'May I sing a song for you'

(trainer Geerte de Koe’s story)

It is the second day of our three days training in Erbil and we are about to finish our lunch break. Lana, one of the trainees, came back to the workshop room a bit earlier to share a Kurdish Lullaby with me. She sang a beautiful melody with a clear voice and shining eyes.

That same morning we were working on creating a safe space for each other and the ability to step out of your comfort zone. The group composed their own songs. Everybody took their own role in the creative process and there was not much left of the hesitancy from the previous day to sing and bring in ideas. There was a turning point, something that often happens during the trainings. A moment in which you feel that people are opening up and saying ’yes’ to try new things, while holding the safe space for each other. When Lana came to share her song, it was a sign for me that something has shifted in the group.

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Lucas and I were happy to see this shift happening, because working with the students from SPARK is new for Sounds of Change. We were still exploring which approach works best in this context and we were happy to see that even in three days we could see a transformation happen within the group.

There wasn't much time for me and Lucas to say goodbye, because we had to travel to Dohuk for the second training. It was a 2,5 hour drive to Dohuk, which is very close to the Syrian and the Turkish border. When we arrived in Dohuk, 8 strong woman entered the room, one man entered a bit later. It was interesting to notice the difference in energy, compared to the group group from Erbil. We decided to start our check-in with cards from the game Dixit. Everybody took a card and answered a personal question, reflecting to the image on the card. This created a beautiful story sharing circle, which made us change our plan. As the sharing circle was so strong, went straight into song text writing, using the words from the stories. The man, Mohammed, turned out to be a violinist and during the coffee break we composed a little violin melody. We used this melody as a starting pointing added it to the lyrics we made earlier into a song. It was beautiful to see how some of the woman started to improvise with their voices, searching for melodies. In no time we had solo’s and people leading a call and response with their voice. So beautiful to see what they achieved together in only one day!

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Spark plays an important role in The Kurdistan Region of the Republic of Iraq (KRI) by offering training and guidance, directly from KRI as well as from the Netherlands, to (migrant) entrepreneurs who want to start a business in the region. It is a challenging terrain which suffers from a lack of information, bureaucracy, and transparency. Spark offers access to higher (vocational) education and supports entrepreneurship and growth oriented SME (Small and Medium size Enterprises) development in fragile states so that young, ambitious people can lead their societies into stability and prosperity.



Lucas DolsNorthern Iraq