Saturday, March 22, 2014

RET and Exhibit Set-Up

There are no photos for this day's visit and the set up. It was a lot of running around, and not much opportunity for photo's...

Shockingly (not really though) the schedule changed. We started the exhibit set up in the morning, started printing things. There wasn’t much for me to do at that point as my project was to pick the art the kids at the school made. My group and I helped with a few small things but there were clearly a lot of strong opinions being thrown around so I opted to stay more out of the way. So, in order to help, we ventured down to a local bakery and bought a bunch of croissants for people to munch on. People seemed to appreciate this as it provided a nice break for students when things started to get frustrating.  The exhibit was clearly going to be a lot of work and we were very much running on a time crunch. Nerves were pretty frayed at this point.
                Our middle of the day break involved lunch (surprise, we’re ALWAYS eating basically) and then going to an organization called RET. They work specifically with refugees and their rights once they come into Ecuador. There were a large portion of Colombian refugees which were not welcomed into the community. This was initially supposed to be our second visit, but the first one had been canceled. Thus, our plans were changed when we got there and unfortunately, not much of a relationship could be built. It was a great organization and the support they give these young people is great. They give them an outlet, and we watched a short film they created about refugees and the challenges they face in Ecuador. It specifically examined the prejudices and stereotypes held against refugees and how to counteract them. It was the voice of the refugees, but at the same time was educating people about their misconceptions of refugees. It was moving and inspiring to see young people put together such a well-articulated film.  I wish we had been able to spend more time with them, but unfortunately we were swiftly running out of time and were able to only make the one visit.
                We went back for dinner and then ended up back at La Casa de la Danza to finish exhibition set-up. Stress was pretty high, so those of us who weren’t in the set-up team avoided the space, only helping when given specific tasks to do. They all clearly had a specific plan and system going so if we just came in, I’m sure it would have been more stressful to have us mess up the system. A small group of us ended up getting dance lessons from around the world, specifically from Omar. It was, again, a favorite of the entire trip. It was another cultural exchange to learn Spanish dances like the salsa, and we played American music to dance to as well. It was another event that wasn’t planned, it just happened naturally. It was, hysterical. Needless to say, many of us weren’t very good at dancing and Omar got a good laugh out of it. Asha also showed (taught would be inaccurate) an Ethiopian shoulder dance. It was by far, one of the most impressive dances I have seen in my life, and one I have no hopes of ever mastering.

                Although we all had fun, I think everyone was excited when the night was over. The tension in the instillation team was high by the end of it, but once it was up it was clear that the next day would be great. The photos looked great and the exhibit was going to go fabulously. 

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