SVP, 2012

If I’m being honest, I have to say that my months (and years) in Northern Ireland have been more frustrating than in any other country.  I have centers who enthusiastically sign up for the free music program and are very excited about it, until it comes time to actually do it and they find out that it’s a bit of work for the volunteers who will be helping me teach–they will need to have training sessions with me, memorize the notes, practice the instruments, practice teaching, help teach, and ultimately BE teachers for the children.  Self esteem is a big problem here in Northern Ireland, and even those who really want to help often find themselves giving reasons to quit because they don’t believe that they can actually do it.

But when it comes together it’s magic. And this week was magic.

SVP, April 2012

Local volunteer Maud helping student, SVP 2012

St. Vincent de Paul (SVP) is one of the centers doing our music program.  They are in an area of Belfast called Turf Lodge, and work with some of Northern Ireland’s most disadvantaged children.  These children face persistent poverty, social exclusion, drugs, and violence every day.  The SVP center runs a breakfast club, an afterschool center, and summer programs for the children.  It’s a great place.

Kids excited to learn! SVP 2012

I’ve been working with SVP since 2004, whenever we’ve had enough funding to send me to Northern Ireland.  Currently they have four staff members who are receiving the SMF training so they can help me teach now, and teach on their own when I’m gone.  The older (6-11) children are all in harmonica class, and the younger children join us for singing.

Singing "Gum Gooley Gooley" at SVP, April 2012

Early this week in the singing class, Sonyia, the head childcare worker at SVP, who has been part of our programs since 2004, suggested I teach the children the song “Gum Gooley Gooley”.  This is a great song that includes a story about traveling across the desert, making faces, and spitting like a camel.  The kids loved it.

SVP staff member Adam helps student on harmonica, April 2012

When I came back a couple of days later for the harmonica class, the children were in the break room getting their afternoon toast.  As I walked up the stairs, I could hear the children singing.  When I got closer, I realized they were singing “Gum Gooley Gooley” at the top of their lungs, and having a great time.  It was so awesome!!

SVP staff member Eoin helping harmonica student, April 2012

Because SVP is quite far away from any Protestant areas, and don’t have any transportation, they aren’t able to participate in weekly cross-community programs.  But they always participate in concerts and try to participate activities with the other groups.

Group Photo After Harmonica Class, SVP, April 2012 The SVP staff and volunteers in the back row are Martine, Eoin, Sonyia & Maud

Next time I’ll write about yesterday, our magical day bringing the children from two centers (one Catholic, one Protestant) together for the first time!

Click here: new Cambel Video

Pennywhistle Students at Gulu Central Elementary School, March 2012

Burim has been in Uganda since February, and he is doing amazing things there.  We are running programs in 4 schools and also working with former child soldiers who have never attended school, and street children who can’t attend school.  We are iworking with children in Gulu and also in the Pabo IDP Camp.

Youth Volunteer Isaac Helps Burim Teach at Gulu Central Elementary School, March 2012

This theft is a big blow to us.  We do not own many things.  Our money is stretched very tightly to run our programs, and I don’t know how we are going to replace these items.  Our programs in Uganda are going so well, but we are finding that we need to send Burim to Uganda twice per year in order to build up our programs enough that they will be able to run independently.  I thought our biggest struggle this year would be raising the extra $15,000 we need to return Burim to Uganda in the fall, but with this theft we now need to raise additional money to replace these items.  And we need to replace them as quickly as possible.

Can you help?  Any donation would be greatly appreciated.  You can donate online through our paypal account using this link: http://www.shropshirefoundation.org/donate/  or you can mail a donation to 1123 Torreon Drive E.; Litchfield Park, AZ  85340.

Former Child Soldiers who Can't Read or Write, Now Learning to Read and Play Music, March 2012

Thank you for making our Uganda program happen.  Thank you for all that you do to give these children who have known nothing but violence, a chance for peace.  Peace within themselves and peace in their communities as they become peacemakers and teachers of peace in their schools, camps, and communities.  They are amazing children and they all want to work to make the world a better place.

I love you all.

Liz

Pabo IDP Camp "Street Children" In our Music Classes, Feb 2012

Feb 23, 2012:  It feels great to be back in Uganda and start teaching again!  This year we started a new program at the Gulu Public Primary School, and we are still at Gulu Central High school and the Pabo IDP Camp.

First Meeting At Gulu Public Primary (Elementary) School, Feb 2012

In Pabo we added a new primary school, so now our music program is in two primary [elementary] schools in Pabo–Agole Primary and Labala Primary Schools.  The village of Labala is about 10 miles from the Pabo camp. We are also teaching the “street kids” of the Pabo camp (children who don’t go to school)  and we are now trying to bring the street kids and the school kids together in one class, and this is working very well.  They all like it this way, and even though these “street kids” don’t go to school, they come for our program and all the children have fun together. We decided to try this because it takes so long to get to Pabo from Gulu and we want to teach as many children there as possible.

Pabo Camp, Feb 2012: Youth Volunteer Isaac Getting Children Ready for Music Class

We also have a new group of young adults to train.  They are “dropouts”–they all either quit school or never attended.  They are also in the village of Labala, near Pabo.  There are no organizations doing anything for the children or teenagers of Labala, so the school director is letting us use the school to teach this group.   The first class with them was very challenging, because they do not speak English and they can’t write or read, even though they are all between 18 and 25 years old.  Fortunately I had Cambel (one of our youth volunteers) there to help me, and the next time I had Denis and Isaac helping (all are young volunteers from Gulu).

Youth Volunteer Denis Talking to the Labale "Dropout" Group, Feb 2012

I also taught my first class (of this trip) in Gulu Central High School, where I met some of our old students.   I went there last week and together with the teacher Margaret Atimango, who is in charge of our program at Gulu Central, entered each classroom and gave a short presentation and announced that new students could register. 120 students signed up to attend our classes before I even started teaching!   At Gulu Central our program is now officially part of their school program, but the students are not required to join the music program– it is only for those who want to come. Irene, our Youth Volunteer who goes to school at Gulu Central, helps me teach there, and we are going to have to teach two groups now, the group of our old students and the new students who have signed up to attend our classes.  I’m really looking forward to working with Irene at Gulu Central, and the other volunteers at our other locations!

Burim with the Pabo Camp Children After Music Class, Feb 2012

By Burim Vraniqi

Walk To Work Protests in Kampala, Uganda, April 2011

I left Uganda last year at the end of April. This was right after Uganda had held elections, and the country was not stable. “Walk to work” protests, protesting the extremely high prices of gas and food, were happening all over Uganda and because they had become violent, with many people getting arrested even in Gulu, I had to leave one week earlier than planned. After I left, the youth volunteers continued the program until December, when they went home for the long holiday break.

I am now back in Uganda. I arrived in Entebbe airport at around 2.30am on Sunday February 4.  I stayed in Kampala for two days trying to get my Typhoid immunization, (because the one I had from before had expired) but the Kampala hospital told me to wait till the next week to get it and I wanted to get back to Gulu.  A friend said I could get the vaccination in Gulu, so I headed to Gulu and the first thing I did on this trip was to get my typhoid vaccination.

Burim with Youth Volunteer Isaac at Pabo IDP Camp, Feb 2012

Then I met with the youth volunteers–not all of them at the same time, because some of them have jobs now and some of them go to school–and they were all so happy that I am back in Gulu so we can continue the job we started together.

Later that week I taught some volunteer training, but most of the time we spent together was trying to set up a schedule that will work well for the next two months I am in here. We want to include as much as we can in our schedule, and so the first week was meeting schools, teachers, students and getting things ready to start.

Gulu Public Elementary School, one of the schools where we teach

We have finished the schedule now, and I will be very busy.  We will be teaching in two schools in Gulu, two schools in the Pabo IDP camp, classes for the street kids in Pabo camp, the teenage dropouts living in and around the Pabo IDP camp, and while I’m here I will also be doing a LOT of youth volunteer training, including a new group of teenagers who live in a village near the Pabo camp.  The schools are very happy to have our program there and are really helping to set up programs in each school.

Gulu changed during the months I was gone.  It is amazing how much building is happening–there is now a big new Supermarket and at least three new hotels.

Downtown Gulu, February 2012

And like I said last year, every time I come back here the prices have gone higher and higher, and this time it is even worse–everything seems to be more expensive.

Electricity and water are still a problem though–we don’t have very much of either.  But I guess I am now used to it, and I love it here.  I’m so happy to be back.

Starting Monday I will be teaching the classes and will write about the experience at each school. I think this is going to be a very successful trip to Uganda.

Last Day of Training with Part of the Group. They are awesome!

BYU Hawaii is an amazing place.  It is the smallest of the 3 BYU campuses, with less than 3,000 students enrolled each semester.  I believe they have the most diverse student body of any university in America.  Over 70 countries are represented, including all of the Pacific Island countries, most Asian countries, much of Africa, Eastern Europe, South America, and the Middle East.  It is a unique experience to be on the BYU Hawaii campus and see students from all around the world interacting, studying, having fun, and helping each other.

Winnett, from Zimbabwe, practicing with Xu from China and Natalia from the US

Twice I have given a campus-wide devotional at BYU Hawaii.  Both times, after I finished speaking, a long line of students formed to talk to me.  Both times, most of the students asked if I could bring the SMF program to their country, where it was desperately needed.

I have to admit that after 12 years of doing this, I thought SMF would be in more countries than 3.  But we have been having a really rough time of fund raising for the last few years.  Our donations are down so much that we’ve had to scale back what we can do, and we even had to put our N Ireland program on hiatus until this year.

Nilo, from the Philippines, practicing teaching notes

BYU Hawaii has a peace-building certificate that you can earn in addition to your major.  It is run by Chad Ford, who gets the students to reach out to needy communities of Hawaii with service, and prepares them to return home to their countries after graduation as peace-builders.

So after the last time I spoke, Chad asked if I would be willing to return to BYU Hawaii to teach his students how to teach my program.  I kept thinking about this and realized this was an amazing opportunity to offer SMF training to the BYU Hawaii students, especially those from countries who had experienced war or extreme violence.

I emailed the students from Congo, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, Iran, Philippines, Uganda and all the countries I identified as places that need our program.  I told these students that I was going to offer a week of free training and that if they stayed with the program and continued to do training with me when I returned every 6 months, when they graduated I would give them instruments and music to take home so they could start a SMF program in their home country.

Practicing Conducting the Class: Amanda (US), Nilo and Hadji (Philippines), Andressa (Brazil), Alex (US) and Rahei (Tahiti)

I had 55 students sign up, from many countries and all continents.  It was a rough schedule and required a lot of time in one week.  By the end of the week, 38 students remained.  They were AMAZING.  They learned to read music, write music, play the pennywhistle, conduct music, and started learning how to teach music.  They practiced and worked really hard.  Now they are continuing to meet once per week to practice playing and teaching together.

Joseph, from Uganda, practicing teaching notes

This group will continue to work together until they graduate from BYU Hawaii.  At that time, those students from war-affected countries will return home and set up SMF programs, accompanied  by students who are not from war-affected countries.  One of our group is from Congo so we’ve selected his home country as our first goal for this group.   In addition, we are planning to go to  Zimbabwe, the Philippines, and many more countries that need SMF.

And next summer, 10 of these students will come to Kosovo for 6 weeks as Student Interns through BYU Hawaii.  This will prepare them for running programs in their countries in ways that I can’t do in a US setting.  And it will be so fun for our Kosovo children and Youth Volunteers to work with these students.

Every week I get reports from the group on how they are doing, and it sounds like it’s going really well.  I can’t wait to return in January to give them the second part of the training and to start another group of new students!

Everyone in Gjakove Came Together to Show Support for the US after the 9/11 Attacks

Written the week of 9/11/01:

We are 6 hours ahead of New York.  Because our electricity is sporadic–turned on for a few hours and then off so it can be turned on in other areas–the people of Kosova found out at different times what was happening in the US.   I was contacted immediately after the first incident by Mary Youngblood, who called me from Atlanta and continued to call me as events unfolded.  An hour later, as electricity began working in some nearby areas, a local family who had just turned on their television and learned of what was happening called me.  They asked me to come their home so I could watch the BBC which was broadcasting the events in the US.  Because the broadcast was in English, they couldn’t understand most of it, but they were gathered around the television watching and learning what they could.   When I arrived they were all close to tears.  They put me next to the television and spoke to each other in low tones so that I could hear everything.   They kept repeating, “this is so terrible”, “how could anyone do this?” “I feel so awful”, “how could this happen?”, “Liz, I am so sorry”.  As with most of you, I was in a state of shock, so it was good to be with close friends.

Kosovar Soldiers Waiting to Participate in Parade Showing Support for USA

In the meantime, throughout the evening, as other Albanian families learned of what was happening, they called me on the telephone, and when I didn’t answer they came to my home to try to contact me.  I didn’t find out about this until days later, because I stayed with my friends until it was late, but there were many people who were worried about me and trying to find me that night.  They didn’t want me to be alone.  And they wanted to be sure that I knew everything that it was possible to know at that point.  They knew all too well what it is like to be afraid and worried about your country, your family and friends, not understanding what is happening or why people are doing what they are doing, and not to be able to find out if people you love are still alive.  For the first time I had a glimpse of what they lived through for so many years.

That night, as people throughout Kosova learned of what had happened, they took to the streets.  The BBC had broadcast not only what had happened in America, but the reactions of the people in countries who were rejoicing at America’s tragedy.  I think that the Kosovars were almost as upset about the rejoicing in these other countries as they were about what had happened in America.  So the Albanians began holding demonstrations, in every city throughout Kosova, to show their support and love for America, and their denunciation of terrorism.  All week long, day and night, these demonstrations were held.  During the day people walked carrying American flags.  At night people walked carrying candles.  Or sat, holding silent vigils.  On Friday, a national day of mourning was declared.  All concerts, parties (including weddings) were cancelled.  Discos were closed.  The radio stations played nothing but classical music.  American flags were flown everywhere.  And that night, a music video was broadcast, to the song “God Bless the USA”, which showed all of the demonstrations throughout Kosova.  I cried as I watched all of these expressions of love by so many people, old women and young children, former soldiers, teenagers, university students and old men, people of all ages and in so many different situations, coming together in their cities, towns and villages to show support and love for the US.

In Pristine, the capital city, posters saying “We’re with you, USA” are everywhere.

These pictures are from the main demonstration in Gjakove.

And every day, people that I don’t even know come to me and tell me how sorry they are about what happened.  The most common statement is “We feel your pain as if it was our own; America is our brother.  We love America so much, because America saved us.”

Kindergarten Classes Marching in Parade to Show Support for US

As for me, my emotions remain close to the surface, and I am constantly battling tears when people come to me to express their love and sorrow over what has happened.  It is difficult to be so far from home right now, and yet I cannot imagine being in a place where I would be more surrounded by love.  And concern.  But I feel the need to express myself to other Americans.

So now, if I may, I offer some final words to you in the style of what I teach the children here, children who have witnessed such horrible acts of violence perpetrated against themselves, their families, their towns, and their country:

We must do what is right, but we must do it because it is right, not because of hatred.  Once we allow ourselves to hate it is very difficult to stop.  Living in a country devastated by a war which was made possible only by men learning to hate each other, I have come to see that the final devastation is not economic; it is not physical; the final devastation is in the hearts of the people, which, beginning with fear, grew cold in hatred, and now have no ability to trust.

We must not let this happen to us.  We must not allow our fear to grow into hatred.  Because in so doing we destroy ourselves.  And each other.  And our future.

The battle over anger is an individual one.

With love,

Liz Shropshire

Kosovo Kindergarten Children Joining Marches Throughout Kosovo to Show Support for the US after 9/11

In the coming week, our country will observe the tenth anniversary of the devastating September 11 attacks. We will be asked to relive the terrifying feelings of that day and to remember those who lost their lives and the sense of security our nation lost as well.

As you remember and reflect, I hope you will remember as well the many, many children around the world who have witnessed and survived horrific attacks on their homes and families. And I hope you will consider honoring the tenth anniversary of 9/11 by making a donation to the Shropshire Music Foundation.

The lessons we teach our children are the same lessons 9/11 taught America: that while we cannot always prevent tragedy we can choose how to respond to it–hopefully with dignity, courage, and honor.

We teach our children that the real devastation of war is not physical or economic; it happens when fear and hatred overtake the hearts of the people. Music can teach children that the path of peace is where happiness and security lies. Weapons do not equal power and safety, and violence is not the answer to problems. Our goal is for our children to become instruments of peace.

We need you to help us spread this message. Please honor the hope of peace this 9/11 by signing up as a monthly donor or making a donation.

With much love,

Liz

Read more about the Eve’s Apple compilation, and purchase the album on iTunes here.
Shropshire Music Foundation is thrilled that the generosity of Eve’s Apple will put music in the lives of children in the world’s war zones.  Like the women of Eve’s Apple, we know that music can profoundly change lives and the world.  We hope you will support of their new album!
This album will help us put pennywhistles, harmonicas, and drums directly into the hands of impoverished and war-impacted kids in Uganda, Kosovo, and Northern Ireland.  A giant rock-n-roll thank you to the women of Eve’s Apple and their fans worldwide!

Pabo Camp "Streetchild" Playing Pennywhistle, March 2011

April 18: Last week was the last week of the first term for Schools in Uganda, and the Secondary School (High School) students were “in for their final paper”, which means that they were taking their final exams.  Now they will have a one-month break and then begin “mid-term”, which will last three months, and then after another month break they will begin their third (and final) term of the year, which ends in December.

The primary schools ended classes one week early because they spend the last week of the term traveling to compete with other primary schools in the area.

Gulu Central High School Pennywhistle Class, April 2011

I have been working with the Gulu Central Secondary School, teaching there 2 times each week even during finals, and going to the Pabo IDP Camp 2 times each week, but from this Monday until I leave Gulu, I will be going to Pabo 3 times each week so I can work more with the street kids and try to start them on the Pennywhistle before I go and then Cambel will continue teaching them after I leave.

Police Patrol in Gulu, April 2011

Last Thursday as I went to teach at Gulu Central, I saw many people gathering and then Police passing by, but I had no idea what was going on, so I went to the school and taught the classes there as usual. On my way back I couldn’t find a boda boda (motorcycle taxi) to take me to where I am staying, so I started walking until I saw the crowd and I started asking people what was going on.  They told me that they were in riots. I had to pass by the police station and the main street to get back to my place, so I just kept walking and the air became very strong to breathe because it was full of tear gas and the burning of used tires. Tears starting coming out of my eyes and I could help it so I rushed to get back.  The closer I got the harder it was to breathe and more people were running scared and police were chasing them away in a very brutal way.

"Jojo's Palace", a Few Days Later

After I reached the place where I am staying, (called “Jojo’s Palace) I saw that they were closed already and I had to use the back gate to enter, and as I entered in I saw many people hiding.  They told me that Norbert Mao (Gulu Chairman and former presidential candidate) brought the “Walk to Work” Protest that is happening in other parts of Uganda here to Gulu and the Police arrested him for that, so people were not happy and protested.

Our Bullet Hole

The police were using real bullets to scare people.  One bullet entered into the place where I am staying and broke a window. We found the bullet and saw that it was not a rubber bullet but a real bullet. The riots went on till very late– I could still hear the gunshots and a lot of smoke was coming inside for a long time.

The next day I was supposed to go to the Pabo IDP camp, which takes about 2 hours to get to because of the condition of the road, so I woke up early in the morning and went outside. I saw lots of soldiers and the police still arresting people but it was peaceful morning, so around mid-day I left to go to Pabo and teach there.  Half way to the camp the road was blocked. People have been requesting that the government fix the road because it is the road going to Sudan and lots of heavy vehicles use it and it is a VERY bad road, and a lot of people have been getting sick and food was going bad because the dust is so thick that you can’t see anything, and it gets into everyone’s food and water.  Since the government didn’t respond, the people blocked the road and we had to go back to Gulu and find another way to go to Pabo.

Pabo "Street Kids" Singing Class. They were excited to show me how they remembered the words to our songs

When we finally did reach Pabo, I had a very nice class with the street kids and this time 3 old women came and were sitting not far from us, because we did our class outside, and after I finished they talked to Cambel and told him to make sure he tells them anytime I come, because they like the music and also want to see their kids have fun.  They even promised that next Friday there will be many of them around camp to attend the music classes together with the kids.

After I came back to Gulu the town was still calm and no protests were going on, but the whole town was sad because 4 civilians had died in the protest and also one policeman died in a nearby village trying to stop people from blocking the Sudan road.

More protests are announced for Monday and Thursday, and specifically they are threatening to burn the power transformers if the electricity doesn’t come back, but on Sunday we had electricity all day, and on Monday it went off for very short time and came back and hasn’t gone off again.

[note from Liz:  This is late because the riots got worse and Burim wasn't able to send these pictures.  We decided to bring him home early for safety reasons.  Burim's next blog will be about leaving so quickly and unexpectedly.]