Mrs. Catherine, aged 58 years, sings and claps her hands every day to her grandkids to beat trauma. Around her is a small circle of five children, stamping their feet and waving their arms with the biggest smiles on their faces. It’s the world away from the hard reality they faced in the recent months after losing their beloved father. Mrs. Catherine sings for her grandkids so that they can try to forget their father, who was killed by gunfire a few months ago. “I do this to help these children overcome stress and trauma following the loss of my son (their father) in March.” Mr. Baker died in a march by bullets on the streets; this affected his family and leading the wife to dump kids behind.
The kids were displaced and left in fear and had less to fill their days. Mrs. Catherine saw it important to find meaning, stability, and hope and vowed to sing for them every day. ” I hope this will produce results. I want them to overcome imperfections,” said Catherine. Catherine says that while one of the aspects of singing is certainly to teach, inspire hope and love, it is also therapeutic and can be used to alleviate traumatic experiences.
“I see how songs can be a trauma tool that can help my grandkids go beyond themselves and find a sense of calmness again. It helps them to think things through and not to be stressed all the time because, at their young age, it’s not good to be stressed,” said the grandmother.
As children dance in formation, raising their hands to the sky, the happiness and hope on their faces- however temporary is as clear as day. These kids not only miss their father, who went to be with the Lord, but they also miss good food as JFM gave them.
JFM added more joy to them by surprising them with food relief and other items like Bibles. At the time JFM arrived, they had just finished dancing to beautiful sounds from their grandmother.
With only $33, you can bless families like Mrs. Cahterines, who has experienced their own food crisis.
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