Dear friends and supporters,
Welcome to the Music for Hope Spring Newsletter.
Last year was a special year as we celebrated Music for Hope’s 25th Anniversary; 25 years of friendship, solidarity, and dedicated social and creative support to children and young people from the rural communities of the Bajo Lempa in El Salvador.
In El Salvador, the Music for Hope team celebrated the 25th anniversary at every event. The bands took time to talk to the public about the positive impact that Music for Hope has had during the last 25 years, and in every music centre, the music students have been having conversations about the history of Music for Hope. The aims of these conversations and reflections were to celebrate 25 years of work, and at the same time to help the new generations of students understand more about the expansion of the project and how and why
it was started in the communities of El Bajo Lempa.
During those conversations and reflections, parents and students expressed gratitude to everyone involved in the project (volunteers, trustees, communities, music teachers, music students and donors from the UK and Catalunya) as without their support this amazing work would not be possible. We are proud to say that over 25 years, we have contributed to the personal and social development of thousands of children and young people in El Bajo Lempa. Many of them have gone on to become the community’s current leaders, doctors, psychologists, school teachers, musicians and more.
Times are changing and the challenges for children and young people from the communities are different now to those we faced 25 years ago but our work remains as crucial as ever.
One of the main issues for the communities and the country as a whole, is the ongoing gang issue and the government’s response. Young people are particular targets and suffer most from the instability and violence the gangs cause.
In 2022, the government imposed a state of exception across the whole country, taking away basic human rights such as the right to a fair trial and the right to defence in the case of detention. The government claims this is a fight against the gangs, and more than 60,000 people have been arrested and taken to high security prisons since it began. The police and military have overseen the arrest of thousands of people, especially young people, most of whom are from poor communities. This policy has left thousands of children and young people without one, or both parents. Human rights organisations argue that there are many innocent people in prison that have been caught up in the policy, including dozens who have died in police custody.
The Bajo Lempa communities have been deeply affected by the State of Emergency as some of the people arrested are community leaders or people who work in community organisations.
In recent months the government announced the opening of a mega prison, The Terrorism Confinement Centre, apparently the largest of its kind in Latin America which will hold around 40,000 people who are suspected to be gang members. In short, the current government’s approach to the gang problem is imprisonment, with no opportunity to talk about prevention or opportunities to safeguard those children and young people who don’t belong to any criminal groups.
Music for Hope chooses to take a more proactive and positive approach to prevent young people from joining the gangs. We offer safe, creative spaces for young people and children from the Bajo Lempa to meet, learn how to play music, express themselves and share in the communities’ values. We thank you for being with us on this journey.
Updates from our Team in El Salvador
Tony Centeno: Music Teacher and El Salvador Project Coordinator
Tony and his music groups have been participating in different community events during recent months. One of the most important events was the preservation of historical memory of the communities, organised in coordination with ACUDESBAL, Voces En la Frontera, and the community schools’ leaders of Amando Lopez. The aim of this event was to celebrate the history, resilience and principles of the communities during the civil war and to help new generations to understand how the community has grown yet remained rooted in these principles and values.
Pedro: Music Teacher in El Zamoran
Pedro and his music group are very committed to supporting grassroots organisations in the Bajo Lempa who are doing good work for the community. One of the most recent events was in coordination with the Ecclesiastic Grassroots Communities, where the bands from El Zamoran participated in a concert to raise funds for people from the communities with chronic illnesses. The money raised from this event was distributed among the people who need it for their medical treatment. Another important activity was a cultural exchange with the Escuelita de Canto based in Morazan in the north east of El Salvador. In this activity the children had the opportunity to exchange their musical knowledge and experience with students from another part of the country.
Eneyda: Music Teacher in Amando Lopez
Eneyda has been doing excellent work with her students to support her community and participate in different events. One of the biggest activities was the 12th anniversary of local NGO, Mangle. During this event the children from Impacto Musical (Musical Impact) and Tejiendo el Futuro (Sowing the Future) played their self penned songs, and had people on their feet dancing. The songs pick up on themes such as the importance of environmental protection and preserving the community’s history. For Eneyda it is very important that the children understand the community’s history and values. As Eneyda says; “It is good to use music as an educational tool while we entertain the public”.
Wilfredo: Music Teacher in La Papalota
During the past month, Wilfredo has been working in coordination with school in La Papalota. This partnership has allowed the music group to play their music at different school celebrations such as Father’s Day, Mother’s Day and the Art Festival. One of the most important events that the music group have participated in was in the anniversary of San Hilario, a neighbouring community of the Bajo Lempa. Once again, the bands from La Papalota had the audience up and dancing.
Ingrid: Music for Hope Psychologist
Many families have been deeply affected by the state of emergency, as people have been taken to prison without any proof of gang membership. Ingrid has been working very closely with teachers and schools to identify children who are suffering because of this situation. Ingrid is working with specific children as well as delivering workshops across all of our music groups. The aim of the workshops is to help children to learn how to support each other and understand the current situation to address feelings of anxiety, depression and uncertainty that this situation is causing.
Christmas Concert
As is tradition, every year Music for Hope celebrates its Christmas Concert in the Bajo Lempa. After two years of celebrating the concert online, we finally had the opportunity to celebrate the concert live in Nueva Esperanza in 2022. The concert was very successful as people from across the communities to listen to our bands. Our students also had the opportunity to win prizes by taking part in a quiz about the history of Music for Hope. Unfortunately, the Salvadorean team couldn’t transmit the event on Facebook live due to poor
internet connection in the area.
UK and Beyond
In the UK, our Trustees and Volunteers meet every two months to explore ways to support our team in El Salvador. We would like to welcome Ella and Eve to our volunteer team. Ella joined us following an internship last year where she helped our Salvadorean team with social media, and Eve is currently doing an internship with us. Both of them bring a range of interest, skills, experience and passion that will hugely enhance our work in El Salvador and the UK.
Important changes in the Board of Trustees
In January 2023 we held our AGM where important changes to our Board of Trustees took place. The first is that Music for Hope Founder, Katherine Rogers stepped down as Chair to give that opportunity to another Trustee. We want to give our thanks to Katherine for her dedicated work as Chair since Music for Hope’s legal constitution as a charity. Katherine will remain as a Trustee on the Board.
Replacing Katherine as Chair is Andrew Redden, who has been a Music for Hope Trustee for 7 years. Andre is a Senior Lecturer in Latin American History at Liverpool University, is conducting research into our work and has been to El Salvador numerous times contributing directly to Music for Hope in many ways. We are excited to see what he will bring to the role.
We also want to extend a warm welcome to Emily McIndoe who joins the Board as a Trustee. Emily has been volunteering with us for a number of years doing great work on our social media, website and online platforms. Recently she has been running online workshops with our team to have a better understanding of how to use Facebook and Instagram.
Music for Hope Online Shop
We have been doing work on our online shop and now have a range of cultural merchandise and ways of donating.
Our latest production is a photo book ‘Music for Hope, 25 Years of Solidarity’ by Kevin Hayes and Tony Luna, launched to celebrate our 25th anniversary. In this book you will find testimonies from our students, teachers and friends about the positive impact that the Music for Hope has had, as well as their hopes for the future. The testimonies are accompanied by Kevin’s beautiful photos documenting our work over two decades. All income from the sales of the book will be invested back into our work in the Bajo Lempa.
Our CD ‘Historias Cantadas Siempre Vivirán’ (Stories That Are Sung, Live Forever) features songs by our young people reflecting the issues that are closest to them from migration, the environment and love. The CD is accompanied by a beautiful booklet with translations of the songs, information about the social context and drawings by our students. You can also buy the album or individual tracks on our bandcamp page.
Do visit it and contribute if you can! https://musicforhope.org.uk/shop/
Support Us
With the rising cost of living and increased financial pressures, it is becoming harder to raise funds to continue our work in El Salvador. We would like to invite our regular donors and anyone who believes in what we do to spread the word, follow us on socials and invite people to support us. If you would like to get more involved, get in touch with us on musicforhope@gmail.com.
Thank you for your continued support for Music for Hope. You are crucial to our work.
