Discovery, storytelling, performance! These are just a few of the elements that characterizDed the joyful and eclectic event which closed the path that the students of the Istituto Salesiano “Manfredini” Este in Padua did together with Fratelli dell’Uomo in the context of the Yard project. The event took place in April and it followed a series of workshops held from January. Students had the chance to focus on the topic of discrimination and, in particular, on how discrimination based on ethnic background might have an impact on their daily lives and, especially, on their interactions and relations. After identifying and defining the issue, students began to work together to explore new and creative way to challenge those feelings which are often linked to discrimination such as fear, skepticism or diffidence. They did that relying on two main tools which are storytelling and performance which characterized both the training path and the final event. Learning how to tell their story and experiencing active listening are just some of the skills that students had the chance to enhance and that eventually lead them to get out of their comfort zone to perform their experience in front of a varied audience.
At the end of April, after months of preparations, students brought on stage an actor that had proven to be a way to get to know other people’s traditions, to get a glimpse of other people’s daily lives, to be welcomed in someone else’s home: food. After accurately assigning a role to everyone who was involved in the project, students got busy preparing the food, setting up the room, rehearsing their lines. The excitement was tangible when they finally had the chance to bring to their audience the star of the night, a set of delicious dishes belonging to the tradition of different countries while other students walked around the room, entertaining their audience with anecdotes about the dishes and guiding them into a journey around the world. The enthusiasm of this interactive performance was contagious and the parents, the teachers, the members of the associations and other students who were part of the audience were thrilled to getting to know and, obviously, to taste dishes which were not familiar to them.
This event has been a great way to conclude, at least for now, the experience that that these students had the chance to do throughout this year, during which they have been able to discover the power of narrating and performing a story; furthermore they have developed the skills to understand that diffidence and lack of dialogue are often at the basis of many forms of discrimination. Challenging fear and distrust is a necessary step to take to keep breaking down barriers and building bridges among each other and these students showed us how fun, exciting yet essential this journey can be.
