Fly With Me celebrates the ancient Afghan craft of kite-flying in an aerial act of solidarity with the people of Afghanistan. The artform, alongside music, theatre and dance, were previously banned by the Taliban during their occupation of the country.
47 cities and towns across the UK, Europe and the USA hosted Fly With Me events on Saturday 20th August including Glasgow, Manchester, Bradford, Sheffield, London, Brighton, DOVER and Folkestone in the UK and Pas-de-Calais, Paris, Copenhagen, Stockholm and Berlin.
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Special Thanks to: Good Chance Theatre, Kent Refugee Action Network, Samphire Project
Photo Credit: Good Chance Theatre
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On the 20th August 2022, hundreds of hand-made Afghan kites were flown in Dover, to raise awareness of the continuing humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan one year after the fall of Kabul and as a symbol of freedom.
This epic aerial act of solidarity, togetherness and preservation of Afghan culture in exile was created in partnership with Good Chance Theatre, who brought together Afghan artists and local cultural organisations across 47 towns and cities in the UK, Europe and USA. Over 7,500 kites were flown, making it the world’s largest ever international kite festival.
Workshops to create the kites took place with the community in Dover, with Kent Refugee Action Network and with the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Programme, celebrating Afghan culture and the ancient Afghan craft of kite-making.
On the day, we had sunshine and luckily some WIND, the most important element for kite flying. Pencester Gardens in Dover town centre was transformed with kites, kite flyers and Afghan music. We welcomed over 200 Afghan visitors, flew hundreds of kites, and had an incredible display of Afghan kite flying at the Western Heights on the White Cliffs of Dover. where the kites flew so high they could barely be seen.
We would like to thank Fakhria Wasil, Atiqullah Sherzad and the Mayor of Dover Cllr Gordon Cowan who all spoke so movingly about Afghanistan, who welcomed Afghan refugees and called for all refugees to be treated equally.
Huge thanks to our most awesome team leaders Atiqullah Sherzad and Zo Defferary who travelled to work with all of the Fly with Me teams from across the UK to learn kite making with Good Chance and Sanjar Qiam, a master kite maker from Afghanistan.
Thanks to our incredible Afghan Master Kite Makers Safiullah, Hussein, Nisar and friends – we learned so much about the incredible art of Afghan kite making – and know we’ve only learnt a fraction of what’s involved.
Fly With Me Dover was created and presented by Future Foundry. Fly With Me is a Good Chance production.
Photography Joshua Leppenwell – https://www.jleppenwellphotography.co.uk/
Video Colin Welsh – https://colinwelsh.co.uk/
Good Chance Theatre previously created The Jungle, exploring the experience of refugees in the Calais Jungle co-produced with the National Theatre and Young Vic, and The Walk with Little Amal, a co-production with The Walk Productions Ltd and Handspring Puppet Company, featuring a 3.5m high puppet of a young Syrian refugee girl highlighting the journey taken by refugee children across Europe, which won the Time Out Best Public Artwork Award 2021.
Website: www.goodchance.org.uk/flywithme
