Reporting on Music Therapy in Kenya

Abstract

There are approximately 500,000 refugees living in Kenya today, with approximately 20,000 children attending formal education in about twenty refugee schools. These children often show severe emotional distress that is observable through consistent evaluation. The children's hopes need to be restored and their mental health rejuvenated. Several Kenyan music teachers and paramedics including myself came together in August 1998, and thought about new ways and means of helping these children. One way we thought was worth trying was music therapy. This we thought could be achieved by incorporating a music therapy component into their co-curricular (after school) activities. We thought singing and dancing after school could be a good stepping stone for the provision of therapy to the kids in the refugee camps.