Children at the Well

MARNI GILLARD WRITES "BRAVO FOR CHILDREN AT THE WELL AT RESPECT DAY!!"

I just want to thank Nasibah Elmi and Ben Russell for doing a fabulous job representing Children at the Well on Respect Day at their high school, Shenendahowa.

We all learned that you have to stay flexible whenever you expect to perform because there can always be glitches. But Ben and Nasibah both stayed calm as a switch in the schedule started to eat up our time. It all worked out in the end, and Nasibah appeared relaxed and confident as she talked of our group’s work and how important it is for helping people develop respect around differences. She spoke quite eloquently about the symbol of the well and how alike we are in our mutual yearning to know God in our own ways.

Ben, as we used to say in the world of performance diving in which I grew up, “nailed” his story. His character voices were wonderful, and I could HEAR kids laughing as he delivered all the funny lines. He looked like a pro at the microphone. The choice of the humorous Chelm tale about Hanukkah showed how our group can have fun and at the same time approach the serious issue of faith-sharing.

Extra special thanks to Mrs. Linda Russell who helped set up this opportunity for us and who made a beautiful display that showed photos and some written material about the group. We’ll take it to display at Story Sunday March 8 at the Glen Sanders and the next Word Play night at Proctors, both of which are sponsored by the Story Circle of the Capital District. It was really fun to be part of this promotion of our work!

I hear our new brochure is also in the making, thanks to Ritam Mehta, Paula Weiss and Gert Johnson who’ve been busy at that. And next a documentary? Stay tuned.