Our week began in the beautiful setting of Gerfersa Mental Health Rehabilitation Centre, where we led our first training session to the staff there. They were enthusiastic to learn about the instruments provided by Music as Therapy and how they could be used with the patients. We worked together to provide a broad description of Music Therapy and its various outcomes; we were so grateful for the translation provided by Meron, the Voluntary Art Therapist who is currently working on the beautiful artwork displayed throughout the setting. We worked with the staff to find a suitable Hello and Goodbye song, which materialised as two traditional Ethiopian celebration songs which are sung over the New Year. The session began with the song for the ladies, which speaks of the Abeba flower of Ethiopia and the song for the men ending the session. When delivering this to the patients, the room was filled with smiles, dancing and laughter, leaving a sense of togetherness at the setting.

Our second day saw us guiding a large session ran by the staff at Lebeza – 25 patients and 16 staff in total!! We were so inspired by the staff who led the session with such confidence and grace. They encouraged patients to try out new instruments, improvised with volume and even inspired patients to lead activities to the whole group. Their enthusiasm for the project is extremely positive, rewriting words to popular Ethiopian songs to use as their opening and closing signifiers to the session. On Friday we returned for another huge outdoor session with a total of 40 staff and patients attending. The staff facilitated some traditional dancing alongside their newly learnt music techniques.

We received another warm welcome from FENAID on Wednesday, delivering training to 10 participants including parents, staff and the self-advocacy lead. The atmosphere when practicing the techniques with the individuals was electric, especially as there was so much enthusiasm from both individuals and staff to lead music making and dance throughout the sessions! We can’t wait to return next week.

Our trip to Mercato, the largest market in Africa, gave us the opportunity to purchase some traditional Ethiopian Drums (Kebero) to donate to Hospice Ethiopia on Thursday. The familiar faces from last week lit up as we entered the setting with the Kebero in hand! The session was full of traditional dancing, percussive improvisation and gratitude to the charity for their continued support.

Our weekly check in with Makeda was really helpful. It’s so nice to know that the Charity are there to support us through the challenges of living and working in a different country. We look forward to some sightseeing this weekend with some of our wonderful partners!

Until next week,

Erin and Emma