Valentine's Day & Sounds of Change's birthday
First of all, our hearts go out to everyone suffering from the consequences of the terrible and destructive earthquake in Syria and Turkey and the ongoing war in Ukraine.
We have previously worked in the current epicenter of the earthquake, Gaziantep - Turkey. And next month we will leave for a music training in Syria, close to the earthquake zone.
Today is not only Valentine's Day, it is also Sounds of Change's birthday. We started our foundation exactly 6 years ago today.
A little overview about our projects for this year:
Early next month we will leave to start our very first project in Syria, close to the Turkish and Iraqi borders. This year, we are providing multiple online and on-site training courses to first responders, teachers and mental health professionals who work with women and children in the Raqqa region. Together with Anne van den Ouwelant - Trauma Company we will facilitate a training program about the power of music, art and trauma sensitive work. We are carrying out this project in collaboration with the Norwegian People's Aid (NPA).
Next month we will also give a physical training session to the Bună Ziua team in Romania. Bună Ziua was founded in 1996 to provide structural help to children in children's homes and to children with autism in the Vaslui region of Romanian Moldova. Bună Ziua is currently also working with Ukrainian refugees on a daily basis. We will train their team to integrate the power of music into their work with children, youth and parents. This project is being carried out in collaboration with 'Team Up' and 'War Child.'
From April we will be working in Cyprus, where we will continue our training sessions with the 'War Child' Syria team. As well as starting new programs in Tunisia and Jordan. We will return to Syria later in 2023 and start a new project in Northern Iraq (Kurdistan).
This year we are continuing the weekly online webinars for Ukrainian teachers and psychologists, who work daily with clients and children in Ukraine.
This will continue for as long as our webinar participants benefit and feel supported by it. We have been giving these webinars in collaboration with Anne van den Ouwelant (Trauma Company) and Sander van Goor (Safe & Sound/Sounds of Change) since March 4th last year.
And another nice prospect for this year will be the beginning of a new training program with the Sounds of Change Academy this autumn. If you are interested in participating in our Academy, we will tell you more about it in a forthcoming newsletter.
If you haven't seen it yet, filmmaker Joris Postema has made a short film about our Sounds of Change Academy and the fantastic work our trainees have done at four asylum centres in the Netherlands. We hope that you’re as proud of it as we are.