PROCESS:
Each year young people from across the globe dream of participating in our annual Breaking Walls Boot Camp. The first step is receiving an invitation to be an artist, ambassador or associate, and then signing a Letter of Commitment. That is the easy part because the next steps are getting Passports and Visas for many of our young participants. Those young people blessed to possess an United States or Euro Zone Passport travel easily. Our young Palestinian and South African and recent immigrant to the United States all struggle to gain access to these precious items.
PALESTINE –
Each year young men travel to Breaking Walls and each year gaining access to a Visa is extremely difficult and time consuming.
In 2015 they were denied Spanish Visas. Breaking Walls director/found Fran Tarr called the Spanish Consulate in Tel Aviv and was refused answers to her question why were they denied. With three left before the Palestinians flight to Barcelona Fran connected with the Spanish Consulate in Manhattan. The Cultural Attache there went to bat for these three Palestinian young men. He connected with the Visa Department in tel Aviv and learned that if Breaking Walls sent a letter assuring that the Palestinians would indeed return to Palestine the young men would be granted Visas.
In 2016 as Breaking Walls prepared for Detroit, the two Palestinian young men were denied access to Jerusalem by the Israeli military. NOTE: All access to Jerusalem was cut-off at that time. The U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem urged Mohammad and Hamza to travel to Amman, Jordan and apply for U.S Visas there. They spent two weeks in Amman going through the application process and interviews – arriving three days late to the Detroit Boot Camp. But they were there.
In 2017 as our Warsaw Boot Camp drew close two of the three young Palestinian men wishing to join us were denied Visas because their jobs as waiters made it appear they may not return to Palestine.
The 2018 Santiago Chilean Visas are currently a Work-in-Progress.
SOUTH AFRICA –
Passports and Visas are difficult for our South African youth. The greatest obstacle is that many of our SA participants are under 18 years of age and need special passports. These require birth certificates and letters of agreement from both birth parents. Many of these young people do not have birth certificate and/or two living parents. Even though Breaking Walls writes the letter for the living parent there are times when the birth fatter refuses to sign. There have been incidents when a representative for Breaking Walls has had to track a father down – in a car or at a bar – to get the required signature.
In 2017 as we prepared for Warsaw we learned that all Visa applicants needed to be interviewed at the Polish Embassy in Pretoria. No exceptions. Breaking Walls had to fly the entire South African delegation of six individuals to Johannesburg, rent a car and drive to Pretoria to be interviewed and be awarded their Visas. This was in advance of the day they all flew to Johannesburg to change planes for their flight to Warsaw.
Currently, we are applying for Chilean Visas.
UNITED STATES –
In 2017 Breaking Walls proudly partnered with the NYCDOE Program Pathways to Graduation through which students pursue their GED. Our collaboration is with the ESL students who are all recent immigrants to the U.S. With the travel ban looming over them two young people (Originally from Brazil and Burkina Faso) joined our Brooklyn delegation. Our director/founder thoroughly researched the options for these young people should they encounter any resistance as they re-entered the U.S. with their birth country Passports and U.S. Green Cards. Happily that component is in place for our 2018 return from Santiago with these young man and woman.
