People from Dumbarton and the Vale are being invited to a performance from children visiting from Palestine next weekend.

The group will be bringing ‘The Sounds of Freedom’ to the Denny Civic Centre in Dumbarton – one of just five dates on their tour across the UK.

The event, on Saturday, August 11, will give each of the children a chance to tell their story about life living at the Aida refugee camp in

Bethlehem in their own words and through their work.
Each child will have a role to play in the event with many of them being musicians, performers, dancers, filmmakers and photographers from the Lajee Youth and Cultural Centre in the camp.

“If you had 13 kids from Glasgow it might not be the same, but these kids are very well behaved.”

Martin is hoping to organise a civic reception in the new council offices to welcome them and is planning to take them to M&D’s theme park the day after their performance.

“My friend contacted me and offered to pay for them all to go to M&D’s on the Sunday and give us £200 for food,” he continued, “and you just think ‘that’s excellent’.”

Martin was previously involved in hosting children from the Lajee Centre two years ago when they hosted children from the dance and football departments.

“This is the second year we have done it,” he explained. “Every second year we bring the kids and last time we went on a tour with them right across Scotland, so I have a really good bond with the kids.

“We bring the kids to let them see they are just normal kids because there’s a lot of stereotypes.”

Volunteers from the West Dunbartonshire Supports the People of Palestine campaign group drummed up support for their visit in Dumbarton and Helensburgh and Lomond.

“We got a lot of people from Helensburgh last time,” Martin added, “and they were saying they didn’t realise all the things that happen, so that was quite good to open their eyes.”

The children are also due to perform in London, Halifax, Glasgow, and Belfast.

To fund the trip, The West Dunbartonshire Supports the People of Palestine campaign group have organised the performance and a fundraising walk to cover the cost of the children’s travel.

So far, the group have managed to raise £1,095, however, their fund-raising page remains open for donations.

The event is free to attend and everyone is welcome. Free tea, coffee and cake will be available.

For more information, search for ‘Lajee to West Dunbartonshire 2018 - The Sounds Of Freedom Tour’ on Facebook.

You can also make a donation towards their trip by visiting their fund-raising page at https://www.gofundme.com/lajee-kids-cultural-tour -2018.