Twelve Beds

They were orphans, the children of martyrs of the Palestinian revolution in the late sixties. These boys and girls lived and studied in a mixed orphanage in Mount Lebanon in the town of “Souk el Gharb”. It was a challenging existence for these young students. Some of them found salvation in the folk troupe founded by artist Abdallah Haddad in the early seventies. As they mastered cultural traditions, they became icons of the Revolution and toured the world in an era of global solidarity with the Palestinian cause. Decades later, the hundreds of martyrs’ children, now adults, are dispersed in several countries. The long abandoned orphanage still stands bearing the scars of civil war. Memories of this time of geopolitical and personal conflicts are revisited through the memories of former students who share personal narratives of displacement, martyrdom, loss and deprivation, and stir questions related to identity, sacrifice and homeland.