By Andrew Sinclair | Development Director
Here are two inspiring stories from O.Mekembjes, RED International's partner work in Kosovo supporting victims of abuse and working to prevent abuse in the next generation of vulnerable families.
Melodies for small hearts
When O.Mekembjes was started, the workers quickly saw the need for arts therapy to be one of the tools used to help the families who have been broken by violence to express their pain and get rehabilitated into the world. The idea was first introduced to the mums, and the workers hoped that they would be open to trying music or art, even if they never had before. To their delight, everyone was very accepting of this fun way of expressing themselves. After some time, it was seen that some of the children were very interested in the world of music, so they were introduced to it through a basic level music class at the family centre.
Three of the children really loved it, and so the workers inquired at the music school in town - and to the delight of everyone the school staff were happy to register them in classes. The children were given options of instruments to learn. Two of the children decided upon guitar and one child decided to learn the flute. As they began their lessons, it was observed that their guitars were bigger than them! But their hearts’ desire for playing music was even bigger than their instruments, and bigger than their pain and brokenness.
The team at O.Mekembjes are so excited to see them working hard to get the rhythm, and practising to get better each day as they complete their music homework. The children have gained self-confidence to play in front of their families, as well as wanting to show their new skills with their instrument whenever there is an event at the Centre. Because of their interest in music, they are getting more involved in the artistic programs at school and challenging themselves to be more creative. The hope is that through this they will receive healing and find the right rhythm for their future, by learning that their hard work gains reward.
Preventing violent futures
Valbona is one of the coordinators of our centre offering vocational skills training for youth from difficult backgrounds who are at risk of dropping out of school, entering prostitution or being victims or perpetrators of abuse. She can’t conceal her excitement as she describes one of the young people to benefit from this project.
“Lira is fifteen. Her school teachers were tired and ready to give up on her, but they put her name on our list for the training. They described Lira as ‘lacking focus, irresponsible, a troublemaker, and no hope for her to change.’” Valbona visited Lira’s family, and her parents gave permission for their daughter to start the tailoring course. Almost at once, the training seemed to fire Lira’s imagination, and she rarely missed a lesson. She was fascinated by dress-making, and began to wonder about it as a profession. “The tutor was so excited when Lira completed the course and got her first level certificate!” smiles Valbona. Having mastered the basic skills of tailoring, Lira has won a place at the Art high school to study design, and has made good progress on the second-level course which the vocational project also offers. Valbona concludes, “This simple tailoring course helped Lira find her dream of becoming a designer, and gain the focus, drive and responsibility to accomplish her dream through hard work.” With good prospects for a stable income ahead of her, Lira is now at much less risk of a violent or unstable future.
Thank you so much for partnering with RED International and O.Mekembjes. With your ongoing support we hope to see more children and young adults find hope for a safe and stable future.
Please encourage your friends and others in your wider network to consider supporting this project between 1st and 15th March 2015 as part of the GlobalGiving Girl Fund Campaign. The top four projects with the highest number of unique donors at the end of the campaign will then be eligible to receive a share of GlobalGiving Girl Fund https://goto.gg/26396 donations until the end of 2017.
The best day to encourage people to make a donation will be on March 8th which is International Women’s Day 2017 when GlobalGiving will have a Bonus Day to Celebrate #IWD2017.
All unique donations to the project on 8th March 2017 up to $250 (£200) will be increased by 30% with matched funding while the funds last. Global Giving have $8,000 (~ £6400) of matching funds available.
For those in the UK Donations can be made from 5am on March 8 until 4:59 am GMT on March 9 2017.
(In the USA Donations can be made from 00:00 EST to 23:59:59 EST on March 8 2017)
By Andrew Sinclair | Project Leader
By Andrew Sinclair | Development Director
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