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Report
Bosnia and Herzegovina Project 2006 ‘Mostar’
written by Roos Walhof
This report is about the 3rd music therapy
project of the EAMTS in
Mostar.
It all started in Kranj, Slovenia where we came together for the
preparation weekend. In this weekend we all presented ourselves and did
presentations. We started to make music together, which was quit a new
experience for me since I studied drama therapy…..
After we separated in two groups, one for Sarajevo and one for Mostar,
we left on the train-bus trip. I was part of the group in Mostar, so
this report is mostly about the experiences there.
The beginning
When we arrived in Mostar our greatest landlords picked us up by car
and showed us the apartment. When we stepped into the apartment our
reaction was: WOW, what a great apartment. Nice living room with nice
furniture, TV, kitchen. Everything was there! Even an adorable little
cat: Robby. After all the excitement and a night of sleep the adventure
started……
The work in
the institutions.
In the first week Jantina went to the different institutions to arrange
the groups and the times when we could work there. It was no problem to
start in Caritas, an institution for handicapped adults and in Sunce.
It was more difficult to start the sessions in the orphanage. Jantina
went there several times with Agnes (one of the participators who
speaks Bosnian), but it was hard to make good appointments with them.
They also couldn’t provide us with a good space to work so
that’s why in the end we only had two organized sessions
there.
For the last two and a half week we decided to go there 4 days a week
with our instruments and to play outside. The children who wanted to
join us could join us. This worked out quit well. I personally had a
nice time to be there with the children and play music, soccer or any
other game with them. Still it was really intense. It was sometimes sad
to see how the children behave to each other. It is like they
didn’t learn to play in a ‘soft’way, but
that their
main thing is to survive in this environment in which they are in. So
their attitude towards each other, us and the instruments was sometimes
quit aggressive, but it was a challenge to try to find a way to be with
them. We definitely made good contact with some of them and gave them
hopefully a nice time.
There were also working places in the Pavarotti music centre. The
sessions with the Roma girls took place here. In this centre were nice
rooms with a lot of instruments. I didn’t work with
the
Roma girls, but as far as I know they just love music and most of the
time the sessions went well.
We also got the chance to visit a Roma camp. We went there in groups to
see how they live and to visit one family. It was really interesting to
see how they live. I had the idea that these people would be unhappy
with this kind of life, but when we went there I got the idea that they
are not. To me they looked very strong and maybe that is because most
of them made a choice for this way of living.
Trips
During the 4 weeks we also needed to get out of the apartment and
Mostar so we went on some trips. Some people went to the seaside and
some went into to nature to swim in the waterfalls and see the sunset
from the hills
One weekend the Sarajevo group visited us in Mostar and the other
weekend we went to visit them in Sarajevo.
They were situated in peaceful, beautiful nature on the ranch called
“land of Peace’’. I and also the rest of
the group
needed some time of so it was good to be there and just lie down in the
grass, do horse riding or go into Sarajevo.
Musictherapy
combined with dramatherapy
Because I studied dramatherapy it was nice to see how musictherapy
works and to work with musictherapy students. The basic things are the
same, but to reach the goals you use instruments. Personally I had to
get used to the way the client groups made “music’.
It was
a little loud, unstructured and chaotic sometimes…But I
really
enjoyed doing it
Also the musical improvisations we did with the group in the apartment
were nice. We were not often together with the group so if we made
music together it was nice to be in contact this way.
Different characters on approximately 40 m2……..
I have to mention that this year there were two opposite groups. The
‘’Angels’’ in Sarajevo and us
in Mostar. One of
the most important things was that we all lived in one space which made
it hard to have some personal space or a door to close behind you. This
caused some tension, irritations and frustrations. Because of this you
could see how people cope different with this kind of situations.
That’s why it was important that we hade meetings every
working
day lead by a different person every day. Everybody had the chance to
talk about how the sessions went and how they felt personally. So
because of all this we also learned a lot from each other!
I also have to mention the ‘’Ali
baba’’. A
lounge bar in a cave! We spend some nice nights over there dancing and
making contact with local or not local people…
It was
important to make fun with each other so besides the work we also
enjoyed our free time.
The end of
the project
In the last week we gave some music- drama workshops in a youth centre
called ‘Novi Most’. It was a nice way to get in
contact
with the local youth. We also visited a great concert in an alternative
club ‘’Abrasevic’’. Here we had
a nice last
night of the project with a fantastic concert of a band called
Phantazio.
The day after most of us left Mostar and went to Ljubljana to spend
some nice, relaxing days there, including street music! Music therapy
students just can’t live without making
music……. ;)
I think this project was a good way to learn about yourself and each
other. You see how different the music therapy education is in
different countries. You also have the chance to work with different
client groups in a totally different atmosphere than you are used to.
This is asking from you to be flexible and creative.
Hereby I want to thank the EAMTS for this experience
Roos Walhof
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