IN STEREO

In our scouts, they have sections: the first section is the one who rules, who’ll tell you what to do – you should be moving this way and things like that. And there is the section who carry the flags. And there are the people who play the big instruments, the musicians who play the trumpet and things like that. Then the people who only play drums. And they have a leader who tells them, “OK, start this song, start that song.” Each section plays its own songs – they’re not connected. Sometimes they do connected songs, but they don’t play together. And the last one is the young people, who just walk. They’re new in the scouts, so [they walk behind] until they’re a specific age, then they start either playing the drums or the big instruments. They start training from August for Christmas, trying new songs, practicing the old ones.

Every Saturday, there’s always scouts, [so] they practice on Saturdays. But before Christmas, like in November or in October, they practice twice a week. They choose a day when it’s possible for everybody to be there. Normally, the people who play the big instruments come on Fridays. You know, here in Beit Sahour, there isn’t much noise on Fridays – everything’s kind of closed. [So] they do it on Fridays: it’s calm, and they can hear the music. I used to play the drums, then I trained people. Now, if I go, I go for fun, and just to see my friends. If you want to be in the scouts, you have to participate in every event they do. Because you have to show them that you belong to them, that you’re not just going there to take advantage of them. So I help the young people to line up [and] walk, or I help with leading. – Jina