We have classes in languages, mathematics, history and

geography, and we learn what is really happening in the

world. In the Youth School I have the possibility to speak

freely about my issues and thoughts. They are heard by

the community and solutions are found. We can ask our

questions and receive honest answers, no matter on

which topic. And we have the possibility to teach the

younger children.

 

 

The most important thing for me in the Youth School is

that I can trust my teachers! When I really trust, I am

strong. I can be sure that the teachers want to support

me, that they tell me the truth and that we can ask all the

questions which are really important for us, also when it

is about love. I like it too that some of our teachers are not

much older than us (we are between 13 and 16, and two

of our teachers are 21). They still know exactly what we

are experiencing and can support us better in some questions.

 

 

 

 

We are creating a music school in which we have individual lessons and also learn to play in a band. I love making

music. You can bring people together and get to know

people easily through music. When I heard the Brazilian

band, Poesia Samba Soul that visited us in Tamera, I

noticed that when they make music they want to show

people that they believe in the possibility of changing the

world. From such musicians I can learn in a very different

way, beyond just technical skills, about the content – the

world, and supporting those people who do not have a

perspective.

 

 

 

 

The idea of the theatre school came up in 2007 after

our pilgrimage in Israel-Palestine. There we saw what

these two peoples are doing: with a high concrete wall

and checkpoints, Israel takes away freedom of movement from the Palestinians in many places, and a lot of

Palestinians are full of anger. We wanted to show people

from the Western world what is really happening, and to

show it in a way that they do not immediately forget it

again or say that it is nonsense, or think that they cannot

change anything anyway.

And this is exactly what we did with the theatre piece,

'The Black Shadow and the Riddle of the Princess'. It is

about a princess who lives in a castle with her parents

and the courtiers. They receive news from the world and

say only, “Leave us in peace!” or “We have more important things to do!” or “What can we do about it?” and

“Anyway this will not happen here.”

Suddenly a black shadow comes and turns everyone

except the princess to stone. Then she meets Cosmico,

the guardian of knowledge, who gives her a riddle to save

the world, and Merlin, a magician's apprentice who

cannot do magic. Together they find out what is really

happening in the world. They rescue children from different situations – a refugee child, a child-soldier, a girl

working in a factory and a girl who protects animals. And

then they solve the riddle together.

We toured through Germany and Switzerland with this

piece, and performed it 12 times there. Later we translated the piece into English and performed and filmed it.

Then we translated it into Portuguese and performed it in

Portugal. But we also had a lot of work before – a writing

workshop with Leila Dregger, and theatre school with

Rico Portilho. Rico taught us to really act, instead of only

learning a piece by heart.