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Sandblast -a UK charity promoting awareness of the plight of the indigenous Saharawi of Western Sahara. The majority have been refugees in the harsh SW corner of the Algerian Sahara since 1975. Through educational, arts and skills development projects, we aim to provide opportunities for young people to have brighter futures and
to highlight their threatened cultural heritage.
The Latest:
JANUARY 2020
• The new year and the new decade ushers in new thinking and reflections. Over the past 12 months, our early-learning project known as Stave House in the Sahara, teaching music and English to primary school children in the Saharawi refugee camps, has gone through significant changes and growth. When launched 4 years ago, as a pilot, it initially aimed to teach music in English using the innovative Stave House method. It operated out of one refurbished room in the Lal Andala primary school. Now it is housed in a brand new centre built over the summer of 2019, with four rooms for teaching. The project has also evolved towards creating a 4 year-long English language programme to run alongside the teaching of 4 levels of music primarily using the Stave House method, but not exclusively. The project has also added traditional music and instrument learning taught by a local multi-instrumentalist musician and organises international music workshops twice a year to expose the children to a variety of music styles from around the world and to develop specific musical skills like singing and ensemble playing. Due to all these changes, Sandblast felt the project needed a new name to reflect better its aspirations and activities. The name we have come up with that has resonated the most so far is: DESERT VOICEBOX JUNIOR ACADEMY- an early learning project teaching music and English. But we are still open to other suggestions so please share your ideas if you have any.
• Volunteers Andy Pitt and Georgia Lomax both head out in the new year to the refugee camps to provide further teacher training and to introduce special learning activities with the children. Over the next 5 weeks, Andy will be focusing on creating the framework for teaching English to level 4 and Georgia will be developing the children's musicality and doing choir work with them. We are enormously grateful to both of them for their time, dedication and generosity.
October 2019
• Sandblast director Danielle Smith and project manager Violeta Ruano travelled to the camps to assess the progress of the Desert Voicebox Academy project. During their visit they oversaw the Stave House certificate-giving ceremony for the children who passed their Level 2 exams.
JANUARY 2020
• The new year and the new decade ushers in new thinking and reflections. Over the past 12 months, our early-learning project known as Stave House in the Sahara, teaching music and English to primary school children in the Saharawi refugee camps, has gone through significant changes and growth. When launched 4 years ago, as a pilot, it initially aimed to teach music in English using the innovative Stave House method. It operated out of one refurbished room in the Lal Andala primary school. Now it is housed in a brand new centre built over the summer of 2019, with four rooms for teaching. The project has also evolved towards creating a 4 year-long English language programme to run alongside the teaching of 4 levels of music primarily using the Stave House method, but not exclusively. The project has also added traditional music and instrument learning taught by a local multi-instrumentalist musician and organises international music workshops twice a year to expose the children to a variety of music styles from around the world and to develop specific musical skills like singing and ensemble playing. Due to all these changes, Sandblast felt the project needed a new name to reflect better its aspirations and activities. The name we have come up with that has resonated the most so far is: DESERT VOICEBOX JUNIOR ACADEMY- an early learning project teaching music and English. But we are still open to other suggestions so please share your ideas if you have any.
• Volunteers Andy Pitt and Georgia Lomax both head out in the new year to the refugee camps to provide further teacher training and to introduce special learning activities with the children. Over the next 5 weeks, Andy will be focusing on creating the framework for teaching English to level 4 and Georgia will be developing the children's musicality and doing choir work with them. We are enormously grateful to both of them for their time, dedication and generosity.
October 2019
• Sandblast director Danielle Smith and project manager Violeta Ruano travelled to the camps to assess the progress of the Desert Voicebox Academy project. During their visit they oversaw the Stave House certificate-giving ceremony for the children who passed their Level 2 exams.
