Ordinary Theater experiences life in Africa

Although many people in America cannot relate to the water shortages or the AIDS epidemic that afflict many African nations, alumna Nicole Moody said she believes everyone shares a universal sense of pain and loss.

“There are so many things that we could be giving our time and money to,” she said. “We want to show Americans, not only can you do it here, but you can then provide some sort of care to Africans.”

Moody created a project through the IU Christian Student Fellowship called Ordinary Theater, a group that brings original plays dealing with current cultural issues to Bloomington.

Each year, the IU Christian Student Fellowship raises money for the Blood:Water Mission, she said, and this year the Ordinary Theater is getting involved and created Blood:Water Experience, an event that will take place today. 

The Blood:Water Mission provides clean wells and medical expertise to areas of sub-Sahara Africa, Moody said.

“In the past at least seven years we have been supporting the mission,” she said. “The mission teaches how to build wells. You need $3,000 to build a well.”

The first element of the event is a 45-minute drama telling the story of a young American woman dealing with the loss of someone important to her, Moody said.

“The purpose of the play is to show a connection between the African situation and the American situation,” she said. “Then we want to transition into empowering you to do something.”

After the play, visitors will walk into a separate area that will have different displays showing life in Africa, Moody said. There will be photographs and documentary films as well as shacks exhibiting photographs and different spices and smells. The final section of the experience is a water walk, Moody said.

“We mapped out a track so people get the feel of what it feels like for an African to walk if they didn’t have a well in their village,” she said. “There’s also a description of what water looks like and where they’ve been getting it from.”

Junior Noelle Krupski, in charge of publicity for the event, said she hopes the experience will educate people on the situation in Africa.

“I think people just don’t know about what’s going on over there,” she said. “We’re in America, and we can’t relate to that as much. But the cool thing about the mission is they’re about empowering people over there.”

Most of the materials used in the exhibit were donated, Krupski said.

“People were definitely willing,” she said. “Nicole knew a lot of people in the community and just started contacting them. It’s really cool to see how it’s come together. If we can get 500 people there at the $5 ticket price, we can build one well. They give clean drinking water to thousands of people.”