Education should teach children about our interconnectivity

Education should teach us that we are part of an interconnected web of humanity. We believe in the Helen O’Grady Drama Academy in Cape Town that we are in fact one world and one humanity. As an international drama school, we teach a rich diversity of children and adults worldwide, bringing people together from all cultures and divisions created by nationhood.  We are in a unique position to respect and celebrate our diversity on a local and global scale.

At the Helen O’Grady Drama Academy our teachers teach with compassion. We aim to develop a positive outlook in each and every person. By looking at the good in others, we in our small way are trying to bring kindness to our world which is fractured by war and violence.

The most important aspect of drama lessons is how we deal with conflict. This training gives children the opportunity to look at ways to resolve conflict issues that we experience on a daily level. We have always two options by either responding to aggression in an aggressive manner back or looking at ways to diffuse or not react to a reactionary person. 

Training in drama gives people an amazing opportunity to look at other creative ways of ‘ending’ a story or situation. The more we become part of the violence, the more we become violent ourselves in our thoughts and our actions. It is how we break away from this, and learn to dissipate volatile situations in a compassionate way, that we will start to make this world a better place.

We can’t leave this up to our leaders or our neighbours, we have to show our world that there is a different way: by treating others with respect and celebrating uniqueness of our brothers and sisters around the world. 

"Nations try to divide us but we all pump the same colour blood!” a line from one of the Helen O’Grady plays called ‘Perspectives’, which through physical theatre, enables the audience to see how ridiculous prejudice actually is. 

The play ends with the lines:

Tolerance Respect Peace Friendship Compassion Love Forgiveness ACCEPTANCE! 

Join the Helen O’Grady Drama Academy and become part of this wonderful organisation where we break down barriers.

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