Project Rwanda
In Summer 2010, UK music therapists Nicky Haire and Caroline Anderson delivered a six-week Introductory Music as Therapy skill sharing project for staff and children at two care settings in Cyangugu, Rwanda. A year on, Nicky and Caroline returned to assess the impact of the project and spend time with the staff, observing their work, as well as addressing any difficulties that may have arisen in the year. This level of personal support and additional training would help make the project more robust and help support the future sustainability of the project.
Ngwino Nawe
Nicky and Caroline found many changes at Ngwino Nawe. Two members of staff had left the centre but it was encouraging to see that two new members of staff had been introduced to the music programme. They were delighted to see that the music sessions were firmly embedded in their timetable for each day and all the staff seemed eager to build on their existing skills and learn more about using music therapeutically in their work. They also observed two staff members who, having received training in 2010, ran both individual and group sessions. These staff members were confident in their approach and instinctively applied the key music therapy principles: waiting, watching, listening and responding. What was striking was the level of playfulness and fun injected into the sessions which the children clearly enjoyed.
Nkanka Nkanka
At Nkanka Nkanka Caroline and Nicky were also impressed to see a well-established timetable for the music sessions. In addition, the staff had made meticulous monthly session notes dating back to our previous visit. The notes provided evidence of careful thinking around the needs of each child, with appropriate therapeutic objectives linked to observations from the sessions. The staff seemed more confident in their roles leading interactive music sessions, and we enjoyed seeing the new activities they had developed in addition to the ones we had shown them last year.
Staff workshops and local area network meetings
Due to the isolated location of both centres, one of the aims in 2010 had been to foster links between the two staff teams by introducing weekly training workshops. Nicky and Caroline reintroduced the same structure on this visit and used the meetings to identify key areas in which the staff needed most support. In addition, they ran interactive workshops with a practical focus to help staff develop new activities, incorporate play and improvise during sessions. Discussions were held in order to identify ways in which they could develop their music programmes in the future and further facilitated peer support by encouraging staff from each centre to share their experiences.
Feedback from staff
During the follow up visit questionnaires were prepared to elicit feedback from the staff which provided us with greater insight into how they viewed themselves and the music programme. It was encouraging to see that they were beginning to understand their own potential as practitioners: The visit from Music as Therapy International was... ‘useful as it helped us to improve our capacity to look after handicapped children and helped us learn how to use the instruments’
For further support, ‘we would need instruments to replace the broken ones. We would need help with transport costs to meet with the other centre (& to travel to other centres long term).’
Staff members even have a vision for the whole of Rwanda: ‘Make a meeting of all the centres of Rwanda. Organise training to train other centres. Finance the training. Motivate the trainers and trainees’.
Music as Therapy International is currently working alongside Nicky, Caroline and Music Therapist Helen Leith to explore how best to continue to support the Local Partners in 2012 and beyond, as well as discussing how to make benefits of music as therapy more widely accessible for similar, isolated care settings in Rwanda.
To read the report from Project Rwanda 2011, please click here.
