Backpacks full of stories

It takes courage, effort, energy and adaptability to build a whole new life in another country. In this project, the fifteen or so women share their personal stories about life in their country of origin, their flight or settling in a new city. They do this together with Bureau Ruimtekoers and theater maker Marene van Holk. The group forms a mouth-watering finale; In any case, it will be something that touches, surprises and connects.

Languageless interaction

During one of the meetings – in the Fresh community center – I sit down to see how the ladies are doing. Prior to this morning, they had already met five times to share stories together, cook and eat. While I am afraid that I might ‘break in’ into the now close-knit group, I am welcomed with open arms. When Marene starts with theater sports as a warm-up, they automatically take me with them. We do exercises in which you ‘talk’ to each other without words. That means, for example, looking at them, making real contact. We walk through the space as a group and learn from each other when we collectively want to stop and when we want to continue walking. Without anyone to lead and without saying anything to each other. Marene is genuinely surprised, as quickly as the group senses each other wordlessly and is in contact.

We are all human

Equality runs like a thread through the group. You can feel it in the way everyone interacts with each other. Together they determine how they want to convey their stories to a larger audience. When does it feel powerful, what do they want to achieve, what do they want to give and how? The women also look for a kind of mingling with the audience; not them against the rest. One of the women says: ‘I want to take people along in our stories, let them experience our powerlessness, let them experience what it is like to have to learn everything at the same time. But also conveying the beautiful things, the experiences of comfort or warmth. And of course let them taste our cultures (also literally!).’

Seemingly small things

Marene listens attentively and sometimes gives a first step, asks questions to sharpen something or summarizes something to see if the group is indeed still (or again) on the same page. For example, she checks: ‘So you’re really looking for interaction with the audience?’ More women nod in agreement. One perks up: ‘Together with my colleague, I dare to tell my story in front of a microphone.’ Her neighbour says: ‘Sometimes it’s about seemingly small things that can cause a lot of friction. Then I ask if someone wants to take off their shoes in my house and then the other person says: ‘Well, I’m not dirty, you know!’

Special ingredient

Marene summarizes what the group has distilled as common values from previous weeks: ‘We believe in the value of helping someone else. We believe in the value of helping yourself. And we believe in communicating without language and how you can understand each other well beyond language and culture.’ As I go through this morning, I am discovering more and more on what these values are based on. As Nieuwe Arnhemse Meisjes, they struggled with grief about sometimes fallen behind or deceased family, complicated letters and forms, misunderstanding, judgments and strictness. They overcame bumps, sometimes went through deep valleys. And in all of that, they continued to have an eye for other people around them.

The story of the little red boat

One of the ladies says: ‘With the final piece, we want to make ‘the system’ a little more flexible and understanding.’ Another woman adds: ‘But not out of frustration or anger. There must be love in our message.’ I hear about stories that they want to be part of the performance. I don’t know the contents, but they sound beautiful and promising. Such as: ‘The story of the white lamb’ or of ‘the red boat’. In any case, it is clear that they want to eat together with everyone after all. ‘Because that also brought us all together’, says one of the women. Another concludes: ‘The food tastes different after all the stories come together. It adds something special, you’ll notice that…’

Figurehead for the world

Marene believes in the power of theatre to bring people together. Through encounters of ideas, stories and images, she hopes to plant seeds for a more beautiful, more human world. The women spontaneously ask her how she experiences the project. ‘I would like to use the wonderful sensitivity of this group as a figurehead for a much larger whole, I would like to share it with the world. You don’t have to have been through the same thing to feel each other. It is precisely with all our differences as people that we enrich each other.’ Project leader Selin concludes: ‘Your perseverance and positivity, despite everything you have been through, are a great inspiration to me. Thank you for that!’

If this doesn’t taste like more, we don’t know what will. Come and taste stories and sign up for the theatrical city dinner on April 5!