Greetings

You remember Stefan, Helen, Barbara and Guy who came and helped us prepare the performance?

Barbara just came back from Liberia (have a look at a map of Africa.....) one of the poorest countries of Africa, where she was working for the German radio, Deutsche Welle.
There, one of her journalist students told her of an African saying which immediately reminded her of you. Therefore, she asked me to send it to you with her love and a personal message to each of you:

"If you want to have some shade when you are grown up, don´t forget to plant a tree while you are still a child!"

And here is Barbara´s message to you:

"Since I saw your performance on the 5th of September 2009 I know that each of you has planted his tree already, at the latest during the Firebird project, if not before. We are now launching an artistic contest, a kind of competition. But an unusual competition, in which each one of you will win. Not necessarily a prize, but something much more precious than a prize. It will be up to you to discover what this precious prize can be.

I suggest that each of you thinks of a creation of his own about the meaning of this African saying for himself.

It can be a drawing, a painting, a sculpture, a poem, a simple text, a dream, a picture, a song, or anything else you can imagine. Or you can suggest to your teacher for Romanian to give this saying as a subject for an essay. You can also start a competition for your friends at your school or your home. You can even decide to get together with some of your Firebird friends and start a competition on a wider scale, school or town. I think it is a wonderful subject. What kind of tree would you like to be? What do you have to do for it to grow strong and stable against storms, lightening and winters?

As soon as Monique gets your contributions she will publish them in the blog. And if many of you participate, we can think of a way of exhibiting your creations when she goes back to Bucharest and the Premiere of Tedy´s film takes place.
I am looking forward to seeing what you create. Now that I know how talented each of you is, you have no excuse!

When you want to, you can be so creative. You showed it last summer, on the stage and with your beautiful drawings exhibited in the hall of the National Theatre which were just amazing. So, do not hesitate: next time you are bored, sit down, think and get going....And do not forget to tell all the other participants of the Firebird.

Guy, Stefan, Helen and I keep a wonderful memory of the few days spent with you in Bucharest and the unique adventure we lived through thanks to you all. Your friendliness and your cheerfulness, your enthusiasm and your energy , your performance and its success are unforgettable.

Get this tree of yours growing and make sure you get some shade when you are grown up. NOW!

Love to each of you and have a very good year 2010"

Barbara