RefuFest is a traditional occasion to express solidarity with refugees and to show that “Prague is a cosmopolitan centre where people of many different religions, nationalities and cultures live together.” Since 2005 this festival has been presenting this diversity through music, theatre, exhibitions, audio-visual art and also through gastronomy.

As part of the SDGs and Migration project, this year Diaconia Center of Relief and Development has supported the festival financially and also by bringing a puppet performance “Smooth life” from Dafa Puppet Theatre. The performance shows an autobiographic story of a Palestinian who was born and grew up in the biggest refugee camp in Jordan, Baqa’a.

Instead of despair or sadness, this storytelling transmits a wide scale of emotions. It shows relatable and often comic day to day situations which are typical for living in a refugee camp such as long waiting in lines for food rations or corruption. The Palestinian history is inherent and implied in the period maps, pictures and the history of the protagonist’s ancestors. The performance is accompanied by traditional music and food which is shared with the audience at the end of it. This all makes the performance an experience for all the senses.