Photos

This photo was taken along with video and a journalistic piece I did at the Military Post CampBondsteel in Kosovo/ Kosova. It was never used my the military; but was sent to the founder Liz Shropshire.

Task Force Med-Falcon’s ‘Grand Rounds’ topic for discussion on April 8 was ‘Healing the Emotional Trauma of War Thru Music’.
The presenter was Liz Shropshire of the ‘Shropsire Music Foundation’ based in the city of Gjakova/Djakovo.
Shropshire’s program ‘Teaching Children Peace Through Music’ is up and running in Kosovo, Northern Ireland and Uganda. Kosovo’s music program was started in 1999 when she came to Kosovo from Los Angeles as a volunteer for the Non Government Organization ‘Balkin Sunflowers’ (www.balkansunflowers.org/).
“Liz is doing such a fantastic job,” Maj. Stuart Feldman, coordinator, ‘Grand Rounds’, TF Med-Falcon, said, “It’s going to take people like her to bring Kosovo around and really make it a wonderful place to be.”
Col. Jay L. Griffin, commander, TF Med-Falcon said, “Liz’s ‘Grand Rounds’ presentation focused on the therapeutic use of music to redress psychosocial behavior trauma, foster ethnic tolerance and improve the quality of life for children through the use of music.”
Shropshire and her students are very appreciative of the military presence here in Kosovo. She said that without the KFOR military being here the children wouldn’t feel safe enough to come to programs like hers and express themselves.
The ‘Grand Rounds’ started out with refreshments set out for the kids and attendees. Shropshire then gave an overview on her program and how it helps the kids here in Kosovo gain a sense of self-importance and accomplishment.
Shropshire said that her first day of class as a volunteer had nine children, by the end of the first week she had 90 and by the end of the fourth week, she had over 300 children in her class. After the large attendance, she realized that music can really help these Kosovar children and decided she would stay and start up the ‘Shropshire Music Foundation’.
When her program first started, she gave the children small instruments such as the pennywhistle and harmonica. She did this because many of the children were living in camps. She wanted instruments small enough to keep and carry home in their pockets so they would not be taken away. Shropshire said in order to succeed learning their instrument they must practice their instruments. This helps develop self-discipline in the kids.
She also said that the children here in Kosovo have grown up with a lot of control over many aspects of their lives and what her program does is give some of the control back to them. Then it is up to the kids to decide if they are going to work hard, practice and keep coming. And when they do practice and improve on their instruments, Shropshire said, “These children develop this amazing sense of control.”
After her lecture, she and her students performed a variety of songs from ‘Yankee Doodle Dandy’ to ‘It’s a Small World After All,’ which was sung in Albanian.
The final part of this ‘Grand Round’ special event was Griffin presenting Shropshire with a ‘Kosovo Children’s Music Initiative Certificate of Appreciation,’“What she and the team leaders have done with the children in teaching them music is fantastic,” Griffin said, “The ‘Grand Rounds’ attendees not only learned about the therapeutic use of music to heal, they witnessed it first hand as the children provided an outstanding performance.”
-O'Neal

SIDENOTE: I have placed two other photos of the event in the Workshop. The event took place in a speaking/ home-made movie theater.