Music for Yazidi Refugees

This spring I will be traveling to Serres, Greece to teach music to refugees through the organization, Lifting Hands International . LHI is a small, grassroots organization committed to providing humanitarian aid to refugees. Their vision is to create a world where compassion transcends national, ethnic, religious, and political divides.

In Serres, LHI runs a community center next to a refugee camp that has anywhere from 400-1,200 Yazidi refugees. Yazidis are an ethnic-religious minority from the Sinjar region of Kurdistan in Northern Iraq. In August 2014, ISIS unexpectedly invaded their homeland, systematically murdering thousands of people and kidnapping 7,000 women and children. Hundreds of thousands of Yazidis have been displaced. This article  from the Washington Post highlights the story of two women (Sahira Habo and Nadia Murad, winner of the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize) within the context of the Yazidi genocide. (It is an excruciating read.)

LHI's community center outside the refugee camp provides a number of psycho-social services as well as food, hygiene, and clothing distribution. They have a Female-Friendly Space and Child-Friendly Space and volunteers teach daily classes on a range of subjects. I will be teaching basic piano to children and adults. 

I believe that in addition to offering a sense of relief and distraction from some of the unimaginable experiences the residents have endured, music can be a vehicle of empowerment and a source of healing. I hope to offer something of value to the Yazidi people by facilitating music classes where children and adults can be expressive, creative, and further bonded as a community.

I will be there for the month of April and all my work will be offered on a voluntary basis. If you feel moved to support this cause, the money you give will be used to help me offset some of my own travel costs and to purchase music and supplies to use in the classroom. Any remaining amount will be directly donated to LHI in Serres to continue expanding and enhancing the programs set up for the Yazidi families.

Additionally, on Saturday, March 21, you are invited to Silver Music  where myself and other Silver Music faculty will be performing in a benefit concert to raise money and awareness for LHI. (All donations at this event will go directly to Lifting Hands International.). 

Thank you so much for your support! 

Cover Photo by David Lohmueller