Our final week in Ethiopia has been full of joy, congratulating our amazing trainees and feeling rather overwhelmed about leaving this beautiful country! We have successfully trained a total of 19 staff, 1 parent, 3 volunteers and 1 self-advocate! We are extremely proud of everyone who has taken part in the training and look forward to hearing about how music therapy is being integrated into our partner’s services in the future.

Our final week began with the first certificate ceremony at Gefersa Mental Health Rehabilitation Centre. Staff danced for joy after receiving their certificates, taking videos and photos, holding their certificates in the air and clapping together congratulating each other. We were thanked by the service with a traditional lunch in the city, stopping at Gefersa Lake to take some photographs on the way. We especially enjoyed the Doro Wat (Chicken in a spicy sauce) and of course the Ethiopian coffee to follow!

FENAID staff delivered a fantastic session to self-advocates this week with plenty of dancing, laughter and music making. We celebrated the trainee’s work with the certificate ceremony, followed by a beautiful coffee ceremony. The trainees spoke of how much they had enjoyed the training and hope to work with Music as Therapy International again in the future. We will very much miss the people at FENAID who are a leading disability rights and equality in this country. We feel honoured to have been a part of such a service.

Our partners over at Hospice Ethiopia successfully led their session without support this week. We are immensely proud of what they have achieved and will very much miss seeing the wonderful patients every week. After presenting our certificates to the two palliative care nurses who were trained, the elder of the day care service presented us with traditional Orthodox Christian Robes. We were overwhelmed with happiness and will treasure our gifts with fond memories of the warm welcome we received at the hospice.

Lebeza Psychiatry Clinic’s final day resulted in one of the most energetic large sessions for all patients and staff outside in the courtyard, as well as some one-to-one work with patients inside. Both sessions were successful, with a beautiful certificate ceremony taking place with all the patients supporting our 5 staff who had been trained. To thank all the patients and staff for a wonderful experience, a biscuit hamper was gifted by Music as Therapy International, which was shared with all of the patients over traditional coffee! After a number of group photographs, we were handed a beautiful traditional scarf each, to thank us for the training provided over the last four weeks. We feel confident that music will continue in this setting and look forward to seeing how it is shaped by our trainees in the future.

With our time coming to a close we have been reflecting on what a challenging but rewarding experience this has been for us. It has been such a great opportunity for us both after steering our way through studying and practicing as music therapists during COVID. We are truly grateful to Music as Therapy International for their support, to our partners for taking on the training with such enthusiasm, to the wonderful patients for reminding us of the power music therapy can have and to the people of Ethiopia for the warm welcome we have received. Finally, we would like to thank Music as Therapy International‘s supporters for making this opportunity possible in the first instance. We will look back on this experience with such fond memories.

Amesegenalu (Thank you in Amharic) and ciao (goodbye in Amharic) for now!

Erin and Emma.