One of the most heartbreaking and inspiring videos that I’ve seen lately is about Ahmed “Muin” Abu Amsha, a professor at the American International School and the Edward Said Conservatory of Music, who has been displaced almost 30 times and is living in a refugee camp in Gaza. Perhaps you’ve seen a video of him in the news or on social media.
He says that the worst experience is the sound of the drones, which are used by the Israel Defense Force to drop bombs in Gaza. You can tell in the video that they are loud and overwhelming.
So Muin got the idea to use the drones the way one would in music (think bagpipes!) and to build a song around it.
And to teach the song to children.
And to use that as a platform to teach music to the children.
And to teach them to play instruments.
So they are distracted from the terror. So they can heal from the trauma of living in a war zone. So they can forget their hunger for a few moments. And about the war. The children’s group is called Gaza Birds Singing.
His website is Songs from the Rubble. He calls the music ‘the flower inside the fire.’
You can see a longer version of his story here.
On one hand, what he is doing is simple –singing and playing his guitar. But it is also hard to fathom how much courage it must take to sing in the face of the terror he and the other families must be facing.
Music is so powerful.
May we all find the flowers inside our own fires.