Summer with the Youth

Danielle reports:

When we arrived in Austria for the first time, we did not think that we would be able to learn the musical together with the young people and certainly not to stage something like this in Israel. There was such an idea, but it seemed very distant and impossible to us.

We staged the first musical with the adult group for the first time in the summer of a year ago - and even then, we did not know that it was not the end. In the summer of this year, we decided to go on a journey again and this time to include the younger group as well, to teach them and stage the musical together with them in Israel, but this time with a slightly different meaning.

We staged the first musical for the summer tour on June 30th - the show is called "A Musical that Creates Awareness". The intention was to raise awareness of the situation of some of our young people, those who have no status and face every day anew the challenge of not being able to build a future in Israel. Those young people who feel the sense of belonging, who do not know any other country but are not accepted by the State.

The musical was shown by the older group of the Desert Flower - those who were lucky and managed to get the status in Israel and they were the ones who told the story of their younger friends and even read letters on their behalf.

The musical brought up the story of Ruth - an immigrant who finds refuge in a foreign country and succeeds after many difficulties and challenges to find her place, mainly thanks to one person who believed in her and gave her the opportunity to build a future. We wanted to convey this story to the audience, to make them see that maybe with their help those young people could also have the possibility of belonging. People with a significant and high position in Israeli society and the Church were invited to the musical, those who could be a support for our young people when they have to face the various challenges in the country.

In that musical, not only the audience was moved, but also our young people - both the adults and the younger ones. For the adults, this was not the first time to appear with the story on stage, but this time they did it as the voice of their younger friends and in a more personal and a closer way, because they too had been in the same situation in the past and they were the ones who could understand them best. For the younger ones, it was the first time to make their voices to be heard, to bring out the concerns and fears that they had when they were hiding for years, to share their personal stories with the others. For them it was a great success!

The musical took place at the Keren Theater in Jerusalem in collaboration with the Foundation for Tolerance, the Zion Community and the Theater itself. At the beginning and at the end of the musical, letters written by the young people with their personal stories were read.

The feedback we received at the end of the musical was positive and some people were exposed to the situation of the young people for the first time and did not even know about the difficulties that they face.

We decided to continue the journey and put on two more shows at the beginning of August - this time in Notre Dame Center as it was the summer before. On August 4th the musical was staged by a smaller group, those who in the previous musical were only the voice behind the scenes - this time they were on stage and in main roles and told their story but through the characters of Ruth.

The next day the musical was put on by the adult group together with a group of young people from Austria who came to Israel. This time - those who started the journey together in 2019 put the show together on stage in Israel.

In preparation for these two shows, we started a summer camp which took place in the Deir Rafat Monastery - the same summer camp was actually used as a training camp for the shows. The older youth, together with the group which came from Austria trained the younger people, taught them the texts, the songs, built the decorations, etc. Between training and rehearsals there was also time for fun and sharing experiences together.

The three shows were a great success! The effort and investment of the young people and the leading team gave amazing results! The audience was surprised and moved every time - and some even came to watch the show more than once.

We were happy as a team and excited for our young people. We were proud of them for their quality and courage to perform in front of an entire hall and for the first time to share with others the personal and difficult journey they are going through.

After a year of working mainly around the musical and Ruth's story, this year we are taking a break and moving on to another activity with the youth groups and not putting on plays. However, you never know what will happen next...

The adventure of our young people does not end, they will continue their journey with themselves and with the society that surrounds them, and we all hope that they will be able to continue to live here in Israel, in a place where they feel they belong to and where they want to build their lives and their future.

A huge thanks to everyone who took part and contributed to this significant and important journey: to the team of the youth groups, to the various organizations that took part and contributed and most importantly - to the youth group - both the adults and the younger ones - we are proud of you and support you!

The article in Vatican News: HERE.

Pictures: www.lpj.org