day 27

Yesterday during dinner I heard some music coming from near here, so I went to discover the source.

After a short walk, I found this group of guys: they were part of a drum band and they were practicing. They were really good and open-minded, so when they finished I asked them something about the group and the drums. They told me that they were getting ready for the big music festival that will be here in June and they also gave me a short drum lesson.

Inspired by today's events, during the art hour I told the kids to go out in the playground and to find or create some instruments. They started looking for sticks, buckets, bowls, boxes, ropes, elastic... and then they started improvising. After a moment of setting up, the rhythm started to get really good, engaging and spontaneous. Those who were without instruments simply clapped their hands, jumped and danced. It was impossible not get carried away by the frenzy of the moment, getting caught up in the mix of sounds, voices, laughs and colours.

The others classes joined us, everybody participated: I could swear I thought I even saw the goats dancing with us.

P.S. I'm starting to collect offers to support this local initiative in order to keep the school in Dzemeni open and to hire at least one full-time teacher. If you want to help, please contact me privately.