Uganda

Peace Through Music Uganda

In Uganda Since 2005

School-Based Classes

From 2005 to 2017, SMF has offered music classes in several Gulu primary and secondary schools, including the temporary Awere School (a displaced school for students from the destroyed village of Awere), Gulu Central, Holy Rosary Primary School and a new nursery and primary school opened for children born while their mothers were child soldiers. Classes included:

  • Beginning and Intermediate Pennywhistle
  • Singing
  • Beginning Drum

IDP Camp-Based Classes

Tens of thousands of war-impacted people lived in Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Camps. Most were children who lost their homes and families during the war. The camps were officially closed, but over 10,000 people continued to live there, including both children attending school and children who could not attend school due to lack of money. We offered weekly classes and volunteer training in the following areas:

  • Singing
  • Beginning and Advanced Pennywhistle
  • Beginning Drum

Labala

Labala had a large population of former child soldiers, who have had great difficulty integrating into the community, and young Ugandans who have missing and dead family members. Through the music classes offered by SMF, these young men and women were able to come together and become a part of the local community. We offered classes in the following areas at Labala:

  • Singing
  • Beginning and Advanced Pennywhistle
  • Beginning Drum

Gulu Youth-Teacher Volunteer Program

As with all our programs, our Uganda program was based on the premise that a sustainable, locally-run program is in the best interests of war-affected communities. Training local volunteers also allows us to teach more children year-round. Local youth volunteers received training in the following:

  • Reading, writing, and counting music
  • Singing
  • Playing pennywhistle and ukulele
  • Music pedagogy for children, including reading, counting, singing, and playing music

St Bakhita Teacher’s College

SMF offered music pedagogy training to all the students attending St. Bakhita’s Teacher College. These teachers were able to take SMF instruments and programs to the schools where they taught after graduation.

 

THRIVE Partnership

SMF is developed a partnership with THRIVE, a local organization working to heal Northern Uganda from the traumatic events of war. Together with THRIVE we offered SMF music classes to children during school breaks.

Child-Mother Classes 

The Pabo IDP camp was home to a significant number of child mothers, girls who conceived and bore children as a result of their abduction and abuse within the Lord’s Resistance Army. This population had tremendous physical and emotional needs as well as tremendous potential as leaders in peacemaking. We taught weekly classes in the following:

  • Singing
  • Beginning and Advanced Pennywhistle
  • Musical Play for Young Children

Ukraine

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Serving Ukrainian Refugees in Poland

At least 12 million people have fled their homes since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.  We've established a program for young refugees in Łódź, Poland, teaching harmonica, singing, and ukulele classes while also providing teacher training for teenagers.  In a time of severe stress and trauma, our program brings purpose, self esteem, achievement, creativity, fun and joy.

Bangladesh

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Serving Bangladeshi Children & Rohingya Refugees

Currently an astounding 890,000 Rohingya refugees are living in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar region in the largest and most densely populated camps on earth.  This crisis has strained an already impoverished country, which has shown unprecedented generosity to the deeply persecuted Rohingya people.  PTMI is making a significant impact in the lives of both Rohingya and Bangladeshi children.

Iraq

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Serving Yazidi & Iraqi Youth

Nearly a decade after the Islamic State (ISIS) brutally displaced the ethnoreligious population of Yazidis from their homes, over 280,000 are still languishing in IDP camps in Kurdistan. Since 2022, a group of young adults have flourished in a ukulele class taught online with help from a young Yazidi volunteer living as a refugee in Germany.

Arizona

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Rescued Afghan Refugees & Unaccompanied Minors

In 2021, hundreds of Afghan families narrowly escaped the brutal Taliban regime to begin new lives in Arizona.  PTMI quickly mobilized to provide a comprehensive program to help them begin life in the US in a healthy, positive way.  Our program has since expanded to serve unaccompanied minors and other refugees living in the Phoenix area.

Refugee Camps in Greece

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Refugee Camps in Greece

The war in Syria was at the root of the worst refugee crisis since WWII. Children were both targeted and recruited, and families left Syria by the millions. SMF built a program not just for Syrian refugees, but also Kurdish, Afghan and Yazidi children and teenagers-- all in Greek refugee camps. The program provided structure and much-needed opportunities for achievement and self expression.

Northern Ireland

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Peace Through Music Northern Ireland

In Northern Ireland, 93% of schools are still segregated, Catholic vs. Protestant.  The threat of sectarian violence is woven into everyday life.  PTMI believes socialization across religious and ethnic differences through shared activity is crucial to helping children build common experiences and relationships— ultimately serving as a foundation for continued peace. 

Utah

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Refugees Living in Salt Lake City

More than 60,000 refugees or "new Americans" live in Utah.  Young people must make a difficult adjustment-- learning not only a new language but a whole new way of life.  With the help of an incredible group of teenage volunteers, our Salt Lake City program lifted young people in the Granite School District.

Kosovo

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Peace Through Music Kosovo

The war in Kosovo ended in 1999, but the affects of this war-- poverty, intolerance, segregation, racism--were experienced every day for many years, especially by children raised in camps and those living in minority communities.  For two decades SMF worked with the children and teenagers of Kosovo to develop self esteem, tolerance, and a love of peace through music. 

Uganda

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Peace Through Music Uganda

Northern Uganda continues to recover from a brutal civil war in which approximately 66,000 children were kidnapped and forced to become soldiers and 2 million people were displaced internally from 1986 to 2009. Many lived in IDP camps, where they experienced malnutrition and extreme poverty.  From 2005 until 2017, The Shropshire Music Foundation ran programs in Gulu and surrounding areas in an IDP camp, 3 primary schools, and 2 high schools that served, among others: former child soldiers, unwanted children born to child soldiers, child mothers, and Night Commuters (children who commuted nightly to evade kidnappers).