Newsletter No. 30! (from Kampala)
Hello supporters and welcome back, after another long silence, to the MPM newsletter! My last letter was written just after the birth of my son, Samuel, on June 17th last year and now we are coming up to celebrating his 1st birthday! A slight twist in the tale that some may not know is that we are now living in Uganda! We are working with BMS World Mission in Kasese, western Uganda. Read on to see how this does – and does not – affect MPM in Gulu.
The Work
Betty continued the work that she helped Tina and Neysa to set up in a deaf unit of Addra school in Gulu. She has struggled with the staff who sometimes refuse to translate (sign language) without extra payment, even though they should be teaching their classes anyway. The children love the music therapy and although it is more usual to work with deaf children in the UK with amplifiers and technology, Betty manages with a big African drum and a huge amount of enthusiasm and love.
At the moment there are two groups in Cubu primary school (for your memories, this is the school some few miles out of town on a dirt road where a lot of children have experienced first-hand the terrors of the rebel movement only 5 or so years ago). Betty is also running four groups of six children at a special needs unit called Prisons primary school (remember it is next to a prison, not in one) where she is accepted as part of the staff team and much respected by the parents, who are offered advice about how to play with their children. There are also two groups at Laroo primary school, one of the first we worked at back in 2008. As well as doing these groups and writing their reports, feeding back to the staff and buying new instruments for the schools, Betty is coming to the end of her MPM-sponsored Guidance Counselling Masters and will be graduating from East African University later this year.
The Training Program
The training in Kitgum that was done by Betty, Tina and Neysa last year still bears fruit. Of course there were some of the trained team who were less enthusiastic than others but there was at least one person from each place (counseling centre and special needs boarding school) who were excited by the music counseling concept and started running it in their organisations.
Volunteer
I had an enquiry a year ago from a Spanish music therapy trainee who wanted to volunteer with MPM and I told her to get back to me when she had finished training. She has now finished and did indeed contact me again. We are in the process of arranging for her to come to Gulu to work with Betty in order that she can share her skills with Betty and at the same time take some of what Ugandan music has to offer back with her to Spain. We hope that she will come in September for three months and, since she’ll be there partly during the school holidays, we hope she will run a holiday music-making club with some of the children at the orphanages or in the villages. More news of Ana to follow.
I also had an email from a British musician in Kampala, Frances, who had heard about MPM from one of the conferences I spoke at. She contacted me when she heard that I was coming to Uganda as she is teaching at Kampala Music School and we are going to meet to share ideas and make sure none of us are re-inventing the wheel! She also said that I could play in the Kampala Orchestra whenever I was in town!
Instruments
Betty went shopping for new instruments for some of the schools so they received new locally hand-made instruments from MPM in order that there is no excuse for music not to take place!
I am giving Betty a pay-rise later this year to reflect both her masters and the huge inflation that has taken place with the Ugandan shilling, but with exchange rates as they are, this doesn’t make much difference to the amount it costs in pounds:
Betty’s monthly salary: £95
Betty’s expenses (bodas, bicycle, internet): £15
New instruments: xylophone £30, drums £6-£40, harps £20.
Living expenses for a volunteer per month: £100
If you would like to donate please reply to this email and I will be more than happy to tell you MPM’s bank details. Thank you for your continued support both moral and financial. I am hoping to visit Gulu later this year so I will get photos and anecdotes for the next newsletter.
Bethan!
For those who pray:
· Praise God that MPM is still running, meeting children’s emotional needs in Gulu and inspiring interest in strangers!
· Pray that Ana can come from Spain to work with Betty and expand both hers and Betty’s knowledge and experience
· Hope that a useful link with Frances offers support and new ideas for MPM
