‘In My Pocket’ workshop at Carmel School
The students reflected on their artwork, putting their thoughts on paper to explain the motivation behind their creations and went on to share their reflections with their teachers and peers.
THE year 5 cohort at Carmel School in Perth has been learning about child refugees and those displaced from overseas.
Supporting this, and the idea of being an upstander rather than a bystander, the students received a visit from Jill and Eli Rabinowitz and Tamar Pachter, presenting the “In My Pocket” workshop.
The incursion is a world-first for the “In My Pocket” project.
Jill read the book In My Pocket to students. Written by Dorrith Oppenheim Sim, it is set in 1939, and tells the author’s story of how she escaped Germany to begin a new life in another country.
“I was seven-and-a-half when my visa was stamped on July 26, 1939,” Oppenheim Sim wrote in an excerpt from the book.
“There were almost 10,000 children like me, who came to the United Kingdom before World War II began. Some of us were babies; most of us were Jewish. We were each given a place on a Kindertransport out of Nazi Europe. After the war, some of us were reunited with our families.
“Sadly, many of us were not, and we either stayed in our new countries, where we grew up, or went to live in different countries, all over the world.”
After hearing the story the children expressed their creativity by painting sentimental items onto their own pockets, inspired by the book.
The students reflected on their artwork, putting their thoughts on paper to explain the motivation behind their creations and went on to share their reflections with their teachers and peers.
The WE ARE HERE! Foundation’s “In My Pocket” project recently announced 11 new partners across Sydney, Perth and Mandurah. Sydney schools Moriah College, Masada College, Mount Sinai College and Emanuel School are all involved.
The “In My Pocket” project is supported and funded by the German embassy in Canberra.
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