Monday 15 August 2011

Music in Kenya

It's been two weeks and a half since I arrived in Kenya and I feel like I've been here for forever. So far I've electrocuted myself, been attacked by various animals including warthogs and monkeys and kissed a giraffe. But most importantly, I've been teaching music to about 15 children at the Lighthouse Grace Academy, an orphanage and school for children from four to fourteen years of age. These children come from many different backgrounds where maybe their parents have died, or can't look after them. Or maybe they have been abused and were lucky enough to escape to Pastor Regina's school. For whatever reason, they are in this orphanage and I am here to teach them. 

At first it was hard, because they didn't know me, I didn't know them and everything seemed insignificant and small. But after a while you realise how much they enjoy being taught. How much they enjoy a small amount of time being dedicate solely to them to teach them something they can continue to use in their life. Something, which in the end, will be theirs for forever, as knowledge generally is. 

When we finished learning 'Run' by Snow Patrol, after just two days (of about an hour's learning in each) they wanted to sing it over and over again. It took me a while to realise just by smiling at one child I made them feel important or special. By telling them they were singing well, I was helping them glow. After a first few days more children started coming to sing - they were drawn in by the music and I was impressed by how quickly they would learn the lyrics and the tune. Pastor Regina would tell them how brilliantly they were singing in this newly formed choir. And they really were singing brilliantly. 





After only about a week (for the first few days we did group work) they learnt three songs - 'Run', 'The Water is Wide' and 'Edelweiss' and can sing them without help from me. You can't really change the situation these children are in; we can't give them homes or parents or tell them whatever happened to them in their lives wasn't real, but it seems that through music - whether it be the music they sing in church or the music I teach them for a few hours each day - they find a comfort or a certain freedom where they don't need anything else except their voices.