Newsletter No. 35! (from Kasese)

February 2013

 

Hello after a long absence!  I’m sorry it has been almost a year since I wrote.  That is partly because I wanted to meet Betty and Vince, MPM’s arts therapists, in person and hear in detail what they have been doing.  It is also because I went back to the UK for four months to give birth to our second born son, Jonah.

 

In February 2013 I had our first MPM AGM with both Betty and Vince.  I will summarize, because the meeting went on through breakfast and lunch and was very long and detailed!  The sad news is that Betty is leaving us in order to move back to eastern Uganda where her three children and husband live.  She has served MPM for four years and worked with four European MPM volunteers in that time.  I now have the job of trying to replace her from my home in western Uganda, two days’ drive away from Gulu!

 

In other news, Vince and Betty have done some ground-breaking art therapy and music therapy collaborations with some wonderful results.  I will outline them below:

 

Cubu primary school

Betty and Vince were told by the teachers that a parent had complained about the therapy sessions, saying that they were doing witch-craft!  The reason is that there was a small instrument in the shape of a chicken thigh (where do they get these things!) that Betty was using in an imaginative-play game.  The child had gone and told his parent about it and the parent thought it was a fetish for witchcraft!  After clearing this matter up Betty and Vince were allowed to continue work but confined to large, open groups.  They have therefore been working with a class of 100 kids doing wide-open music sessions outside in the field combined with related art sessions in the classroom.  It is challenging, but they are meeting the challenges as they come!

 

Prison special needs school:

There have been some problems with the school management that have meant that sessions here have not been happening as often as we would like.  These have now been sorted out and sessions resume as normal.

 

Laroo Addra deaf unit:

There are some interesting ideas about how to use music and art with these deaf children at Laroo Addra school.   Vince is going to put paint down in trays on the floor with paper directly after it, also on the floor.  Then the children get in a circle and do one of their traditional dances, which usually go round in circles.  They will be accompanied by a large cow-drum that some of them are able to hear and other can watch the rhythm of it as they dance round.  They will them be able to see the music they created through the art, if not actually hear it with their ears!

 

Gulu remand home:

There has been some very interesting work going on at the remand home including a series of home-visits by Betty and Vince to try to mediate between a boy in the remand home and his father.  Through one of the music and art sessions, the boy came to Betty and started talking to her.  It transpired that he had fallen out with his father, who had come to his wits end and handed the boy over to the police for repeated thefts.  Betty was able to visit the father on the boy’s behalf, then talk again with the boy, offering the father’s point of view.  The boy’s story needs a follow-up but it seems that he was let out after his short stint in the home and now he lives again with his father, having built their bridges again!  It’s funny where music therapy ends up!

 

Another good art-music collaboration was when the children created a piece of artwork in a session themed around personality and identity then at the end they were told to take away the picture and compose a song to perform to their friends at the next session.  All the children did it and the themes that came out were at times inspiring and challenging.  One of the boys came with a song about how much he hates his mother and why he will never be able to tell her – or anyone – about his experiences in prison.  This led Vince to follow up with a session about anger and forgiveness and later, a session about faith and writing letters to God (whoever they perceived ‘god’ to be).

 

 

As usual:

Due to the additional member of staff, I need to continue to find more funding and new supporters as the cost of employing another therapist is around £100 per month.  If you are willing to contribute a one-off donation or become a monthly supporter, please get in touch with me to find out how (either at my normal email address or at musicforpeacefulminds@yahoo.co.uk).  Thank you to everyone who has contributed, and especially to the current monthly supporters for your support.  You can visit http://musicforpeacefulminds.blogspot.com for more background information and pictures.

 

For those who pray:

·       Pray for the young people in the remand home as they go through this difficult time of imprisonment, and for Vince and Betty as they works with them.

·       Pray that by the time Betty leaves in April there is someone to take her place.

Newsletter Number 34 - March 2012

Newsletter No. 34! (from Gulu)

March 2012

The last time I wrote, in January, I informed you that Vincent Okuja, an art counselor, would be joining the MPM team with his very up-to-date and relevant experience of working with people in very difficult circumstances.  His previous client groups include not only the Acholi people affected by war-trauma, but those of the Karamojong tribe living in very traditional cultures with all the dangers and difficulties that entails such as changing values and severe droughts.

Gulu Remand Home

I am in Gulu at the moment visiting Vince and helping him find his feet.  Having already worked in Gulu, though, Vince has not only found his feet but is already learning to fly with MPM!  I visited his second art therapy session in the remand home I had mentioned in the last newsletter where he had 25 teenage boys and a teenage girl.  The session involved the teens drawing a poster advertising themselves either as they see themselves or as they want to see themselves.  They then discussed the results, sometimes with much hilarity (“you want a square head, then?” mocked one boy!) and with much seriousness (“my brother was cut – that’s why I have drawn him that way.”)

The remand home is basically a juvenile home where children are kept as they go in and out of court awaiting verdicts, or where they stay as a result of their verdicts.  They stay at the very simple residence for between a couple of weeks and six months.  Some are there for simple theft because of being unwelcome at home for a whole host of reasons and therefore having to make their way on the street.  Some are there for defilement or aggravated defilement and some are there for murder.  It is heartbreaking to hear the stories and to find these teenagers (mostly boys but there are a handful of girls) living on the edge of society in a government institution where there is no funding for activities for them to do.  They have either been disowned by their families or they lost their families during the LRA war.

The money given to the remand home by the government is only enough for food and the director was asking me for funding for them to improve their sanitation as they don’t have enough money for soap of any kind.  I have put them in touch with the Ugandan Christian Lawyers Fraternity (UCLF) which is supported by the Baptist Union of Uganda (who I am currently working with in Kasese) in the hope that they can help lobby the government for proper funding for the remand home.  The staff also face the obvious challenges of violence and aggression in the home but, as visitors and people who have something fun and constructive for them to do, we didn’t witness any of their aggression and we saw that they could be friendly and sociable young people.  It is good for the staff to see them this way too.  Vince is doing two morning sessions there per week and when Betty returns to Gulu she will add music therapy to the program,  either combined with Vince’s art therapy or on alternate weeks or days but with related themes.

Prison Primary School Special Needs

I also visited Vince’s art therapy group at Prison Primary School’s Special Needs Unit (remember it’s not a prison, it’s next to a prison!)  The children have such diverse needs ranging from children who are pretty capable educationally but socially unable to fit in to mainstream school, to those who are profoundly autistic and struggle to participate even in the special needs unit.  Vince was doing an activity with the whole group.  They had to draw what they could based on what they wanted for their future.  Again there was the comedy (yet with underlying sadness) “I want to be a smoker” then the more serious “I want to be a nurse” juxtapositions.  Vince discussed the outcomes with the children and gave space for them to vent their frustrations at being forgotten in a society that gives very little attention to children with special needs.

A Marriage of Arts

Vince, Betty and I have talked about how art and music can work together to complement each other and how that will work practically.  It is exciting to watch as the two have ideas about how they can combine live music with live art.  Betty is not yet back from maternity leave but when she is I will be avidly watching this space to see how they both get on.

Kony 2012

Some of you will have watched the “Kony 2012” video that has been causing news around the world.  If you have seen it, regardless of what we think of the controversy that surrounds it, you will have learned something about the horrors of the LRA’s conflict in northern Uganda.  It is those children who were traumatised by Kony’s rebels that MPM has been working with since 2008.  I have to stress, though, that the LRA are no longer active in Uganda and have not been since 2006, but are now committing similar atrocities in the vast jungles of the Central African Republic (CAR), South Sudan and the Democratic Repupblic of Congo (DRC).  MPM is working hard to help people return to good mental health in Gulu, but I certainly have in mind that there are other places where MPM could be useful.  Whilst chatting to Vince today, he revealed he is keen to chase up a contact he has in the new Republic of South Sudan to try to do some peripatetic work under MPM’s name with ex-child soldiers there.

As usual:

Due to the additional member of staff, I need to continue to find more funding and new supporters as the cost of employing another therapist is around £100 per month.  If you are willing to contribute a one-off donation or become a monthly supporter, please get in touch with me to find out how (either at my normal email address or at musicforpeacefulminds@yahoo.co.uk).  Thank you to everyone who has contributed, and especially to the current monthly supporters for your support.  You can visit http://musicforpeacefulminds.blogspot.com for more background information and pictures.

Newsletter number 33- January 2012

Newsletter No. 33! (from Kasese)
January 2012

In the last newsletter I wrote about Ana Navarro, a volunteer from Spain who stayed in Gulu for almost three months.  She has now returned to Spain, after having worked hard to help a tired and very heavily pregnant Betty to learn new skills and ideas and at times fighting the apathy in schools to help MPM keep time and boundaries of therapy.   I don’t think she’d mind me saying that she found it exhausting to be constantly reminding both Betty and the schools that timing, consistency, privacy and good referrals and evaluations are important for therapy and that just because it rains doesn’t mean you don’t turn up for work/school!  However, she was able to offer new ideas to a distracted Betty, which she can use once she comes back to work in the new year with a new baby.  She also enjoyed working in the schools that are much more supportive of MPM such as Laroo Adra, the school with the deaf unit.

Betty and Ana went to Kitgum to check on the staff that Jantina Bijpost and Neysa Navarro-Fernandez trained in 2010.  They were pleased to find that there was one man who had been championing the cause of Music Therapy in the special needs school by running regular music sessions for the children.  Evidence of this could be seen when Ana and Betty ran a group there and the children clearly knew what to do and expect.

When MPM has volunteers it helps me not only to offer Betty a companion and colleague, but to also re-evaluate what MPM does and how it does it.  Here are some thoughts that Ana, Betty and I have had throughout Ana’s recent time in Gulu: 

Length of groups:

The groups had run for one term each since we started in 2008.  Ana found that out of her potential 10 weeks of therapy, she saw some of the groups only twice!  This was due to typical Ugandan things such as national holidays springing up without warning; heavy rains causing children and staff not to turn up to school; exams and revision leave; inability to pay school fees or wear correct uniform so being sent; the man with the key to the music room has gone; the room has not been cleaned amongst other things, some more believable than others!  We agreed that, in order to benefit the children’s need for small-group time with a counselor and to give them the familiarity and space they need to get to the deeper problems facing them at this time in this place, they should meet for a whole school year.  As I wrote in the last newsletter, we will also change the referral system so that the most needy children are being referred by the teachers or parents.  (This is difficult because teachers with over 100 pupils in their class can’t know everyone individually so some children may fall through the net and others may have therapy when they don’t have much need for it.)

New MPM therapist

Our new art therapist is going to join MPM in February, which I’m very excited about.  He is bringing to the table art therapy experience from having worked in Gulu, Karamojong (a very interesting and complex pastoral tribe in the north-east facing many types of problems) and other parts of the country.  He is around the same age as Betty (30s) but has more energy (that also comes of not having three children!) and a much more modern outlook in terms of drawing information and ideas from online reports and websites and really understanding issues of the youth he will be working with.

New place of work

When Betty was at hospital for a scan of her baby, she met a contact who worked in what I believe to be a centre for children with social problems (I’m unclear as yet but more information will follow).  In the new term Vince will go and get more information and details from this place and see if it is possible to work there.  It is good timing that this opportunity has presented itself because one of the original schools that MPM works in (Laroo Boarding) has failed so many times to help and offer support to MPM staff and it has become impossible to work there.  Corruption and discontent among the staff and a lack of care for the children’s well-being has been worrying (and in two cases fatal when two children died of malaria because of lack of staff attention).  Betty has been trying so hard to keep the work going, and Ana also pulled her hair out trying to care for the children, but we have come to the conclusion that the problem is firstly too bit for MPM to work with and secondly is out of our hands and needs to be dealt with directly by the government (it is one of only a few government secondary schools in the country).  We gave the teachers warnings about how they need to support MPM staff but nothing has changed so MPM will no longer work there.  It is so sad to not be able to reach the children, but as a tiny CBO there is very little we can do.

 As usual:

Due to the additional member of staff, I need to find more funding and new supporters as the cost of another therapist is around £100 per month.  If you are willing to contribute a one-off donation or become a monthly supporter, please get in touch with me to find out how (musicforpeacefulminds@yahoo.co.uk.  Thank you to everyone who has contributed, and especially to the current monthly supporters for your support, and please continue to stand with me at this time of exciting change.

A new employee

Good news!  An artist who I was head-hunting has agreed to take on a new post with MPM as arts therapist to complement Betty Acen, our existing Music Counsellor!  This is bringing much refreshment and a new sense of direction to MPM.  To be continued...!

Newsletter number 32 September 2011

Newsletter No. 32! (from Gulu)
September 2011

I have just returned from Gulu to deposit a Spanish volunteer Music Therapist.  I was very impressed with Ana Navarro, a recent graduate of Music Therapy, from the moment she climbed gratefully out of the taxi from the airport after a three-hour detour around Kampala (having been delivered to the wrong place!) until the moment I left her cycling around Gulu as if she had been born to be there.  She took everything in her stride, at least it seemed from the outside even if she was hiding her fear!  Betty was also very impressed and was looking forward to working with Ana and learning from her too.
Betty is also looking forward to an addition to her family: her third-born.  In true African style, the subject of her pregnancy came about completely accidentally as we were discussing family-planning.  “Do people do family planning in Gulu?” asked my pastor, Alphonse.  “Yes,” replied Betty.  “I can tell,” I added, “you only have two children Betty.”  “Well I would like to add one” said Betty quietly.  “Oh, that’s nice.”  I said matter-of-factly.  “I may even surprise you in December.” She replied, seeming relieved to have got it off her chest!  “Wow!”  I breathed.  “That would make you… five months pregnant?!”  “We African women don’t need too much time when a baby is born, we just carry on with our work!”  Betty laughed, as if reading my mind!  Ha ha!  Well, this week in Gulu was going to be a week of re-thinking strategies anyway, but now there was a huge impetus to do so.  Let me start from the beginning.
The Beginning:
Music for Peaceful Minds was started to serve the counseling needs of children affected by the traumatic effects of a civil war that had lasted over twenty years.  MPM started after a reccy visit with Jenni Ramos and the input of an initial Music Therapist volunteer Nicky Haire in SOS Children’s Villages, Gulu.  I was quickly joined by Dutch Music Therapist, Jantina Bijpost, and was rapidly invited to work in other schools and orphanages around Gulu. 
Then there was Betty:
After eight months, Jantina Bijpost trained a Ugandan teacher, Betty Acen, in how to use music as therapy.  Betty continued the therapy work, being joined by other volunteers over the course of the following three years: Chia-Ling Ho, Neysa Navarro-Fernandez and now Ana Navarro.
The Development of the Work:
We started working with orphans and therefore people who were not only suffering from war-trauma but also living with the trauma of not having been able to make good attachments with parents.  We then began working with children who had been abducted or abused by rebel soldiers, most presenting with PTSD.  We then started working with children with disabilities in a special-needs unit of a mainstream school.  Another orphanage followed and a unit for deaf children.  Some training in Kitgum in 2010 for teachers at a special-needs unit led me to thinking that work with disabled children might be a good way to move forward considering that the war ended in 2006.  It is true that war-trauma can last for long, even to the next generation, so this will always be an underlying aim of MPM, but I believe that there are a few other NGOs working with the traumatised population but not enough working to help the creativity and expansion of resources for children with disabilities.
Changing Tack:
With these thoughts in mind, I met with the various head-teachers of the schools that MPM currently works in and talked through a new referral strategy that we agreed to implement.  Instead of children referring themselves for music therapy with Betty, teachers will be consulted more vigorously to ensure that the children who need the most emotional support benefit from what music therapy has to offer.  The groups had become a bit haphazard and seemed to lack a purpose other than for the more general aims of enjoyment and socializing.  In discussion with the head-teachers, the agreement was made that each small music therapy group would consist of children with similar needs or problems so that Betty can really focus on the aim in hand and that the children can gain support from knowing that they are not the only ones coping with a particular problem.  It is in my mind, too, to lengthen the group-work from a short 10 weeks to at least 6 months so that Betty really has time to work with the children and help them to deal with their challenges in depth.  In order to do this we must wait firstly until the next school year (they go Jan to Dec here) and secondly until Betty comes back from maternity leave with her baby (due late Dec).
I have been thinking for a long time about getting a second Music Counsellor to work alongside Betty, because it can be a very lonely job and with no one to bounce ideas or difficult situations off, the job can be too hard.  I have not done so before because the right person has not presented him/herself to me and I have not been in a position to search and conduct interviews so Betty has had to cope on her own.
The Future:
So with the new referral system and a potential second Music Counsellor in place, MPM is set to take a slightly different direction.  The dream person I have in mind to take the job of second Music Counsellor is an art therapist and could bring a new dimension to the music therapy, bringing art therapy and a variety of other skills to the table.  It is well-known that art and music go well together and I am excited about the potential of MPM being able to offer another medium of communication for children both in mainstream and special needs schools.  Even if my dream-person who I have in mind cannot take the position, I will be looking for someone special to join Betty in the new year, when she returns from maternity leave.
In view of this potential exciting change to MPM, I need to find more funding and new supporters as the cost of another therapist is around £100 per month.  If you are willing to contribute a one-off donation or become a monthly supporter, please get in touch with me to find out how (musicforpeacefulminds@yahoo.co.uk.  Thank you to everyone who has contributed, and especially to the current monthly supporters for your support, and please continue to stand with me at this time of exciting change.

Newsletter Number 31 August 2011

Newsletter No. 31! (from Western Uganda)

August 2011

I am currently in my house in Kasese, Western Uganda, preparing a program for MPM’s volunteer from Spain who will be working with Betty in Gulu from September until December.  You may remember from the last newsletter that her name is Ana.  I will be picking her up from Kampala and taking her to Gulu, along with our pastor in Kasese who wants to visit MPM to get an idea of how music therapy can work in the west.   I will stay with Ana for a week to help her settle into a house where I have rented a room for her (to be house-mates with a British girl).  I will introduce her to Betty and then after my week there Betty will take Ana under her wing and they will begin their program of working together.  Betty will provide Ana with experience of working in Uganda while Ana will teach Betty all she knows about Music Therapy!

The Work

I had a wonderful impromptu letter from Addra School (the one that has the unit for deaf children).  It is letters like this that make the work all worthwhile even if it seems as though we are only a drop in the enormous ocean.  When I am there in September I will also be doing some evaluation of Betty’s work and meeting the children to hear their experiences of MPM.

Betty

Betty has now finished her final exams or her masters and is awaiting her results.  Her masters in Guidance and Counseling will no doubt have helped her enormously with her work, but on the music side she is sometimes weak.  When Ana comes she is hoping to teach Betty to play a little on the guitar (and leave one for her) in order that Betty can have more musical experience and use that in her work.  It can be easy for Betty to use games and stories more than music and while that is still beneficial for the children, I don’t want the power that music has to offer being left out of the group-work.  I hope that Ana will reinvigorate Betty in her musical endeavors.

So, now it is time for me to get back to the chickens, Chui (‘leopard’ in Swahili) and Tangawizi (‘Ginger’ in Swahili), and our little Baluku (‘first born son’ in local Lukongho language!) and prepare the shamba (garden) for our new addition, a goat that will be called Mchomo (‘Kebab’ in Swahili!)

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 will get photos and anecdotes from Gulu when I visit to put in the next newsletter.

Letter of Appreciation

The following is an extract from a letter sent to me by staff at a school where MPM is working wtih the children in the special deaf unit:

"The Head teacher at Laroo Primary School, School Management together with all the teaching staff at the school would like to thank the organisation Music for Peaceful Minds for the great support given to the school especially the unit section for the Deaf on the music items. This has made a very good improvement to these children to develop skills and talents to play different instruments whereby creativity among children has been seen.
All the items given are of good quality which have enhanced children's interest and active participation.
If the resource still permits, we still request your office to continue supporting these children with hearing impairments."