OUT OF THE MOUTHS OF BABES

THERE is no better time for the voice of the children to be heard. As tears flow over the loss of lives during recent disturbances on the streets of Bahrain ... perhaps GulfWeekly readers should reflect on what a wonderful, warm and welcoming place Bahrain is, writes Anasuya Kesavan.

A picture of hate, mistrust and misery may have been painted by international broadcasters and media correspondents in recent days but our children know differently.

A literary and pictorial 'kid's eye view' of living in Bahrain will shortly go on sale after hundreds of children contributed to a unique record of the kingdom.

In an expression of love and joy of living in the country they call home, expat students of one of the kingdom's leading international school joined their Bahraini classmates to contribute to a book entitled Our Bahrain that will be launched on March 1.

Schoolboy Shane McCarthy, 11, captured the essence of the work, saying: 'We play as if we are all the same, especially on the inside. Growing up altogether and playing together shows us our similarities are greater than our differences. We just focus on having fun.'

Using pictures and snippets and stories of what they enjoy about living on the island, pupils of St Christopher's School - including expatriates who were born here - have brought to life an idea put forward by the school's infant librarian, Penny White.

Our Bahrain is a 60-page book, in English and Arabic, which celebrates the different aspects of living in the kingdom through the creative talents of the school children aged from three to 15, from Nursery to Year 9.

In a massive team effort, planning of which started in the last academic year, the literacy and art department joined with members of staff to co-ordinate and weave the project into the regular curriculum.

While the younger children worked in groups in class to write stories, the older children took the project home to work on as an optional assignment.

Mrs White elaborated saying that it is the first time a literacy work of this scale has been taken up.

She added: 'It covers traffic jams, family, wildlife, friendship, shopping, camels, Formula One ... you name it and it has been included.

'The book celebrates the wonderful artistic and literacy talents that we have in the school as well as the social diversity that is Bahrain.

'There is a lot of pride in Bahrain itself, in the island and in the cultures that live here together. Children like the fact that their friends come from different places.'

A FASCINATING insight into how children feel about living in Bahrain and their views of the country has been captured in a new book entitled Our Bahrain.

It has been put together by pupils, aged from three to 15, who attend St Christopher's School which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.

From its modest beginnings in a villa in 1961, St Christopher's has grown into a large, internationally-renowned, non-profit making British-curriculum school with more than 2,000 students from around 60 nations.

It has two sites, one in Saar and the other in Isa Town and is currently looking for a site to build a new senior school.

The book was the brainchild of infant librarian, Penny White. She said: 'It is a book by children and it clearly reflects that.

'The words are all written by children in their literacy class and the final text has been translated into Arabic by a team of parent volunteers and a private company.

'While some were asked to write about their lives in Bahrain and were given some amount of direction, others constructed stories and poems in little groups in their classes.

'I had boxes of literacy work and we then had to further edit it down. The standard was very high but we were careful that what was chosen was representative of how children speak.'

An art competition across the school encouraged children to draw pictures or submit photographs about their life in Bahrain about any aspect they can think of. The text is therefore illustrated with visuals of everything imaginable to impressionable young minds from Wahooo! water park to camels and carpets.

The final set of art work had more than 200 entries and it took two rounds of judging by senior members of the school faculty in January to pin down the numbers.

Mrs White said: 'We had a huge variety. The pictures were judged on merit and what the image depicted. We wanted to make sure that we had a balanced view in the book.

'There are also some images of how Bahrain has changed and we have pictures demonstrating the old and the new. It is also nice to see how different ages refer to things - a Year 9 says that the Harbour Towers are standing with pride but a Year 2 refers to it as a roller coaster.

'But, my favourite is 'In Bahrain there is no snow so there is no chance to build snowmen'.'

The students have written about the weather, the traffic and the history of Bahrain. The cover is a collage of four pieces of art and all the children whose work has been selected find their name alongside their illustration or text in the book.

The children themselves liked the idea of becoming little authors. 'I love drawing on the computers,' said Jackson McNaught, 10, who is a student of Year 5, from Thailand. 'I liked drawing a dove because it is very Arabic and you see them everywhere.'

Eleven-year-old twin Bahraini sisters Noor and Nada Hammad, dug deep into their family history and wrote a story about their granddad and it will go alongside seven-year old Iman Makhdun's flying carpet.

The twins, who have a Bahraini mother and an Egyptian father, chorused: 'We like writing and are very excited about the book.'

Noor added: 'My story is about my Bahraini granddad, whom I have never met, who was a pearl merchant. I wrote about how he was actually bitten by a shark and survived the attack. He was very old at that time.'

And Nada wrote about the pearl divers of Bahrain.

Year 2 student Freya Evans-Woolf, six, was part of a group with Roseanna Boynton, seven, to collaborate on a story of the Tree of Life. Little Freya said: 'I liked writing because it made me think that I am important too, just like my teacher.'

Year 6 pupil Shane McCarthy, 11, from Ireland, who was born here at the International Hospital, added: 'I did some writing about what Bahrain meant to me and how it is unique because it has so many cultures. I am glad that we had the opportunity. It made me feel like we could do something important.

'We go to Ireland every winter and summer but Bahrain is my home.'

The school is hoping to get a foreword from a member of the royal family or a government minister to go alongside one written by British Ambassador Jamie Bowden.

Five hundred copies of the book will be published and will be available priced BD7 from the school and at Jashanmal book store from March 3.

Mrs White added that the book will also take pride of place in the school library. She said: 'It's nice to see all the names of the children written down in a book that people will be able to buy for years to come. The book has given both the quiet and loud children a space to express themselves.

'I love books and I have always read and I think at the age the children are now I would have loved to go past the bookshop and see a book with my name on it.

'I just love the randomness of what the children have said. One statement reads: 'Traffic jams are caused by cars ... you don't get airplane traffic jams because they leave at different times'.

'I like it because it is a feature of Bahrain and you cannot get away from but it is also a way that a child would see it. There has not been a single negative comment and such a positive experience.

'I don't think this book has only brought value to the children involved, if you want to describe Bahrain to anyone at home this is a very good way to do it.'

Mrs White has been a resident of Bahrain for three years. She used to work with disaffected teenagers who had many social and emotional problems in the UK. She lives with her husband, Christopher, who works in Saudi Arabia and her children Catherine, 11, and Daisy, 8.