The new breaking walls artists from the three divergent communities here in Cape Town send you their love and respect. We started just 12 short hours ago, and already deep, rich bonding is taking place.
The writing triggers this morning were “In My Neighborhood” and “A Day Without Hate”. These led to extraordinarily passionate writing. As Zennie for Phillippi Township finished sharing her “In My Neighborhood” piece, Jesse from the German International School, with total respect, said, “Zennie is so brave to stand and read first, and to be so honest about her life.”
As the new artists shared their “A Day Without Hate” writings, the phrases “Success is the best weapon against war” and “On a day without hate we will all welcome each other with open hands” resonated with each of our 20 of these amazing young men and women.
Mohammad, our Associate from Bethlehem, Palestine, and our Guest Director, Martha from Berlin feel more like U.N. Good Will Ambassadors every moment.
Today we started our rehearsal process. I must admit that choosing Martha (from Berlin) as our Guest Director is a stroke of genius. With our amazing Mohammad as my right hand man making every minute so much more successful what a lucky director/founder I am.I wish you would have seen Mohammad this morning leading the group warm-up — what growth and presence this young man has made on our behalf.
Each new artist is working so hard to ensure that tomorrow’s performance makes a powerful impact on their audience. I may or may not have mentioned that we are including our first Special Needs artist in Cape Town. In addition to guiding three struggling/clashing groups of young men and women to success, we are embracing Liam. I mean that from the bottom of my heart — everyone has accepted and respected and watched for our dear Liam. His mom emailed us that she wanted to visit on Friday for rehearsal (Liam has never been away from home before this), and she did not arrive because she said she trusted breaking walls to keep him safe in every way after Liam called home with such happiness in his voice.
Wish all these bright, brave artists good luck on Saturday, please!