I wrote this song on a visit to the asylum center on 30 July 2018. A friend’s son asked if he could join me because he was working on a project about migration for a class, and Mohammed (I am the change) joined us. We wrote a song together, which has become one of my favorites to sing. This theme for this song was one that has surfaced several times in the course of my time writing music at the center: equality. Mohammed spoke about his experience in Gaza and his hope that people could transcend the narrow-minded scope of religion to see all people as equals. He also brought up the idea that people can choose to be open-minded and change their perspective. We can decide to celebrate our differences, find common ground, and create solidarity with one another.

We are human
We are the same
We are human
And we can change
We can have a better life if we celebrate our divide
Don’t close your mind to life, let’s change

We wrote verses in English and then wrote the Arabic translation.

To read more about the writing of this song, visit Guiding Song: Natareya

And also Guiding Song: Ride the Creative Wave

This is a live performance at the Brussels Folk Club on 11 September 2018:

Explanation about the song at a live performance at The Sister Cafe on 13 September 2018: