April 9th was the beginning of the Music Leadership
Training Workshop for kindergarten teachers from the South Hebron area. Though
the training workshop itself ended after a week, the music leadership has not
ceased!
For the sake
of sustainability and continual local leadership, Fabienne has planned to
follow up with teachers after giving them adequate time to utilize the music
material in their classrooms; Sunday was the first follow-up. We set out to the
newly donated kindergarten building in Khashem al-Daraj, the location of the
training. This time a room full of Huda's sweet, shy students rather than
outgoing teachers welcomed us.
Sometimes
when Fabienne checks up on trainees after a workshop, she finds that workshop
leaders have struggled to put the new material into action. The obstacles can
be due to many different factors, from simply forgetting a verse in a song to
being too shy to implement more music in the classroom. At the end of
every training week, the trainees receive a list with a description of all the
activities and a CD with the music and songs that were used during the
training. Rather than leaving the teachers empty-handed, Fabienne makes
sure to support the teachers as they work to successfully accomplish the
various activities with the children.
However,
Huda’s classroom proved to be a pleasant and unique surprise.
Fabienne
prepared to review the songs and activities from the training, so that Huda
could regain comfort and confidence. Rather, we quickly realized that each and
every activity had already been performed! So instead of reviewing previous
material, Fabienne taught Huda a new activity for her wonderful students to
enjoy.
We
were so pleased to see the success in Huda's classroom, as she has shown to be
a very ambitious leader and fast-learner! This success story has only increased
the excitement to meet up with the rest of our new music leaders!
Much
appreciation and thanks to these organizations for making all of this possible:
World
Vision International, Hebron International Resources Network (HIRN), and
Musicians without Borders UK.
