Sahara Update

A little bit of history…

We set up the Stave House in the Sahara project back in 2015 with Danielle Smith from the Sandblast arts organisation.  We wanted to introduce the programme to introduce music and support English language in the Saharawi refugee camps in South West Algeria.

The amazing Dr Violeta Ruano came on board to run the project.  She trained as a Stave House teacher with me, here at the studio, before heading out to the desert to introduce the pilot programme to the Lal Adala primary school in Bojador.

Russell and I donated the training, the Stave House licenses and materials to get things started and our students, their families and friends were incredibly generous in their support of the programme as it was being implemented in the Sahara.  With world events hitting poorer areas of the world incredibly hard, we have had several enquiries as to how things are at the camps and whether the children are still taking part in the programme, so we wanted to share this update we received from Violeta in September:

“Just wanted to touch base with you and let you know that despite everything the Sahara project is still going ahead. We hadn’t been able to teach the children since the end of March (online teaching is really not possible in the camps), but hopefully the Saharawi schools are opening again on September 13 and our local teachers will be able to teach again! During this time, the girls have not been idle, though, since they have been getting online training by Andrada, particularly focusing on their Stave House Level 3, and also working on their English language skills with another teacher. We’ve been really lucky!”

October 2020 update…

We are so delighted to see that the schools are now open again and teaching of the programme is going ahead in person, despite the challenged of Covid.  There have been recent electricity cuts in the camps so lessons are taking place outside!   All the wonderful support of our wider Stave House family is still benefitting the children living in the camps who get so much from the opportunity to learn, sing and play music.

Sandblast continues to sponsor the programme and we continue to fund the licences of the schools and along with the London College of Music, fund the certifications of all the children from the camp.  Stave House in the Sahara is now making up half of Desert Voicebox, (the other half of the project supports English language teaching in the schools).  If If you wish to support Stave House in the Sahara, you can donate to Desert Voicebox by clicking here.