I am Andrea Marín Arcila, a volunteer drama teacher at the San Juan de Dios Hospital, at Manizales. I have been working since 2009 with a group of patients whose dream is to act and who believe that art can liberate them from the walls which had previously populated their imaginations.

If someone were to ask me what theatre might mean to their minds, to them as to me, I would say that it simply means Self-Expression? They find it difficult to express themselves; they have now associated all the thoughts in their minds with an artistic and creative activity and it is in their drama classes that they can explore, express themselves and speak.

Hospitality is simply reaching out lovingly and generously to guests or to outsiders. As a teacher, I have learnt to receive people who have nowhere else in which to learn, and as a human being I have made lots of friends who play with me.

“Andrea’s class is good and expressive. Very nice. I have learned to be a little less confused here. I really like it here.”

The sense of hospitality which my patients and I share is the wish to tell the world something. We have formed the drama group called “The Magic Compass” so that people will not cease dreaming. We do not speak in dyslexic language or a mishmash of wordiness, but rather a cloud of butterflies wishing to take to the air.