The DrumPower Project with Unaccompanied Refugee Minors – Short Report

Institution of child and youth welfare, Munich
The DrumPower project for unaccompanied refugee minors took place in the Münchner Kindl's home in the period from February to July 2015 for 16 times in total. It was carried out one time a week with a boy and a girl group. During the holidays was paused.
The group composition was here in three respects especially:

1. Both groups consisted of unaccompanied minors and other children of the institution with and without an immigrant background.
   
2. The age span range 7-18 years was very high in both groups.
   
3. The children and adolescents came together from nine residential groups of the institution.
   

In the girl group the elder unaccompanied refugees and younger children in care could well drum together, improvise and play. The little ones learned from the elder ones new rhythms or new ways of drumming. Here was danced and played omitted.

The boy group was very heterogeneous, so that it was hardly possible to develop some common improvisations in the sessions. Therefore, the group was divided during the project in order to empbrace the older refugee boys and younger children of the institution.

• The younger boy from the curative group often came with a dispute into the project, but went back in their groups reconciled after the common drumming and music making.
  
  
• The older boys, refugee minors, had very different needs and enjoyed the common drumming and dancing in the community. However, they did not come on a regular basis in the group. Therefore some improvisation took place in the stairwell, after we had gathered the boys from the different groups and in the corridors. But then they beat the drums with much joy and perseverance, improvised and sung.