Broadway in South Africa 2010: Day 13 - Love, Sharing and Hope

Blog series chronicling the experience of 'Broadway in South Africa' during their 2010 trip to South Africa.

Day 13 - Love, Sharing and Hope

Saturday, January 23, 2010

For the past four days we have been teaching our Cape Town Camp at a beautiful facility called the JL Zwane Center. It is a combined church and community center that has a gorgeous outdoor courtyard, a small library filled with donated children's books, several classrooms, and a large auditorium space with a raised stage. It has been such a pleasure teaching here and it is very obvious how much the kids value this space; after eating their Nando's lunch they are very careful to clean up after themselves, painstaking wiping up the crumbs and helping to clear any left over mess into the garbage. The center has become a sanctuary in the middle of the Gugulethu township and many of them visit JL Zwane every single day. For me as an outsider, one of the most striking characteristics of this place is the beautiful artwork that fills the walls. Abstract paintings in shades of yellow, orange, and blue combine with inspirational quotes to serve as visual reminders of Hope for the children who maintain this space as their second home. Seeing these quotes everyday is an extremely motivational tool and I thought that since they are so beautifully worded and so poignantly appropriate to their conditions I would share a few of them here on our blog.

"We must learn to Invite, Embrace, Include, and Engage the Unwanted"

"Together we can Be, and Do what must be Done"

"Never Give Up"

"The Light shines in the Darkness, but the Darkness has not understood it"

"Lord I Believe, help my Unbelief"

"Love is greater than Time and Place and even greater than Death"

"Love cares more for Others than for Self"

"The Circle is incomplete with both ends reaching out yearning for completion. A task that cannot be realized in this world but only in the world to come"

"A covenant between God and Humanity, Men and Women, Life and Death, Truth and Illusion"

"I was hungry and you fed me. I was thirsty and you gave me a drink. I was homeless and you gave me a room. I was cold and you gave me clothes. I was sick and you stopped to visit. I was in prison and you came to me." (Matthew 25: 35-36)

"Live simply. Love extravagantly"

"Called to Serve and make a meaningful Difference"

"The ruin of a Nation begins in the homes of its People"

"He who does not cultivate his field will die of hunger"

"He who upsets a thing should know how to rearrange it"

"He who conceals his disease cannot expect to be cured"

"Living Positive is Being Positive"

"I shall never abandon you. Neither will I leave your side"

"Knowledge is better than riches"

"Love, Sharing, and Hope"

"For today and its blessings we owe the world an attitude of gratitude"

Finally, I will wrap up this entry with a quote we have introduced to the kids and have been working on all week. Everyday before and after classes we gather everyone together in a big circle. We commence a physical activity to engage our bodies (group stretches, acting games, etc) followed by a focus activity like unison singing (engaging everyone and getting the entire group operating on the same page.) Finally we discuss an Objective to think about and work on for the day. The first day's objective was SELF-DISCOVERY. The next was SELF-CONFIDENCE. Finally we combined the two and focused on TEAMWORK. We explained the components of TEAMWORK were communication, respect, trust, and commitment. Here is the quote we shared with them that sums up our hope for their individual journey through the BSA experience:

"With realization of one's own potential and self-confidence in one's own ability, one can build a better world" Dalai Lama

-Christopher

Broadway in South Africa is a cooperative nonprofit venture created by professional working actors, dancers, signers, directors, musicians and producers from New York City - all brought together by the desire to affect change in the world through art, and learn from the potential of bridging two different cultures artistically.

For more information on Broadway in South Africa, please click here.

 

 

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