Here are some photos from my volunteer trip to Kenya in January 2010.
In this picture, I'm playing the guitar with some of the children who lived at the orphanage. Mwangi was two years old at the time, and he loved to sing the ABC song with me. All the songs the children chose to sing were in English, and most of them had religious lyrics. This evidences the importance that religion and learning English have in their lives and schools.
Most of the children were familiar with iPods because former volunteers had brought them. There are so many ways that cultures can share music with one another!
On one of our last days in the country, we travelled to Nairobi (the capital of Kenya) and went to a performance of traditional Kenyan music. These are dancers from the Maasai tribe. A unique part of this dance is that they jump very high off the ground, and they wear these traditional red robes. Look how high that man jumped!
I have a strong interest in international music therapy-- especially in Africa. Is it hard to tell? The only music therapy degree available in Africa was founded in 2000 at the University of Pretoria in South Africa. It is a Masters Degree Program and is registered with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA). There are currently 33 registered music therapists in South Africa. The Music Therapy Community Clinic (MTCC) was founded in 2002, and it offers a wide variety of services to many age groups around Cape Town. It is very exciting to see how music therapy is spreading across the globe! Visit the MTCC website for more information: http://music-therapy.co.za/index.htm
Emily, I know you're a music therapy major, so I bet your trip to Africa was a fantastic hands-on experience. The pictures you took allowed me to get a good visual about what your trip must have been like. So, thank you! Are you considering applying for the Masters music therapy program in the university in Pretoria? Now that would be one incredible opportunity! :)
ReplyDeleteEmily, I'm also really interested in international music therapy, so it's really good to know that I have opportunities to go have experiences even before I leave Converse. I'd really like to work in Latin America, but from hearing African music in class, I'd love to talk to you about your experiences in Africa and think about that as a possibility too.
ReplyDeleteGreat pictures, Emily. I especially like the iPod one! FYI, there's also a Music Therapy program at the Royal Jordanian Conservatory--we got to know the main teacher while we were there last spring. I think it's great that the field is expanding into areas of the world where trauma is more common and the need perhaps greater.
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