You can feel the energy in the air this morning.

In about half an hour there will be a dress rehearsal, the first of two, it MUST go well. It must go well because it’s the last day of the training session, it has to go well because it would be the perfect ending to 11 days of crazy intensity, it has to go well because we cannot make a mistake, we cannot close this session with a disaster.

I’m the assistant.

I make sure that each actor has their own props in order and ready, I check the doctors’ white coats, the syringes and the I.V. (don’t worry, it’s all part of the show!).

I say: “Let’s try making the skin marks on the real doctor’s face and removing them before the last scene, we’ve never tried it, let’s try. Felix, you have to wash the actor’s face, get a cloth and some water ready!”.

During the performance it is forbidden to speak, move, make comments. The audio is recorded with an enormous microphone that manages to “hear” even when you breathe, any interference would ruin the recording, and the same is true for the cameras. We need a video shoot of the dress rehearsal for the video archive, the serious Web sites, maybe for the final document. We have lots of ‘pieces’ that were recorded during the training session, we need a full rehearsal that is smooth, perfect.

In addition, the video will be seen and evaluated by ENI and CUAMM.

We cannot make a mistake!

And the group doesn’t make any mistakes at all!

The morning rehearsal is a success. Only two slight imperfections, that can only be noticed by insiders like us who have memorised the script and scenery of the performance.

Applause and thanks would be the best things to hear today.

* * *

Even the afternoon rehearsal goes well, with a small audience (Italian obviously, but Portuguese isn’t that difficult to understand…). The morning rehearsal was the most successful, the actors recite with pure enjoyment, even improvising some new movements.

* * *

It’s a success, I know when the audience should laugh, and hearing the people respond is the second most wonderful thing of the day.

* * *

After dinner. The goodbyes begin, the group leaves tomorrow. There’s a sentence, a prayer, a thank you for each one of us, and for each one of them, too. It has been a great adventure, truly great…that hasn’t quite finished but I don’t know if we will manage to live so closely to each other again for days and days. There are people, like the girls in the kitchen, who will never see the Mozambicans again, there will now be a tour in Mozambique, the training sessions in Italy have ended.

Jacopo steals the words from my mouth: “Italy talks a lot about integration, tolerance, we’ve shown that it isn’t really that difficult…”