Jonathan Bateman’s story from the HARP summer workshop 2009.

Having come off the Divine Principle workshop just three days earlier I was super stoked for another HARP workshop and it was really encouraged from the beginning of the workshop that people get that ‘half-way-through-the-workshop’ feel; as it wasn’t a long workshop, it was essential that the most had to be got out of the time we had together.

I think this really set the tone for the workshop: the spirit was amazing, boundaries were broken, people aged from 11 or 12 were happily spending their free time with people over the age of 20. The same went for the Divine Principle workshop; they both had a very high and comfortable familial atmosphere, where people were free to be themselves. The activities and lectures only enhanced this; people could really understand what it means to be a ‘Rebel with a Cause’ by connecting with the lectures but also their roots that are the first generation and True Parents, the original rebels. In the end everyone really invested his or her utmost to make it a great and memorable experience and words on a page can only convey a glimpse of the time we had.

Here’s the trailer for the workshop: