"Tales from Macau" in August 2024 was organised in conjunction with "ATB x PBT", a first effort by Awareness through the Body (ATB) facilitators from Auroville, south India to join forces with Playback Theatre (PBT) facilitators from Macau to explore depth awareness by different layers of our body and deep listening of personal stories. The intention then was to nurture a fresh openness of our body and senses to fully explore the city tales of Macau.

​

The result? I found myself plunging even more deeply:

 

The works of children reflect a delicate sensibility towards the all-pervading sadness around them

and their books were about how people may become happy again.

Yes indeed, the children were reimagining a future they would like to see instead.

​

I could not just drop the matter. How may I spread this know-how of reauthoring the future? I took the liberty of proposing a project called "ATB Boomerang" to take ATB to more places in the world. Also, I have to make people take me seriously. So I turned to the academia, which, thank goodness, has become much more creative in methodologies.  

 

In preparing for the research proposal for PhD candidacy, I conducted a review based on a remote focus group of families from diverse backgrounds with young children in Macau. Taking into account the mostly young research subjects, I designed an online card game to engage them better and to enable more open-ended responses. The game, termed "Macau Hunt" with instructions for host parents is at this web link https://houseofchildhood.wixsite.com/macauhunt.

​

Responses have since been received from children and parent participants in Macau with Chinese, Macanese and Portuguese roots. Most of the children participants actually played the game their way by choosing more than one card as their answers and suggesting to include new images for the card game. This gives me so much hope! Children are not only actively reauthoring the given. They are changing the game by the way they are playing the game! I was so inspired that I spined off another research project for children to create their own card/board games about their hometowns. I call it "Game Makers". And I intend to take it to Macau and Pico, where I am now living.