Thursday, February 12, 2009

Pomoja : Music in Action

Greetings! The word pomoja means "unity" or "together" in various African languages. I hope to create an online community that can be a pomoja (unity) amongst those of us- individuals, groups, and organisations, alike- who are working to make a difference in the world, while harnessing the power and unifying force of cross-cultural MUSIC to help achieve our goals.

Some of us may be educators, volunteers, or founders of NGOs; advocates for specific causes, diplomats, hospital care providers, or piano teachers; media producers, music composers or performers; staff members at non-profits or CEOs of new hybrid social ventures; donors, investors, and cultural travel enthusiasts....or simply avid music lovers!



I know that there are numerous websites or blogs that endeavor to provide information and inspiration to specific target groups, gather volunteers for a particular cause, or assist NGOs and foundations that are focused on a unique set of issues. And similarly, there are (almost literally!) innumerable websites featuring music of one type or another.

Nevertheless, musicians of all countries and all ages are looking for more opportunities where our hard-won skills can be used to help change people's lives; to know where we can volunteer time and talents to organisations that believe in the power and value of what we have to offer.



And those of us who are not musicians, but are looking for some uniquely potent ways to reach the hearts and minds of the individuals or groups whom we are trying to help, might be surprised to learn about the ways that music is currently being used as a critical tool in such important activities as conflict resolution, international relations, education (for all subjects and at all levels), cross-cultural diversity training, human rights issues and the UN Millennium Development Goals, gang prevention, music therapy for healing of refugees' traumas......to name just a few examples!



The goal of this blog, therefore, is to create a worldwide online community that can share experiences, contacts, ideas, resources, and inspiration which we can in turn share with the world. I hope that this site can become a catalyst that will bring many different organisations, websites, and individuals together around the common interests of music and service:

"Music in Action"!



I look forward very much to hearing from all those whom I've already met during my global travels in this exciting work (some might call it a "mission"), but I am also eager to "meet" new friends from all cultures and continents who will hopefully contribute your comments to this blog so that we can share in your ideas, experiences, vision, contacts and life stories.

We are unified in the belief that we can achieve community and global change most effortlessly and powerfully through music, but we can only do it "together": Pomoja!

8 comments:

  1. Thanks for setting up this blog. I look forward to learning more about your activities and hearing from others.

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  2. Thank you for the initial steps. I hope that I can participate in this as it develops in the future.

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  3. This looks like a great site. I could get my mojo on at pomoja!

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  4. Donna,

    You asked for the "why" this page is preferred. This one welcomes you with a warm photo of you and clear text. The other has no photo (of you nor of anything project related) and you are immediately distracted from the text by ads (or as some would say -- "adverts" ;)

    Go for it!

    Miki

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  5. I LOVE blogspot!! :D
    This one's a keeper! You can do all sorts of fun things with the background and add pix and videos and stuff!!!

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  6. I am so inspired by your very comprehensive and well designed website. Your mission really speaks to my heart. I am a classically trained flutist. I loved looking at the travelswithmusic.org site. Please keep in touch and let me know if I can help.

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  7. Don't know much about "blogging" but responding to encourage your enthusiasm, love of music, and desire to spread pomoja throughout the world.

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  8. A blog is a lot of work, but I hope you'll keep it up because it can be such a useful way for me to keep up to date on what you and the organizations in your network are doing. I'm always on the lookout for funding opportunities for donors!
    For what it's worth, I also prefer the blogspot page - more dynamic and clean.
    Best of luck!

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