Summary: The Firefly Project, a play composed of poetry
and monologues written by young people from
all over the world. The script focuses on
issues of children affected by war, and all
funds raised by the performance will go to
War Child Canada’s international projects.
The Firefly Project, a play composed of poetry and monologues written by
young people from all over the world, will be performed at the University of
British Columbia on March 18 and 19. The script focuses on issues of
children affected by war, and all funds raised by the performance will go to
War Child Canada’s international projects.
“The problem with our understanding of conflict today is not that we are
sheltered from it,” says Sumayya Kassamali, one of the directors of this
year’s performance. “Rather, it is everywhere; on our screens, in our
conversations, from entertainment to academics. Firefly brings it into our
hearts. It provides us the opportunity to engage with these issues through
human interaction, and to more deeply understand world events and our
rolen in them.”
The Firefly Project script was compiled by War Child Canada’s Youth
Advisory Board, a group of students working to raise awareness about
international humanitarian issues in communities across North America.
The play includes pieces written by youth from Canada, Colombia, Sierra
Leone and Liberia, and involved over seventy young people in total in the
planning, writing and editing of the work.
“Firefly is more than a play,” says Maria Vamvalis, Youth Projects Director
at War Child Canada. “It is symbolic of so many of the values needed to
survive in the new millennium - collaboration, compassion and critical
engagement with a global world. You will be both challenged and
transformed by an indignant and visionary generation.”
The first ever performance of the play will be held at 7:00pm in Gage
Towers at UBC on March 18 and 19. It is hoped that the project will be
performed around the world to raise both awareness and funds to support
children affected by wars in countries like Sudan, Iraq and the Democratic
Republic of the Congo, and to deliver a message of optimism for the future
of peace.
Association: War Child Canada’s Youth Advisory Board.