By Mona Soliman
Martin Kamel, is a young man in his early twenties who grew up in Minya. He, as many youth living in Upper Egypt, started to take family responsibilities at an early age. He was forced by his father to drop out of school at an early age and start earning his own bread and butter. “My father didn't realize that he deprived me from living my age,” Martin explains.
The son grew up feeling oppressed, and found himself impulsively oppressing his sisters and treating them violently. Being females, he started to think of them as less worthy and admits to have been aggressive with them.
Martin was introduced to CARE’s interactive theatre, provided through Wesal project, where he started to participate in trainings around combatting violence against women, equity and women rights. Through acting, he started to realize that he was mistreating his sisters, which made him feel regretful and made him reconsider his behavior. The play mirrored his harsh behavior and he saw with clarity what negative impact he had over his sisters, instead of giving them comfort and safety.
“I discovered that I was oppressing my sister,” he admits. “When I played the role of the father who is violent against his daughter in one of the scenes of the interactive theatre implemented by CARE, this is when I realized that I must change,” he clarifies.
Martin was happy to see himself change, he also realized that he gained more self-confidence after he confessed his wrong actions. Now that he has changed, he learned to express himself freely and confess his mistakes without hesitation.
“My colleagues, trainers and supervisors in the community theatre have contributed to my change,” he added. He is proud of the change in his personality and confidently talks with other women in the community about his experience.
The young man not only started to listen to his sisters, but also has encouraged his mother to join the life experiences theatre led by Wesal. He explains that the theatre allowed him to gain the trust and love of his family.
He dreams to see the interactive theatre providing trainings to a larger audience of young men and women to empower youth to talk and share their experiences. Martin has changed forever and so can hundreds of youths, if only they understand how violence and oppression can result in negative consequences on themselves and their beloved ones, not to mention, the whole community.
Read more about CARE's work in Egypt.