Up with People Cast A 2010 On Tour

Cast A Staff sporting the newest clothing line

Up With People has revamped it’s clothing line with modern designs including a wrap-around guitar, “equalize the world”, and “Peace, Love, And UWP” designs. The new line includes t-shirts for men and women, long sleeve shirts and hoodies. The newest apparel items can be purchased at the Up With People online store at www.upwithpeople.org  The icon for the UWP store is located at the bottom of the screen.  Go check it out!!

At the Up With People online store you can also purchase CD’s, stickers, water bottles, buttons, and bracelets. All of these items can also be purchased during intermission at the ”A Song for the World” show and after the show.

By: Linn Christine Flø,  Norway, on her first Community Impact Experience (in Norwegian and English)

(in Norwegian)
Første dag med CI-arbeid er nå unnagjort, og for en fantastisk opplevelse det var! Oppgaven vi deltok i var å dele ut matvarer til hjemløse og de som ik

Linn Christine Flø from Norway

ke har råd til mat.
Gruppen min var en ganske liten gruppe, vi var bare 7 personer. Vi møtte opp i et missjonslokale, hvor de faste arbeiderne og presten alt var i sving. De hadde fått en masse matvarer donert, og vi hjalp dem med å sortere ut det som var dårlig, slik som råtten frukt etc.Dette gikk ganske fort ettersom vi var en god del folk, så vi fikk tid til å plukke søppel rundt missjonsbygningen deres også. Deretter lastet vi all maten opp på en lastebil og kjørte til en annen kant av byen hvor maten skulle deles ut.
Vi lastet all maten av lasteplanet, og stablet det opp på en lang rekke. Før utdelingen startet så stod presten på lasteplanet og holdt en preken for folket som hadde samlet seg på plassen. Deretter stilte vi oss opp bak hver vår pall med mat, og presten gav instruksjoner om hvor mye som skulle deles ut til hver. Folk hadde stilt seg opp i kø, og gikk langs pallene med mat og holdt frem plastposene sine, som vi fylte opp. Mange var veldig takknemmelige, noen virket litt flaue over å måtte skaffe mat på denne måten, for noen var det en helt vanlig aktivitet. Noen var veldig pirkete på akkurat hva slags mat de ville ha, mens andre tok alt de kunne kommer over. Mange sa også nei takk til poteter, fordi de ikke hadde noe sted å koke dem.
Hele opplevelsen satte veldig perspektiv på ting, for ettersom minuttene gikk, jo mer forstod man at disse menneskene er akkurat som deg og meg. Vi snakket om helt tilfeldige ting. Jeg delte ut bjørnebær, og med mange så pratet vi om hvor godt bjørnebær er og at bær er bra for kroppen etc.
En del av det vi bidro med, bortsett fra å dele ut selve maten, var også å gi folk håp, inkludere dem, og vise at vi bryr oss. Vi smilte til dem, spurte hvordan de hadde det og ønsket dem en fin dag videre. De var så høfflige, og smilte og ønsket oss en fin dag tilbake. Men også her var det selvfølgelig også forskjeller. Noen sa enten ingenting, og noen nikket.
Noe av det som kanskje gjorde mest inntrykk på meg i løpet av dagen, var de frivillige arbeiderne i kirken som vi tilbragte dagen sammen med. De var nok ikke så velstående selv, men de tilbringer dagene sine på å hjelpe andre som både er i samme, verre og bedre situasjon som dem selv. De var så åpne og vennlige, og utrolig takknemmelige for at vi var der og hjalp dem. De inviterte oss til å komme tilbake når vi ville, og fortalte om ting som foregår i menigheten deres. Han ene viste oss sykkelen sin som han hadde funnet i en kontainer, og han viste oss de tingene han hadde måttet reparere. Han fortalte også om et digitalkamera han haddde funnet. Han var en veldig smart og hyggelig mann og virket veldig bevisst.
Hele gruppen var enige om at dette var en super CI (community impact) dag, vi lærte mye, og fikk satt nye perspektiver på ting! Denne dagen kommer jeg til å reflektere over i lang tid, og jeg kan nesten ikke vente til neste erfaring!

(In English)
We have now been through our first CI-day, and it was such a good experience! The task we were doing was to deliver grossarys to homeless people, and those who can not afford to buy food.

cast members doing Community Impact at Christ's Body Ministry

My group was a quite small group, we were only 7 people. We went to a ministery house and met the other workers and the pastor. They had got all this donated food, and we helped to sort out the food wich we could not use because it was rutten etc. We also cleaned the area outside the ministery for garbidge. Then we loaded all the food into a truck, and drove to another area of the city, where the food would be handed out.
We loaded all the food off the truck, and stacked it up on a wide range. Before the hand out began, the pastor stood on the truck and gave a preach to the people who had gathered in the square. Then we stood up behind each of our pallet of food, and the pastor gave instructions on how much that would be distributed to each. People had set up in a line, and walked along the pallets of food and kept up their plastic bags, which we filled up. Many people were very grateful, some seemed a little embarrassed at having to provide food in this way, for some it was a normal activity. Some were very picky on exactly what kind of food they wanted, while others would have all they could come over. Many also said no thanks to the potatoes for example, because they had no place to cook them.
The whole experience really put perspective on things. As the minutes passed, the more I understood that these people are just like you and me. We were talking about completely random things. I handed out blackberrys, and we would talk about how delicious blackberrys are and that the berries are good for the body, etc.
Part of what we contributed, other than handing out the food, was also to give people hope, include them, and show them that we care. We smiled at them, asked how they were, and wished them a nice day further. They were so polite, and smiled and wished us a good day back. But here it was, of course, also differences. Some said nothing either, and some nodded.
One of the things that perhaps made the greatest impression on me during the day, was the voluntary workers in the church who we spent the day with. They probably were not so wealthy, but they spend their days helping others that both are in the same, worse and better situation as themselves. They were so open and friendly, and incredibly grateful that we were there and helped them. They invited us to come back whenever we wanted, and talked about things going on in their community. One of the mens was so open-minded, he showed us his bicycle that he had found in a container, and he showed us the things on it that he had to repair. He also told us about a digital camera he had found the day before. He was a very smart and nice man and seemed very intelligent. The whole group agreed that this was a great CI-day, we learned a lot, and had put new perspectives on things! This day I’m going to reflect on for a long time, and I can hardly wait for the next experience!

By Amy Green, USA, on the first educational session with the cast

“What would Batman do?” was the question the education team had us thinking about on our very first day. We were in an education workshop called Thwap, which is one of the many noises that pop up when Batman fights the Joker.

It was a workshop about comfort zones, growth, and challenging ouselves. They explained that there are three different zones: Comfort, Challenge, and Panic. We discussed what zones we were currently in and what helped us get out of panic and back into challenge.

The Education Team as Batman, Robin, and The Joker

Batman, unlike other superheroes, is just an ordinary guy. He is in his comfort zone when he is Bruce Wayne, living a life of luxury. He’s in his panic zone when he retreats to his batcave. But when he’s fighting crime as Batman, he is in his challenge zone. Batman has no super powers, he just works very hard, uses great tools, and has support from Robin. The challenge zone is where growth happens and is where we are encouraged to put ourselves in throughout this semester. As we challenge ourselves, we become more comfortable with new things, and our comfort zone grows. “What would Batman do?” is a question Cast A 2010 will be asking ourselves this entire semester, and we challenge you to take on Batman’s mindset, too.

By Taariq Tucker, Bermuda, on an experience doing Community Impact Work

My first CI (community impact) was great. I learned the definition of a refugee and how you qualify the process that they go through to be placed in a certain country.  Also if a refugee is placed in America they are put in certain parts because they have family there or a skill that is thriving in that state. I also discovered that refugees can have

Taariq (Bermuda) and castmate, Jasmine (USA)

very nice houses and a lot of them have to adjust to having things given to them and they don’t just have to take. Something I haven’t mentioned is that on CI I also packed and delivered christmas gifts and food to give to refugees.

 Also I took a tour of the Denver Rescue Mission where homeless people have a number of medical treatments offered to them including acupuncture. The Denver Rescue Mission has 200 beds and 100 bunk beds in their facility plus some beds are left for men in a work program were they can have a 7 day bed for part time workers or a 30 day bed for full time workers.

I learned so much today.

By Pieter Gyssels, Belgium about his Community Impact Experience

(in English)

We had a choice of six projects and all of them were interesting. However, the unorganized aspect of that one project spoke to me the most. My group got a brief training by two volunteers and then we were sent to the streets in groups of two or three. We each had to cover a different part of downtown Denver where we would talk to all the homeless, more precisely the panhandlers, which we encountered. We got a survey for every panhandler that we should try to fill out. I use the word “try” on purpose, because it is not the easiest job to simply go talk to a homeless person, let alone convince them to cooperate on our survey. Definitely if there are questions like, “How much do you earn on average per day?” and especially “What are you spending that money on?”. To my surprise, however, this action led to many interesting and almost warm conversations.

After the surveys we were expected in the Denver Rescue Mission shelter on Lawrence Street in the heart of Denver. This homeless shelter is working with other instances on the ten years plan called “Denver’s Road Home”. The city of Denver has given itself the mission to bring an end to homelessness in the city by 2015. This means that they want to create 3193 permanent housing options, start a prevention campaign to keep people away from the streets, provide training to 580 people to increase their chances to find a job and so on. I had absolutely no idea that sixty percent of the homeless are families with children and that forty percent actually has a job, but that their income is not sufficient to live on. Anyway, if you would like to read more about it, I refer you to the clear and informative website for this project: www.denversroadhome.org

The shelter gave us a tour by a fantastic guide, who was forty-eight years old and had been in and out of rehabilitation centers and homeless shelters his entire life. Now he works for such a shelter and day after day he helps others overcome their drinking and/or drug addiction. During the tour we got to see the dormitory where each night three hundred men are offered a bed. We also got to see the kitchen, which is normally fit to prepare four hundred meals, but where around one thousand people a day are offered a meal. There is also a chapel in which every morning and evening they hold a celebration, which is not related to a specific religion and everyone is free to pray for what he believes. In the same room are also courses on various subjects that should make the homeless aware of their situation and help them to take their lives back into their own hands. After the tour all groups came back together for a debriefing and a testimony of one of the workers and eventually the physically and mentally tough day was over.

(In Dutch)

We hadden een keuze uit zes projecten en ze waren één voor één interessant, maar het ongeorganiseerde van dat ene project sprak me het meeste aan. Mijn groep kreeg namelijk een korte training door twee vrijwilligers en nadien werden we de straat op gestuurd in groepjes van twee of drie. De bedoeling was dat we ieder een ander deel van de stad voor onze rekening namen en daar iedere dakloze, meerbepaald iedere dakloze die aan het bedelen was, aanspraken die we tegenkwamen. We kregen een vragenlijst mee die we per dakloze moesten proberen in te invullen. Ik gebruik bewust het woord “proberen”, omdat het helemaal niet gemakkelijk is om zomaar even een gesprek aan te knopen met een dakloze, laat staan ze te overtuigen om een vragenlijst te beantwoorden. Zeker niet als er vragen bij zijn als, “Hoeveel verdient u gemiddeld per dag?” en vooral “Waar spendeert u dat geld aan?”. Tot mijn verbazing echter leidde deze actie tot vele interessante en zelfs bijna warme gesprekken.

Na de gesprekken werden we verwacht in de Denver Resue Mission shelter op de Lawrence street in hartje Denver. Deze daklozenshelter werkt samen met andere instanties aan het tienjarenplan ‘Denver’s Road Home’. De stad Denver heeft zich namelijk de missie gegeven om tegen 2015 een einde te brengen aan de dakloosheid in de stad. Dit houdt in dat ze 3193 permanente woonmogelijkheden willen creëren, een preventiecampagne op poten willen zetten om mensen weg te houden van de straten, een opleiding willen aanbieden aan 580 mensen om hen betere spelers te maken op de arbeidmarkt en zo verder. Ik had er totaal geen besef van dat zestig percent van de daklozen families met kinderen zijn en dat veertig percent eigenlijk een job heeft, maar dat die inkomsten niet voldoende zijn om van te leven. Hoe dan ook, moest je hier meer over willen lezen, verwijs ik je graag door naar de zeer duidelijke en informatieve website van dit project: www.denversroadhome.org

In de shelter kregen we een rondleiding van een fantastische gids, die achtenveertig jaar oud is en zijn hele leven lang in en uit ontwenningsklinieken en daklozenshelters geraakt is. Nu werkt hij zelf in zo’n shelter en helpt hij dag in dag uit andere daklozen met het overwinnen van hun drank- en/of drugsverslaving. Tijdens de rondleiding kregen we onder andere de slaapzaal te zien waar ze iedere nacht driehonderd mannen een bed aanboden, alsook de keuken die normaalgezien voorzien is voor het bereiden van vierhonderd maaltijden, maar waar er rond de duizend mensen per dag een maaltijd wordt aangeboden. Verder is er ook een kapel waar ze iedere morgen en avond een viering houden, die niet verbonden is aan een specifieke Godsdienst en waar iedereen dus vrij is te bidden voor wat hij gelooft. In diezelfde ruimte worden ook cursussen gegeven over allerlei onderwerpen die de daklozen moet bewust maken van hun situatie en hen wil helpen hun eigen leven terug in handen te kunnen en durven nemen. Na de rondleiding kwamen we met alle groepen weer samen voor een nabespreking en een getuigenis van één van de werknemers en toen zat de zowel fysiek als mentale zware dag erop.

By Terho Valkonen, Finland, about his first Community Impact Experience

Today we had our first Cultural impact day! My group visited in St. Francis Center. It’s a place where homeless people can get food, clothes, take a shower and make phone calls. Homeless people can also use the address of the center as their home address so then they can be available somehow. Total visits by quests to center are more than people on an average day.

First we discussed about homelessness with Tom Luehrs who is the Executive Director of the Center. He has made a long work career as helper of the homeless people so he really knew what he was talking about. In his opinion the most important thing that you can give to homeless people is hope.

One of our tasks was to help volunteers and workers of the center to do laundry. There was also a stock where homeless people can save their personal items. We helped to check that the archive is still valid.

Because there is quite cold now in Denver there was some ice in the front of the center. So we broke the ice and for me as a Finnish person it felt very familiar job.

At the end of the day we had the possibility to discuss with one guy who is the guest of the center. That was very good experience! It got me to understand that it’s not always up to you if you are  living on the street or not. You will never know where the faith leads us so that’s why we should take care about those people whose things are worse than ours right now!

By Paul Rush, USA, about his first day of Community Impact

For my first Cultural Impact experience, I along with a handful of my Cast A mates traveled to Urban Peak to provide a number of services to the facility. It was an eye- opening experience for me because I had never before worked with the homeless for an extended period of time, let alone youth and students my age that were on their own desperately trying to get their feet back on the ground. Our day started out by each member of the group providing a giant breakfast for the kids (ages 14-21) consisting of pancakes, eggs, bacon, fruit, you name it. The kids were extremely grateful and it made me feel great, but that was only the beginning.

I met several kids about my age that had many amazing stories to tell. Each of them had very different stories about how they ended up alone on the streets. A couple of students in particular (Joe and James) were young adults just like myself who were very sociable, but had made very poor choices early in life and were not given as many opportunities to succeed in life. Drugs, gangs, family problems, and being thrown out of there homes at the age of 18 were just a few of the topics covered. I didn’t know what to think. I was in shock.

 James invited me to a friendly game of basketball outside the youth home and began to share stories about his life and childhood that really changed the way I view homelessness in our world today. Joe followed out soon after to join and share his life story. Soon after, my cast-mates and I were all outside and found ourselves enjoying every minute of it. We felt as if Urban Peak was providing a service to us Up With People students. In the end, we both found that we learned a great deal from each other.

Urban Peak provided these homeless students with the necessary tools to receive their GED and get a job to eventually support themselves one day. The program really cared about guiding the kids in the right direction without straying from their daily support. After we prepared lunch, we met more students who were eager to learn about the places we were from. I strongly believe our friendships and diversity proved inspirational to the kids. It was certainly a day to remember. I am very proud of all my new friends, staff, and the entire Up With People organization for really pushing to make a difference in the Denver community and in our own lives. Im looking forward to an amazing road ahead!

by Annie Matthews, Education Coordinator, USA on stereotypes

What is a stereotype? Originially stereotype was a term used in printing newspapers. It was a copy used to reproduce or duplicate an original over and over again. These days stereotype is a word meaning to make a generalization of an individual, group, or community. In basic terms to stereotype is to assume something without knowing for sure.

Every semester the education team puts together a workshop called “Barcodes”. Just like information copied onto every item at a store that represents information about items in a category. All packages of a certain type of product have identical barcodes. Unlike items at a store, all people from one country, region, or area do not have the same barcode. No one is exactly the same as another. The workshop includes putting pieces of paper around a room with countries written at the top of them. The cast is then given time to go around and write words, phrases, lyrics, or even draw pictures of things they think of when they hear about that country.

Francious from Quebec reads stereotypes about Canada

After a time the Cast breaks up into their country groups to read what was written on their country’s paper. Then each country is given time in front of the cast to answer questions like “What was the most suprising thing written about your country?” and “What is one thing you would want people to know about your country?”

After all of this the cast is then given time to think about stereotypes about themselves. They are given time talk to fellowcast mates about who they are as individuals and explain how they personally feel about stereotypes about themselves.

“I am proud of who I am but I am not perfect” Toni, USA

“I am a Christian but I am not an intolerant person”  Christin, Germany

“I am a woman but I am not a feminist. I am an equalist.” Laura Lynn, USA

“I am a scout but I do not eat worms” Frederike, Germany

“I am a Belgian but I don ‘t like beer” Olivia, Belgium

“I am sensitive but I am not weak” Maurine, Belgium

Roundtable. What is it? It is a roundtable–but much more than that. It was a time that community leaders were invited to speak to us in small groups. We had around a dozen community leaders join us and speak to us about what it means to be a leader and qualities of a leader.

All of the community leaders came from different backgrounds and dreams. Many of them pursued a dream from when they were younger- others went through college and then ended up doing something completely different than their major.

Some qualities we talked about were integrity, being real, motivation, honesty, struggles, trust, and many more. Many of our community leaders emphasized the importance of integrity, trust, and being real. As a leader you want to be honest with yourself and others. You want others to trust you and part of being real is knowing you are no perfect and you will make mistakes. Making mistakes is not the worst thing because without mistakes how can we learn? Part of being real is admitting you have struggles with a certain area….it all comes back to being honest with yourself.

When you are willing to learn new things to become a leaderyou will find there are mistakes and struggles along the way but this will build your character and help you to become a better leader.  

Cast A with leaders from the Denver Community

“They won’t care how much you know until they know how much you care”

by Annie Matthews, Education Coordinator,  Arkansas,USA on educational activities in UWP

In Up With People the days are full and the performing arts and educational workshops push the students to reach their full potential at all times. Since the semester began there have already been several educational workshops for the students to participate in that have challenged the students to think outside of the box and to work together as a team.

On the very first day of the semester the students were given time to write letters their future selves. The letters were to give themselves encouragment and to discuss who they want to be in Cast A 2010. What challenges did they face to get to Cast A? What would they like to accomplish while they are here? Later in the semester the students will get the letters back and they will have time to evaluate they participation in the cast.

cast members writing letters to self

Another education session focused on communication and problem solving within a group setting. The cast was broken into small groups and were given a “magic stick” to lower to the ground using only their fingertips. If the students didn’t lower the stick at exactly the same time then the stick would actually rise in the air. The groups had to work together as a team to figure out the best method for teir group to get the stick to the ground. Watching this activity was exceptional inspiring to me. Without realizing it some students stepped into a leadership position within their small groups and others used all of their energy to focus on accomplishing the goal as a united group. After the activity the students were given time to talk in their groups about what they had just experienced. How interesting that a “game” could bring about learning. The students in Hometeam 2 discussed how sometimes it isn’t important how someone becomes a leader in a group or what steps were taken to distinguish someone as a leader but the important thing is that a group trusts their leader to help them accomplish their task in the best way.  Another discussion topic was that it is important that every member of a group feel like their voice is heard and if the group isn’t sure how to accomplish a task then it is okay to atleast try all of the new ideas to see if they could possibly work. If something doesn’t work as well as planned then it is okay to simply start over.

The Cast has also been given time to set goals for themselves. Long term and short term goals that are not only realistic and measurable but also specific, attainable, and can be accomplished in a reasonable amount of time.  This is called the SMART Method

S- Specific

M- Measurable

A-Attainable

R- Realistic

T- Timely

After being given time to think about some goals for their time in Cast A and beyond, the students wrote their goals on red tags and were then introduced to their “Goal Tenders”. In Up With People, goaltenders are members of the cast that will help eachother accomplish their goals by giving support and motivation.  Each member of the cast will be given time throughout the semester to meet with their goaltenders to check on eachother and see if they can help eachother in any way as the semester goes on.

Needless to say, from goals to communication to teamwork to leadership, the learning in Cast A 2010 is in full swing!! I couldn’t be more excited to see what else is to come.

“A goal is a dream with a deadline” Jasmine, USA