Africa

Growing up in the rural Kithoka community in central Kenya, Bishop Lawi Imathiu didn’t have the opportunity to go to high school. There were no secondary day schools in this rural area outside the town of Meru, just prohibitively costly boarding schools. He sought his own education and went on to attain several degrees, but back in Kithoka, educational opportunities were still thin on the ground.…

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Karibu means “welcome” in Kiswahili, the official language of Tanzania.

Suzuki music in Arusha

Kimbra Dixon is the woman behind the Suzuki violin program in Arusha, Tanzania, which now numbers 65 students in the international program, and 15 in the outreach program. She started the program by encouraging other parents to take interest in the Suzuki method, then by inviting clinicians to give workshops in Arusha as regularly as the group was able to. Over the last seven years, workshop clinicians have included Michele George, Dominick and Linda Fiore, Michelle Denning-James, and Laura Nerenberg. When the program grew large…

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The very first Suzuki flute workshop was held in Arusha, Tanzania this March. The workshop was held over two weeks and included a flute care clinic and a final celebration concert. Eleven flutists of varying ages participated, four of whom began with Kelly at the workshop. The focus was on exploring group class possibilities with a group of flutists diverse ages and levels; the Arusha group ranged in age from 10 years to 50-odd, and in level from beginner (no experience) to intermediate players. Kimbra Dixon, who has spearheaded the establishment of a Suzuki violin school in Arusha as well as the flute workshop, has dreams of one day having an international Suzuki institute in Tanzania.

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