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Serving Ukrainian Refugees in PolandIn Ukraine Since 2022 |
The war with Russia has caused one of the fastest large-scale displacements of children since World War II. Save the Children director Socia Khush warned that children affected by this war are severely at risk of “toxic stress,” a condition triggered by extreme periods of adversity. The effects are so powerful that they can alter brain structures and organ systems, lasting long into children’s adult lives.
In the summer of 2022, Peace through Music International opened a program in Poland serving Ukrainian refugees. From June through September, we provided in-person harmonica, pennywhistle, singing and ukulele classes to children and teenagers up to eight hours a day, six days a week at the Serock Refugee Center outside of Warsaw. In summer 2023, we brought a 3-month music education program to a refugee center in Łódź, Poland, and also offered classes to Ukrainian refugees at the Polska YMCA. In 2024, our teenage students continue to train online. Several are also learning piano thanks to volunteers and 3 beautiful new keyboards donated at the beginning of the year. Students in Bălți, Moldova are also learning to play the ukulele in a community center run by Lifting Hands International.
Our program brings purpose, self esteem, achievement, creativity, and joy while reducing the effects of trauma and severe stress.
Given the enormity and long-term outlook of the conflict in Ukraine, we plan to continue to expand this program in 2024. Help us make that happen!
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 by 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
Northern Ireland schools continue to be 93% segregated between Catholics and Protestants. Bombs explode or are discovered weekly, and riots take place monthly. Murals of men wearing balaclavas and holding guns are on homes and businesses everywhere. Children and adults alike suffer from low self esteem and intolerance as they experience anger and violence daily. SMF is working to bring children together from both sides of the community, forming life-long and life-changing relationships through music.
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 program Salt Lake City program is reaching 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).
