April 13, 2023 The following is a piece about a song I recently wrote with Patricia Vuvu, who is originally from the DRC and grew up in South Africa. I met Patricia while helping to organize the “Experiences with Displacement” panel for the Migration Summit 2023. This is a monthlong event that happens during April…
Tag: migration
Music is the way forward
It’s been almost a year since my husband and I moved from France back to the small town in central Arizona where we had been living before moving to Belgium five years earlier. Sound confusing? Welcome to my life. I have been moving every two months to two years since I left my parents’ house…
If a tree falls
Note: The identities of participants in a songwriting workshop I describe in this piece have been made anonymous. It’s been a long time since Sarah and I have been able to work together in person to offer poetry and songwriting from stories. The other day, I realized that it has now been more than two…
It’s a long story
Sarah and I are very excited that our project, “On the Move: Poems and Songs of Migration” has been chosen as one of five finalists for the 2021 Amateo Award for arts participation projects across Europe. Even with the added stress of travel during the continuing Covid-19 pandemic, we are planning (in shallah) to travel…
Give me a chance
Sarah and I are thrilled to have been chosen as one of five finalists for the 2021 Amateo Award for volunteer projects promoting arts and participation in communities in Europe. We are so grateful to Amateo for recognizing our project, “On the Move: Poems and Songs of Migration.” We are honored to be among five…
Mondays On the Move: Habibi, Habibi
Since our last “Mondays on the Move” post, movement has become something of a distant memory and luxury. Since meeting for our Laugh at Life performance in Brussels center by the pissing dog statue, movement came to a standstill with the implementation of a second lockdown in both Belgium and France and across the EU….
Mondays On the Move: The pigeon song
Just a week ago, Sarah and I were able to meet at the Fedasil Arrival Centre known as Petit-Château Klein Kasteeljte. It was our first visit to the center since the lockdown that began in March of this year. We were so thrilled to be reunited with a place that has so much meaning and…
Mondays On the Move: The hand that hurts
Now that I am living in France, Sarah and I are not able to visit in person with each other every week as we have been so lucky to do these past several years. In anticipation of this paradigm shift, we performed our migration songs in special places around Brussels so we could share them…
Mondays On the Move: Open the Borders
It’s time for another “Mondays On the Move!” This Monday, Sarah and I had planned to meet along the Belgium-France border but if this year (and life) have taught me anything it is not to get too attached to plans. Sarah was feeling under the weather so we decided to postpone to next Monday. Since…
Mondays On the Move: Give me a chance
This week’s “Mondays On the Move” song is called “Give me a chance.” We wrote this song with a young man from Yemen, who told us he was so grateful to Belgium for welcoming him. All he wanted was to be given a chance to give something back in return. This year has been a…
Guiding Song 