Music Heals Sessions (2024-2025)
March Forth Kenya Kids conducts activities year-round in both the United States and in Kenya Africa. We are a 501c3 non-profit organization headquartered in Southern California since 2008. Our focus is activities and events to promote peace through the arts, all-cultural acceptance, and socially conscious citizens. Our program started nearly 20 years ago by offering Saturday classes for youth of all ages in Nairobi Kenya to teach them different forms of art and music using well-respected adult artists from the community. We have since grown into a bi-continental organization holding weekly events in both Palm Springs California and Nairobi Kenya. We have several activities, but one constant is that we never have a week without drumming.
You will find us approximately every other Thursday from around 7pm, offering a free community drum session during the Palm Springs Village Fest. We partner with a non-profit shop called Music Heals, Inc utilizing their space and inviting people of all ages to join us for an impromptu lesson or just to enjoy the music. Both of our missions are related to using music as a conduit to healing the body, mind and the spirit. We host these drum sessions in front of the Music Heals shop, across the street from the Hyatt on Palm Canyon in Palm Springs. We have had thousands of people of all ages join us over the past 3 years with many regular attendees and have even been featured on the NBC show Palm Springs Unwrapped. Our lead teacher is our Co-Founder Oneko Arika, an international touring percussionist and gifted sound healer. He has taught students of all abilities the basics on African drums. Playing a drum gives you a vibration through your whole being which actually changes your brainwaves and impacts you on a cellular level. The vibration has a calming effect, and when we get a group of strangers to “let go” and play together as one heartbeat, we see the healing right in front of us. We have experienced many stories of young people who are differently abled, some of whom have trouble with sound, opening up when they experience this healing modality with Teacher Oneko. We also invite guest teachers, many of whom are also professional touring musicians, to join us and bring a different style of teaching to our community.
"I thank Oneko and the others for all the things they have done for us. We want to think that they will continue helping us and one day we will be able to help too." ~Evelyn, 14 year old student
"Like Nelson Mandela said, art has the power to change the world. We are just doing our small part to make a difference." ~Oneko Arika, Co-Founder and Director of Programs
You can find out more information about us at www.marchforthkenyakids.com and on our IG: @marchforthkenya
Contact: Lynn Rossetto, Co-Founder
Email: info@marchforthkenyakids.com