WARn path
I went to see the Treehouse Theater perform last Friday night. The performers are refugee children new to Australia who get involved in the program as a form of recovery support and to tell their stories.
To think that most of these astounding kids (aged between ten and seventeen) have only learnt English for a year or so and are up there on stage for nearly two hours humourous, poignant and brave was so moving. Two of the performers, one boy, and later a girl, also sang solos; there, on stage, their voices belting out the most moving songs in Arabic. They had so much song in their voices.
Treehouse Theatre performers
Seeing these performers create such a special night on stage so close to the war torn lives they’ve run from challenges the notion of not being able to create when you’re in survival mode. That, in order to create, you have to have your basic needs met.
Yes, these children are now safe in Australia with shelter, food, care and connection but still struggle with very real problems like PTSD. But evidenced on that stage that night was a true act of creating (theater in this case). Creating that was helping these children survive, recover, and hopefully thrive. A process is not only generative, but healing (apart from building awareness in the Australian public around these young refugee stories, this is the premise of the Treehouse Theater program).
What risks these performers have already taken to flee war and survive then to stand on stage and bare and share their hearts for others.
It was a reminder that all the ducks do not have to be in a row in order to create. That creating is the process, the path.
Till next week,
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