Music teachers for YONA: a music school in Namibia
Donation protected
I am Enrico Palascino, violinist and member of the Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin since 2011.
In 2016-18 I lived in Namibia and together with a Namibian singer, Ms Gretel Coetzee, founded a music school for educationally disadvantaged children in Windhoek: the Youth Orchestra of Namibia (YONA www.yonamibia.org). Today, more than 80 children come to YONA every afternoon to learn music theory, recorder, clarinet, oboe, flute, violin, viola or cello.
YONA has not only become a place of music, but also a protected space for them: away from domestic violence, from drugs, from abuse and from street gangs. The Covid pandemic has greatly weakened the school's financial situation in the last two years. The music teachers who have stayed are not paid enough. At the moment, there is a risk that YONA will have to close due to a lack of teachers. While Gretel and I are trying to improve the teachers' pay, I would like to train the older and most experienced music students as junior teachers at the same time, following the "El Sistema" model, in order to solve the teacher problem in the long term.
For this purpose, dedicated musicians from Germany will fly to Namibia at regular intervals for the next 5-6 years to pass on the pedagogical knowledge to the YONA music teacher team. The program is already running. The first musicians have given courses and workshops at YONA for two intensive weeks in March 2022. To sustain this program, YONA still needs 6000€ this year. This is how much the flight tickets for the next two planned training trips will cost this year. The accommodation has already been organised and the musicians have already been selected. Without the money for the flights to Namibia, however, this program would not continue and YONA would soon have too few teachers to continue.
Why am I involved with YONA? In 2016, I gave some children in Namibia a dream: to make music together, to grow together and to make life's difficulties more bearable together by learning a musical instrument. Today, seven years later, over 80 children between the ages of 8 and 16 are hanging on to that dream. I don't want this dream to be shattered! That is why I am asking for your financial help. I myself come from a humble background and was lucky enough to get financial support at the right moment to continue my musical career. I would now like to pass on some of this luck to the next generation.
Help me so that the YONA children can continue this unique dream.
In 2016-18 I lived in Namibia and together with a Namibian singer, Ms Gretel Coetzee, founded a music school for educationally disadvantaged children in Windhoek: the Youth Orchestra of Namibia (YONA www.yonamibia.org). Today, more than 80 children come to YONA every afternoon to learn music theory, recorder, clarinet, oboe, flute, violin, viola or cello.
YONA has not only become a place of music, but also a protected space for them: away from domestic violence, from drugs, from abuse and from street gangs. The Covid pandemic has greatly weakened the school's financial situation in the last two years. The music teachers who have stayed are not paid enough. At the moment, there is a risk that YONA will have to close due to a lack of teachers. While Gretel and I are trying to improve the teachers' pay, I would like to train the older and most experienced music students as junior teachers at the same time, following the "El Sistema" model, in order to solve the teacher problem in the long term.
For this purpose, dedicated musicians from Germany will fly to Namibia at regular intervals for the next 5-6 years to pass on the pedagogical knowledge to the YONA music teacher team. The program is already running. The first musicians have given courses and workshops at YONA for two intensive weeks in March 2022. To sustain this program, YONA still needs 6000€ this year. This is how much the flight tickets for the next two planned training trips will cost this year. The accommodation has already been organised and the musicians have already been selected. Without the money for the flights to Namibia, however, this program would not continue and YONA would soon have too few teachers to continue.
Why am I involved with YONA? In 2016, I gave some children in Namibia a dream: to make music together, to grow together and to make life's difficulties more bearable together by learning a musical instrument. Today, seven years later, over 80 children between the ages of 8 and 16 are hanging on to that dream. I don't want this dream to be shattered! That is why I am asking for your financial help. I myself come from a humble background and was lucky enough to get financial support at the right moment to continue my musical career. I would now like to pass on some of this luck to the next generation.
Help me so that the YONA children can continue this unique dream.
Organizer
Enrico Palascino
Organizer
Berlin, Berlin