A day of therapy in a Juvenile Detention Center - Eau Claire County

Gaining trust to visit an American governmental institution is one of the things that increased my interest of being a student in the USA. A lot of people try to limit our ambitions as Arabs, even worse as females. But you see, a hypothesis will always be in doubt until proved right. I am writing today to give a tiny example of how Intersectionality can be challenged.

I have been in a Psychology of Music class with UWEC professor Lee Anna Rasar for a couple of months. She always offers examples from her job as a music therapist in the Juvenile Detention Center. The center is part of Children's Court Services Department, its mission is to protect children as well as the community, provide accountability to juvenile offenders, and assist families in the preparation of their children for a healthy, responsible adulthood.

By talking to Pro.Lee Anna and sharing opinions about world issues and organizational work, she got to know me better.Later on, she asked me to join her in a music therapy session in the Juvenile. I was thrilled for the offer and suggested making a presentation about United Religions Initiative and the country I came from (Jordan).

After sending my legal papers to prove identity, I was accepted to spend 3 hours with the kids and share with them my knowledge about different issues. And that's exactly what happened, on April 21st 2011 I accompanied my professor to the detention center in Eau Claire. We passed through the procedure of searching stuff that we had, to make sure we didn't have any sharp tools.

When I got there I found out that Pro.Lee Anna had told them a week before that they had a special guest coming from another country and that they would have to guess what country after meeting me, and that finally I would tell them. So when I got there, they kept trying to get me to tell them! I wouldn’t – so they were really intrigued about me. I saw it in how they were observing my accent, moves and facial expressions. At first I introduced myself, told them about my psychology/journalism education, my radio show and the URI organization. Later on I got them to guess the country I came from by asking them the name of a famous Basket Ball player -Michael Jordan-.I asked them to introduce themselves, one of them was very interested in Mythology and Literature this guy looked like he was 12 but he actually is 16 a very sharp and enthusiastic kid, the level of the crime he is prisoned for is pretty high! Another girl looked very shy, she refused to share her interests, that one girl was pregnant and was really proud of being a mom. She wasn't showing yet.Some of the other juveniles believe that she is trying to convince herself that she is proud but they don’t think she is really proud. They think she is scared and is trying to convince herself. 

After the introduction I told them that I had a short movie to show. I brought them a 10 minutes documentary film about United religions Initiative's corporation circles at work in different countries. I chose this film because it reflects a lot of visual harmony and love between different people from different cultures, which could open their eyes to places not only beyond detention centers but overseas too. 

Here's the movie:

They silently watched the movie, we discussed the idea of different religions and some of them shared what they know about Judaism and Islam since they all were Christians. One of them asked me if it's possible to be a part of URI if he had a record. I spontaneously answered with a yes, as long as you have a good idea that would unite people from different religions together and do beneficial activities to their communities -you can be a part of us, especially if you had an idea for a program for juveniles that you want to develop when you're done, it can be wonderful!- He smiled and I couldn't be happier. Later on, I grabbed my guitar and played them a couple of songs that I wrote about dreams of freedom and hope, family and friends. I also sang them the Hamster song which is a song in Arabic by Sheesheh Band. They absolutely love the language and the rhythm. Then my professor asked me to talk about Global Spices which I brought photos of my guests and the studio. One of them was asking me to have him as a guest sometime, I told him: only if I met you a month ago, I already had an American guest! I also brought blank papers with me to write their names in Arabic, it made them laugh as I wrote the name of their guard in Arabic too. One of them asked me to write the name of his girlfriend. I did!

The session ended with Baklawah -Arabic Dessert- they absolutely loved it and offered me Jam and peanut butter sandwich in return. We said farewell as the day with the Juveniles was over.