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Serving Bangladeshi Children & Rohingya RefugeesIn Bangladesh Since 2019 |
Currently an astounding 890,000 Rohingya refugees are living at the Kutupalong and Nayapara refugee camps in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar region. The camps have grown to become the largest and most densely populated camps on earth. This crisis has strained an already impoverished country, which has shown unprecedented generosity to the deeply persecuted Rohingya people. PTMI has been making a significant impact in the lives of both Rohingya and Bangladeshi children since 2019.
Our exceptional team of young Bangladesh volunteers in Cox’s Bazaar are teaching our unique music program in 4 locations:
Rohingya Refugees in the Kutupalong Refugee Camp - Few NGOs are granted access inside this camp. The PTMI Bangladesh team worked tirelessly to gain entry and have opened our highly anticipated classes for young, excited, and severely underserved Rohingya refugees.
Climate Refugees in Najirar Tek - These children are living in an area with little access to education or resources. The students have been delighted at the opportunity, believing music instruction was only for wealthy families.
Orphanage in Cox’s Bazar - PTMI opened a new program this year for children in Cox’s Bazar’s “Orphan Center.” The children live and go to school in the Center and are thrilled to begin learning the pennywhistle.
Volunteer Training at the Asian University for Women in ChittagongIn 2023, Liz was able to teach an intensive training course to 35 new volunteers attending the Asian University for Women in Chittagong. These exceptional women are chosen from all over Asia to attend this university and they are trained to be leaders in their countries when they return. There is an especially large number of women from Afghanistan because of the elimination of education for women under the Taliban. Our goal with these women Is to not only enable them to run a music program for local impoverished Bangladeshi children but also for them to take our Peace Through Music International program back to their home countries.
Much of this work is made possible with a partnership with the Bangladeshi-based organization YASID (Youth Alliance for Sustainable International Development).
Please see our Facebook page to follow our work in this remarkable country!
Ukraine
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Serving Ukrainian Refugees in Poland
At least 12 million people have fled their homes since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. We've established a program for young refugees in Łódź, Poland, teaching harmonica, singing, and ukulele classes while also providing teacher training for teenagers. In a time of severe stress and trauma, our program brings purpose, self esteem, achievement, creativity, fun and joy.
Bangladesh
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Serving Bangladeshi Children & Rohingya Refugees
Currently an astounding 890,000 Rohingya refugees are living in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar region in the largest and most densely populated camps on earth. This crisis has strained an already impoverished country, which has shown unprecedented generosity to the deeply persecuted Rohingya people. PTMI is making a significant impact in the lives of both Rohingya and Bangladeshi children.
Iraq
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Serving Yazidi & Iraqi Youth
Nearly a decade after the Islamic State (ISIS) brutally displaced the ethnoreligious population of Yazidis from their homes, over 280,000 are still languishing in IDP camps in Kurdistan. Since 2022, a group of young adults have flourished in a ukulele class taught online by with help from a young Yazidi volunteer living as a refugee in Germany.
Arizona
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Rescued Afghan Refugees & Unaccompanied Minors
In 2021, hundreds of Afghan families narrowly escaped the brutal Taliban regime to begin new lives in Arizona. PTMI quickly mobilized to provide a comprehensive program to help them begin life in the US in a healthy, positive way. Our program has since expanded to serve unaccompanied minors and other refugees living in the Phoenix area.
Refugee Camps in Greece
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Refugee Camps in Greece
The war in Syria was at the root of the worst refugee crisis since WWII. Children were both targeted and recruited, and families left Syria by the millions. SMF built a program not just for Syrian refugees, but also Kurdish, Afghan and Yazidi children and teenagers-- all in Greek refugee camps. The program provided structure and much-needed opportunities for achievement and self expression.
Northern Ireland
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Peace Through Music Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland schools continue to be 93% segregated between Catholics and Protestants. Bombs explode or are discovered weekly, and riots take place monthly. Murals of men wearing balaclavas and holding guns are on homes and businesses everywhere. Children and adults alike suffer from low self esteem and intolerance as they experience anger and violence daily. SMF is working to bring children together from both sides of the community, forming life-long and life-changing relationships through music.
Utah
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Refugees Living in Salt Lake City
More than 60,000 refugees or "new Americans" live in Utah. Young people must make a difficult adjustment-- learning not only a new language but a whole new way of life. With the help of an incredible group of teenage volunteers, our program Salt Lake City program is reaching young people in the Granite School District.
Kosovo
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Peace Through Music Kosovo
The war in Kosovo ended in 1999, but the affects of this war-- poverty, intolerance, segregation, racism--were experienced every day for many years, especially by children raised in camps and those living in minority communities. For two decades SMF worked with the children and teenagers of Kosovo to develop self esteem, tolerance, and a love of peace through music.
Uganda
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Peace Through Music Uganda
Northern Uganda continues to recover from a brutal civil war in which approximately 66,000 children were kidnapped and forced to become soldiers and 2 million people were displaced internally from 1986 to 2009. Many lived in IDP camps, where they experienced malnutrition and extreme poverty. From 2005 until 2017, The Shropshire Music Foundation ran programs in Gulu and surrounding areas in an IDP camp, 3 primary schools, and 2 high schools that served, among others: former child soldiers, unwanted children born to child soldiers, child mothers, and Night Commuters (children who commuted nightly to evade kidnappers).
