幾個月前我們開始和一班不同國籍的難民有機會一齊玩音樂. 她們因為種種原因逃難到安全的香港, 因着香港的難民政策, 在這裏生活不容易. 香港對於難民的種種資源也是十分短缺, 暫時好像沒有很多機構為這班不同種族的人士提供關注身心靈的小組服務.
我們和幸福傳聲基金會合作開始了差不多四個月的Pilot project, 嘗試利用音樂和藝術治療看看如何能夠提升身心靈健康. 這一班婦女共通點就是全都有小朋友需要照顧,尤其是今年的Covid 令到大人小朋友一同困在狹窄空間裏, 壓力源頭有一部份在照顧家人, 缺乏喘息的空間.
每次的小組, 參加者很快已經進入狀態, 用着各種樂器無拘無束地即興玩. 不需要任何指令, 手舞足蹈完全投入地去玩. 5-6人這個小組人數perfect! 大家已經越玩越放, 好識玩, 話下一次要跳埋舞! 去到最後各人分享, 有兩位參加者形容自己是 "reborn! Refreshing, like a baby!" 「重生的感覺」提及到這個空間她們可以給自己一個私人空間, 做回自己, 放下照顧小朋友和其他種種的壓力. "it's like all my trouble and worries are gone when I'm playing!" "I need ME time, this group gives me that!" (其實有幸房間出面有同事正在run babysitting 小組, 參加者不需要顧忌放下小朋友在家, 一家大細一齊來中心!)
大家已經懂得利用這個活動空間讓自己完全放鬆，暫時放下重擔。
得意是有一位參加者當中好像講笑地分享, 有那種有那種Reborn 感覺其中一個重點就是令她可以在這裏做一些平時出邊不能夠接觸或做到或甚至是forbidden 的事!! 形容她的文化背景平常的音樂只能用鼓, 玩其他樂器是forbidden 的. 但她強調在這空間沒有熟悉的人看見就完全OK，想玩點都得。音樂可以令她完全自由自在! 其實佢係其中一個玩得最放嘅一個參加者！
Refugee Music & Art Therapy
Few months ago we started a music and therapy group with different nationality's refugee who ended up in Hk for whatever reasons. Because of the refugee policy in Hk, living in this city is a challenge in many ways. HK government allocated limited resources for this group of people, and there seems to be a lack of organisations hosting therapeutic groups focused on improving the wellbeing of this group of people.
We have been blessed to be partnering up with Blessvision to run a pilot refugee music and art therapy group for around four months. Attempting to use music and art therapy to see how we can help them improve overall wellbeing. The ladies who attended the group shared something in common: all are mothers with more than one child to take care of. Especially with the Covid situation this last year, it has been a difficult season trapped inside a confined space with the children at home with minimal space to relax.
Every week, each participants need minimal warmup time, freely choosing different instruments to play without limit. Without any instructions, they were able to make use of the sound and shape of instruments from around the world to express themselves, and to simply play and be themselves. A group size of 5-6 is a perfect number, everybody really knows how to play without having any previous musical trainings. At each sharing towards the end, they often expressed "It's like i'm a baby, being reborn." "it's like all my trouble and worries are gone when I'm playing!" "I need ME time, this group gives me that!". They appreciated the space where they can truly be themselves, temporarily letting the heavy burdens down where they can be recharged. (Grateful for the colleague who's running a babysitting group outside, the mums can take the kids out with them together without worrying about leaving them behind with no-one to attend to.) Interesting, a participant jokingly shared, that feeling of "reborn" actually comes from the ability to do something that's unusual to daily living, something that's impossible to do or even forbidden to do outside of this space. She shared how her cultural background only allows people to play drums, other instruments are considered forbidden, she stressed that playing in this space is absolutely fine as long as nobody else seen her play, she can play whatever she wants. Music and this space allows her to be completely free from any cultural restrain.