These refugees in Fort Worth find healing in in the universal language music
A group of five refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo met at their apartment complex clubhouse Dec. 5 to learn the notes behind the Swahili hymn “We We Ni Halfa.”
“I’m excited to come here to learn,” Abale Kalonga said.
Kalonga is one of the founding members of Fort Worth’s Refugee Services of Texas refugee music collaborative, an initiative designed to give refugees with music skills technical music training and a creative outlet. Refugees practice songs from their countries on piano and guitar, and learn the composition and theory behind them, something that not many have been exposed to before.
Zoe Wilkerson, area director of Fort Worth Refugee Services of Texas, said members of the Fort Worth branch of the organization knew the value music brought to their own lives and wanted their clients to have that, too.
“If the client plays a musical instrument, they’ll always list it as one of their special skills, and sometimes clients will talk about it regularly,” said Wilkerson. “I felt it was unfortunate that we were not able to take advantage of those abilities.”
Refugee Services of Texas is among the groups this year that received a grant from the North Texas Community Foundation’s Fund to Advance Racial Equity. The fund supports nonprofits working toward eliminating racial inequities. Refugee Services of Texas uses the grant money for instruments such as keyboards and guitars so clients can use and practice with them full time.
“If they’re dealing with, ‘Where am I going to get food? Where am I going to stay tonight? Am I going to be able to pay my rent?’ If we have that concern, then they can’t really focus on things that are good for their mental wellness like picking an instrument back up again,” Wilkerson said.
Heidi Ahonen, professor of music therapy at Wilfrid Laurier University, has studied the advantages of music for refugee populations and people who have dealt with trauma. She said playing music increases satisfaction hormones in the brain while lowering the stress hormone cortisol, which is particularly helpful for people who have dealt with trauma. Playing music in a group can multiply those benefits.
“When you get together and you make music together this hormone oxytocin releases into the body, and you suddenly start feeling this sense of belonging and sense of safety,” she said.
Nathan Harmon joined the team as an education case manager last year, partially because of his background in classical piano and his experience setting up music schools overseas. Harmon teaches the music group every other Saturday. They’ve been meeting for about two months.
Harmon said it’s been an exercise of patience getting the group going. It required a lot of cold calling clients and asking about their music background, hoping to get people with some experience.
“Some of them play a little bit, but their background in music education is very, very limited,” Harmon said. They would pick up some music knowledge, but typically wouldn’t have access to music teachers who could teach them the theory behind the strings on the guitar or the keys on a piano, he said.
He said the clients are excited to learn.
Kalonga has been playing the bass and the guitar for around five months. He was in a choir at church where he learned some basic chords. He said he can play anything in his language, but sometimes doesn’t know what key he’s in.
The Dec. 5 practice was only Kalonga’s second, but he said he’s hoping to continue to learn and eventually play in front of a crowd. He shared his excitement about it with friends, bringing several others to the practice.
Although it’s just getting started, Wilkerson said she hopes the group can eventually become a combination of nationalities and music cultures. But Wilkerson said starting with one culture group might make it easier to meet their first goal: to play in front of audiences around DFW, so clients could raise money to pay for and keep their instruments.
“It’s always good to be practicing toward something, but also we really want to share the experience of refugees with the people in the community,” Harmon said.
Clients were shocked at first when they learned they would be practicing songs from their native countries in their native languages, but that only made them more excited, Harmon said.
“Music is a very universal language, and it doesn’t matter what country you’re from. ... It’s a way of healing that goes beyond language or culture,” Harmon said. “We really wanted to bring people together, to start learning music together to work on things as a way to really touch that part of humanity in them that is creative.”
