Thu Aug 11 201
KITCHENER — The simple strains of a familiar tune echo throughout the church basement.
There, a group of children coaxes Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star from their violins. In another room, a handful of children sit behind electric pianos, while the muffled sounds of an acoustic guitar can be heard coming from behind a closed door.
The group, which meets three times a week in the basement of Kitchener’s First Mennonite Church, is a musical United Nations. The 25 participants are the children of refugees from places like Afghanistan, Iraq, Cambodia, Thailand, Burma, Somalia and Russia.
Music is the thread that binds these young students together. It has inspired teamwork, prompted laughter and built friendships.
What’s even more remarkable is that their teachers are students themselves, a group of soon-to-be Grade 11 students at Waterloo Collegiate Institute who have volunteered this summer to get the program off the ground.
Student Peter Kim came up with the idea after his father told him about a music program for low-income youth in Venezuela.
Like all high school students, Kim has to fulfil a certain number of volunteer hours. “I wanted to do something special, something new that nobody had ever tried before.”
With the help of classmates and co-founders Georgie Giannopoulos, Aaron Park and Jerry Liu — and with some input from WCI’s head of music, Dan Brennan, and support from Kim’s father, Jong Myung Kim — he launched the program in July.
Known as Students Teaching Refugees Universal Music, or STRUM, the free program is, in many cases, introducing basic music theory and instruments to the youngsters for the first time.
“They’ve been making such amazing progress,” Giannopoulos says.
But it’s not just an educational experience. Look around the church basement, and you see smiles all around. The group has added a number of high schoolers to the teaching ranks, and they admit they’re having as much fun as their students.
And for the youngsters, there’s a feeling of camaraderie, a spirit of togetherness, a sense of support.
“They’re kind of getting used to this foreign land,” Park says. “We hope to expand their connections in Canada.”
The K-W Reception Centre, which assists new refugees, helped to get word out to prospective families. Long & McQuade assisted with discounted instrument rentals, and donations and fundraising efforts have covered costs. Much of the financial support came from parishioners at Bloomingdale Mennonite Church, where the Kim family are members.
A concert for friends and family will be held on Aug. 19 as the inaugural program winds down. Its organizers are hoping to expand it in the future, and are looking into non-profit status.
Brennan knew his music students were motivated and showed a lot of initiative in class. But even he’s impressed at what they’ve accomplished here.
“I think it’s unprecedented,” he says. “We’ve always had high-achieving, outgoing students at WCI. But none that have taken on a program, initiated a program from the grassroots level … It’s definitely a win-win.”
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