Notes from around the World to Ibdaa:

To the children of Ibdaa: If we let out dreams drift away, a good part of our lives goes with them. If we mistake our dreams for imminent reality, we risk paralyzing despair. If we commit ourselves with dedication and honor, the gap between dream and reality may narrow, even vanish. We can only hope that the wonderful path you have chosen will hasten that end.
Noam Chomsky

Warmest welcome, love and support to the members of the Ibdaa dance troupe, and congratulation on your presentation of   "And Still We Dream" in New York City! Please know you do not dream alone, that countless Americans of all backgrounds share your hope and belief that one day you will live with the self-determination and honor you deserve. May culture help to enlighten politics everywhere and may you have joy and strength to keep dancing and speaking your important stories till more dreams turn into realities!
Naomi Shihab Nye
Palestinian-American Writer San Antonio, TX

I think it is wonderful that the American public will have a chance to meet the young people of Ibdaa, and learn, just by their presence, about the situation of people in Palestine deprived of their homes. It will be an occasion of international solidarity on behalf of justice, and MADRE is to be commended for organizing it.
Howard Zinn

As we enter a new millennium, our hopes for justice and peace in the world require, "Ibdaa": a creativity that will allow men and women all over the planet to come up with bold, life enhancing solutions to the political, social and economical problems humanity faces. As a Nicaraguan woman, I salute the efforts that the young men and women, who are part of Ibdaa, have undertaken to grapple with these issues while living their lives in refugee camps. By developing their leadership potential and working to understand what they can do to transform their own situation, they have become a beacon of hope in their region. I hope many eyes will be opened and many hearts will respond to their plight. With warmest regards,
Gioconda Belli Nicaraguan Poet

There was a brief moment, during the years of the Intifada, the uprising of the children of the stones, when the children of Palestine emerged onto the world's stage. Their laughter, their courage, their refusal to stop learning when   military occupation shut down their schools-provided a powerful model of what young people could be and could do.
Phyllis Bennis
Institute for Policy Studies

We send this meesage to express out support and solidarity for Ibdaa for playing such a key role in advocating and promosting human rights. For us in Chiapas, Mexico, Ibdaa us a great inspiration for our work with refugees, and in general, in the struggle for justice that is taking place throughout the world. We are convinced of the important role that Ibdaa plays in Bethlehem, and of the need to extend his work to every region of the world where human rights are violated.
Yolanda Castro
K'inal Antzetik, A.C.

Dear friends of Ibdaa: The University of the Autonomos Region of the Carribbean Coast of Nicaragua (URACCAN) and its student body, and men and women of the southern and northern Atlantic Coast express their solidarity with the Ibdaa troupe from Dheishe, for theis continuous struggle in advocating for human rights. The young people of the Atlantic Coast support your ideals and your work in the international arena for the recognisition of your sovereignty, and for respect of your rights as individual citizens. Sincerely,
Dr. Myrna Cunningham
University Council URACCAN