Twelve young people from Zwelihle and Mount Pleasant, who form part of the Volmoed Youth Leadership Training Programme (VYLTP), are currently enjoying the opportunity of a lifetime in the USA.
Members of the VYLTP, which is based at the Volmoed Retreat Centre in the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley and the RDP Training Centre in Zwelihle, have not only learnt valuable leadership skills through the programme, but also drumming and drum making through a partnership with Drumba and Bevil Spence.
Now, through a touch of serendipity and collaboration with the Indiana Centre for Middle East Peace, a group from the USA that visited the Volmoed centre last year, the 12 are on a three week “Drumming Tour for Unity and Hope”.
Before they left Rev Edwin Arrison congratulated them on making history by being the first group of Volmoed young leaders to travel together overseas.
He added: “Thanks be to God for Bevil, who came with the idea and who shared that idea with the USA group last September. Thanks be to God for Michael Spath and Ron Caldwell who were most determined to make it happen. Thanks be to God for all those who contributed and who are opening their homes. The Diocese of Indianapolis has decided to rent a house for us. Its generosity is overflowing. Enjoy this tremendous US mid-west generosity. Forget about Trump. He is probably a footnote in God’s bigger story. Say thank you to God every single day. The Holy Spirit goes ahead of us…”
The group has visited a number of cities in the mid-west of America, including Fort Wayne, Indianapolis, Goshen, Elkhart, Tecumseh in Michigan, and Chicago. They have drummed, danced and sung at schools, churches and organisations, and are currently attending the annual Percussionist convention in Indianapolis (PASIC), where they are loving learning through workshops, concerts and interacting with thousands of percussionists from around the world. They say that ‘everyone loves us!’ and they have made a big impact.
Reverend Arrison also reported that members of the team who did not participate in the USA tour, visited the University of Cape Town (UCT) Business School where they delivered a great performance.
“It is quite remarkable that young people from the poorest communities in Hermanus are making such an impact everywhere they go!” he stated.
Members of the group who did not travel to America performed at the Hermanus Municipal Auditorium on 8 November to welcome people to the FynArts public lecture by former Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams.
For more information on the programme, or to ask the group to drum at your event, contact Arrison on 084 735 1835 or Rev Wilma Jakobsen, chaplain of Volmoed, and the leadership of the Volmoed Youth Leadership Programme on 060 754 0348.
