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At the invitation of our Sounds of Change Academy alumni Kateryna Kudasheva and her local organisation Sol Diez, we traveled with Trauma International trainers Saskia Bok and Maartje Schel. Having arrived in the city of Uzhgorod in the Ukrainian region of Zakarpattia we trained 32 caregivers, teachers and therapists.
This year, the Sounds of Change Academy is offering another intensive three-day training programme, one weekend, for professionals and advanced students who want to learn and work with the Sounds of Change method and mindset. The training is open to people who already have experience in leading music sessions with groups, community music projects and/or work experience as a music therapist.
We held our 7th annual Orchestra of Changemakers Meet-Up in Amsterdam on April 14. The event proved to be both moving and energising so we are pleased to share this update with you.
At the beginning of this March we gave two training courses in Turkey.
It was a special week, which we would like to tell you about.
The organisation Welthungerhilfe had asked us to train two teams of their employees simultaneously in Gaziantep and Mardin. Welthungerhilfe offers psychosocial support (PSS) to children, young people and adults in northwest Syria and southern Turkey, victims of the war in Syria and the earthquake of 6th Februari 2023, killing more than 40,000 people and erasing entire cities.
Safe Spaces in Unsafe Places: Talking with Lucas Dols of Sounds of Change
Patrick Scafidi, executive editor of online platform The Ensemble, conducted an interview with Sounds of Change founder and director Lucas Dols. We are proud to feature an excerpt of that conversation in this newsletter.
The Ensemble’s mission is to connect and inform all people who are committed to ensemble music education for youth empowerment and social change.
As Christmas approaches, we watch with horror the continuing violence taking place in Gaza and the West Bank. Therefore when we received a request for help from the West Bank, we immediately said yes.
We returned from our visit to Northern Iraq (Kurdistan), where we spoke at a conference about de-radicalisation, visited the Lalish Yezidi pilgrimage, and then facilitated a multi-day training for medical students.
We have just returned from our training visit to Northern Iraq and Northeast Syria. What an impressive journey, we have a lot to tell you!
At the beginning of March, Sounds of Change trainers Sander van Goor and Lucas Dols went to Northeast Syria to train employees of six local partner organisations. The NGO 'Norwegian People's Aid' (NPA) asked us to contribute to their project 'Art for De-radicalisation'.
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.