about music as he has taught them.

  “It’s all about fun and at the same time their focus is great. They’ve learned so much from the beginning of the year to this day,” he added.

  From a shaded chair to the side of the event, Laramee looked over the community gathered in the garden as they snacked on falafel, listened to Arabic song and basked in the sunlight of a warm, spring afternoon.

  “From a tiny seed something can grow,” she said.

Al-Bustan Arts at Moffet Elementary

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