The Otesha Project

-was a thrill the whole way through with lots of fun challenges, including practicing consensus decision making many times daily with a brand new group of people, cooking big meals for the group on camping stoves, rehearsing, memorizing, and staging a play in less than a week
-some highlights were: experiencing the generosity of people in communities along the way who welcomed us with open arms and gave us so much love and support, plus often also food, showers, laundry; connecting with youth who were inspired by the play or workshops to do an Otesha tour when they're a little bit older and at the very least start changing certain habits
-some challenges were: having to move locations almost everyday which involved cleaning up, packing everything up, and hitting the road again, even if you were pretty exhausted from the day before; long daily meetings to make group decisions - both of these became amazing learning points that fueled a lifetime of growth

It was amazing what we could accomplish in two months. A typical day would include cooking for your team (if your on food crew that day) packing up camp and cycling a few hours to a performance: acting radiculous on stage and inspiring students to create change. Then back on the bikes to travel to where you would sleep. Usually there is a team meeting where you get to hear the highs and lows of everyone. Lots of laughs, and lots of tears. Its an amazingly powerful experience. I consider my Otesha teammates and other alumni my family.

An amazing and inspiring experience as I cycled across British Columbia - while building community with my teammates - challenging my daily choices - preforming physical theatre - eating delicious food - being empowered myself and in turn empowering others - and accomplishing some physical feats!

Awesome experience - I became comfortable on my bike, learned new skills (like how to change my tires), had wonderful conversations and met amazing people!

Everything about this tour was inspiring and challenging. I went on a tour that explored food systems in Ontario, and I learned so much from how to grow your own food, how farms work, and how cheese is made, to the day to day tasks like bike maintenance, living as a mobile community, cooking for large groups, facilitating, acting. It was such an empowering experience. I highly recommend it!