First Report:

It has been an eventful few months and we get on a plane to Cape Town this Sunday!

The two of us have been very busy since October, coordinating with our hosts in South Africa and finalizing our programming design. We are happy to report that we have also achieved our fundraising goals for this work, thanks to the generous contributions of JJCF, Face-to-Face, and a number of individual donors.

During the fall we have spent much time pouring over books of South African resistance art, poetry and other writings, so that we can bring examples to the youth we are working with. This has also been useful for our own education, as has watching numerous documentaries and feature films, immersing ourselves in the amazing history of this country and understanding the context of our work even better.

Everything for the camp itself has come together amazingly well:
Together with the South African Home-Group we have put together a full and wonderful program for approximately 45 interfaith youth from across the country. We will be leading daily workshops that explore 'war' and 'peace' through different artistic mediums. We are warmed by the Home Group leaders' gracious efforts to include us in all aspects of the camp's programming, finding many ways we can all learn from one another (Ian is leading a meditation session at 6:30 every morning!). We are really excited to meet all of the young participants and are getting ready for a lot of vibrant energy exchanges.

We will look forward to sending a report while we are at camp. Of course, we will have much more to share when we return in early February, including photos and writing samples. Until next time --

Ian and Ronit