Thursday September 20
Today we flew to Cape Town to begin our tour of Stephen
Lewis Foundation projects there.
Alexanne Tingley and Juanita van Wyk arranged for us to be
picked up on Thursday afternoon to take us to the Music Therapy Community
Clinic (MTCC). Although music therapy
programs are well established in places like Canada, in South Africa there are
very few of them available. There are only
45 in the whole country and most are private organizations. MTCC is the only community based, non-profit
program in South Africa.
However, the Music Therapy program makes up only part of
what MTCC does. They run clinical music
therapy sessions, after school programs, and conduct training and capacity
building workshops.
The Vision of MTCC:
for children and young people to generate hope and possibilities for their
lives through shared engagements with music.
Mission of MTCC: to
join with communities by offering therapeutic services, and creating and
strengthening musical resources and support networks to benefit some of Cape
Town’s most vulnerable and marginalized children and young people.
Here are some of the communities they have worked with in
the past year:
·
Home from Home – a non-profit organization that
provides a network of foster homes in Khayelitsha the third largest township in
South Africa. The MTCC runs an after school music program that includes gumboot
dancing and African musical groups.
·
Nomzamo Place of Safety in Langa is a sanctuary
for babies and children under the age of six who have been removed from abusive
home environments. The MTCC offers
individual and group music therapy sessions.
·
Etafani Centre in Nyanga is a multi-purpose
community centre for children affected by HIV and AIDS and their
caregivers. The MTCC runs and after
school music programs at the centre. OPSEU delegates visited the Etafani
centre.
At MTCC there is a total of 9 staff which includes 4 music
therapists, 1 community musician and one developer. They provide services to specific sites and
many of these sites are working with children with HIV/AIDS. The beneficiaries of this program number 667
people. This type of therapy assists in
dealing with traumas, by allowing children to express one’s grief, loss,
etc. The shared experiences of trauma
are particularly successful and 50 % of the music therapy sessions are group
sessions. The problems these youth are
facing include abuse, fetal alcohol syndrome, abuse, HIV/AIDS etc.
The Music for Life program is a huge success. This is a
program which has taken kids off the streets, away from drugs and bags. Alex
quoted at the beginning, “Children seldom need a good talking to; they need a
good listening to!” MTCC creates a kind
of Music for Life Island for 6 to 14 year olds.
The kids are formed into either drumming group or a marimba group (with
huge wooden xylophone-like instruments.) The values the kids learn are things
like sharing, love, caring, respect and fun.
MTCC holds an annual camp for kids which is very popular –
and a Youth Forum where young people can have a say about their future, issues
of gender, etc.
After an hour with Juanita and Alexannne explaining the
programs run by MTCC, they drove us to the Etafani Centre in Nyanga township to
see one of their bands ready to perform for our visit.
Usually women don’t play the marimba. It is a striking instrument, carved out of
wood but something like a wooden xylophone.
We were treated to some amazing music from the marimba players and then
tried playing and dancing ourselves (with the help of the young students who
had great fun with us). Three of these young women marimba payers are heading
to Toronto in early November to perform at the Stephen Lewis major fundraising
Gala. What wonderful music they played
for us. It was very difficult to tear ourselves away!
We thanked Alexanne for the afternoon and headed back home,
our heads filled with the beautiful sounds of the marimba.
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