Empowering young people

@ Volmoed, close to Hermanus in the Western Cape

How can drumming be used to empower young people? How can drumming be used to create community? How can drumming be used for healing and reconciliation? How can drumming be used to deal with the issue of youth unemployment?

These are some of the questions that the leadership team of VYLTP (see Faculty, partners, funders | Volmoed Youth) considered as it decided to roll out the drumming project at Volmoed, close to Hermanus in the Western Cape.
This project involves:

Learning to play an African drum
Learning to entertain others through drumming
Learning to make and decorate drums
Learning to lead drumming circles at schools, hospitals, corporate events, team building functions, etc.
Learning to create an income from the making and selling of drums

We were fortunate that Bevil Spence (see Home – | drum360.net), a drummer, drum maker and drum circle facilitator for more than 20 years, availed himself to help us make this project a reality at Volmoed and also in the Greater Hermanus area.

The first phase of learning to drum (September to December 2022) was made possible by drummers in Hermanus, mobilized by Don Shay and Wilma Jakobsen, who paid to learn how to drum and in the process subsidized the training for the young people from Zwelihle and Mount Pleasant. St Peter’s church in Hermanus supports the project by making its space available for the group to practice.

Other supporters of the project have been The church of Christ in Zwelihle, and La Pentola Restaurant in Hermanus.
In January 2023, we will start the training towards the making of drums and the facilitation skills needed to use drumming as a therapeutic tool and for entertainment.

We will start with facilitation-training for unemployed young people and then do the training for the making of the drums to these same young people from the Greater Hermanus area who have been part of VYLTP programmes.

For more information about this project or if you wish to support it, please email:

Siyabonga Vonco at Siyabonga.vonco@gmail.com

Otherwise, please send a WhatsApp note to
Edwin Arrison at +27 84 735 1835

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