Portals are gold shipping containers equipped with immersive audio-visual technology inside. When you enter one you come face-to-face with someone in another Portal and the two of you can talk, sing and dance as if in the same room WHY THE WORLD NEEDS PORTALS People aren't talking to each other. Hatred based on religious intolerance, xenophobia, sexuality-based bigotry and so much more rage on. If we do not meaningfully engage with people from different walks of life, our capacity for empathy weakens and divisions of class, race, and identity deepen. While new technologies allow us to connect across boundaries as never before, we too often use them to insulate ourselves in our own communities. By conversing through a Portal, participants step out of their daily routines and their comfort zones. Away from the distraction of cell phones and their peers, people swiftly connect across distances, real and imagined. They share a quiet moment. In these encounters, people learn about the “other” and about their own values, beliefs, and assumptions. The first Portal is between Hariwa Institute of Higher Education and Georgetown University, Washington DC. For more information Visit Hariwa Institute of Higher Education.