Ship Builders Fear for Survival of Their Art

Video by produced during an IWPR workshop for young Syrian journalists held in Beirut, October 2009.

Friday, 19 March, 2010

IWPR

Ship Builders Fear for Survival of Their Art

Video by produced during an IWPR workshop for young Syrian journalists held in Beirut, October 2009.

For thousands of years, the skills of shipbuilding have been passed down from father to son on the Syrian island of Arwad in the Mediterranean. Now, the few remaining master craftsmen it are worried they might have to give it up because demand for the ships is falling.

Mohamad Bahlaoan’s family have been masters of the craft for generations. He is an expert in building Phoenician ships but he worries now that he will not be able to pass it down to his children, as he explains in this IWPR video.

This multimedia piece was produced during an IWPR workshop for young Syrian journalists held in Beirut, October 2009.

Trainer: Don Duncan
Editor: Raed Rafei
Project manager: Susanne Fischer

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