Wijs, from Brussels, noted that her son reacted to the news coverage of the Westgate shopping mall attack in Nairobi, Kenya in a manner she described as "matter-of-fact, very distanced way", differing from "the emotional way an adult would react to such news." Wijs watched the BBC documentary "Children of Beslan" and noted the interview subjects, all children who survived the Beslan incident, reacted in manners similar to that of her child. She decided to make a play for children about Beslan. Wijs used her own son as a barometer for making the play, and she believed she was more courageous in writing the play as she was not accustomed to writing for children.