You know when they say your words are weapon and you can either use it to your favour or use it to the detriment of yourself.
I was yet again in the company of parents who we normally care givers at the Emergency Paediatric Ward of the hospital.
They were a mix of tribe, largely Igbo and few northerners. I wasn’t nervous per say doing this with them even though I didn’t envision it while leaving for the hospital.
I think one of the things this journey is teaching me is to expect the unexpected and be prepared to deliver value at anytime.
I sat in the middle of the ward, strumming my guitar so the lyrics could pour forth, gradually the lyrics were on my lips and I had their attention.
If you’ve been following me, you’d know that I love short spontaneous music and I use it a lot in the hospital because I know it’s easy to remember few lines than lengthy lines and since one of my target is memory, having them remember the music when they hit despair then I know doing spontaneous music will work.
So the first song I did was on Peace and Health because lately I’ve been so endeared to the importance of always being at peace, I decided to gift them with a spontaneous music on Peace. These were the lyrics;
Peace to your body
Peace to your soul
Peace to your mind.
It initially took a while for them to learn this because they didn’t feel good enough to sing so I encouraged them by singing one line then patiently wait for them to sing the next. They were doing so well and at each point they did, I made statements like Fantastic! Awesome! Just so they’d be encouraged. I made sure they declared these lyrics over their kids.
They finally perfected this and then I thought to do another spontaneous that had the fusion of Nigerian Pidgin, Igbo and Hausa language so I asked for the meaning of peace in both languages and I got them.
Here is the Lyrics;
You no go beg!
You no go borrow
Zaman Lafia, Udo!
This was really the most interesting for them because they felt like someone could do a song in their language, there was this sense of belonging.
I made them declare this over themselves and family, making them realize that there’s life in the words they speak and situations should not determine what they speak, little did I know that there was a mother among them who had been declaring very negative words. One of the mothers pointed to her saying ‘You see what we were saying! Just try not to speak negative when things go bad’.
We sang these words again deliberately and the joy! So pure. I feel this moment with these parents changed me more than it changed them because I have become so conscious of what proceeds from my mouth.
I’m thankful that I do this, I leave wards feeling very fulfilled each week and the fact that I bring light, hope, joy, peace to lives humbles me.
This is #TheDiaryofAnAspiringMusicTherapist Episode 7
I’m sure you know by now that reading from you gives me much joy and I always look forward to it!
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