Movimiento Manglar, our partner organization in Medellín, Colombia, was founded in 2020 by music teacher Darío Eraso and driving force Derk Norde. Samira met and worked with Darío during her trip to Colombia in 2020. At that time, Dario was already working as a music teacher for the organization Fundacion Caminos, but wanted to expand his field of work.

With the help of Music for Children, Movimiento Manglar has now grown into an independent organization that is able to increasingly expand its activities. Vulnerable children from neighborhoods around Medellín, often growing up against a background of violence and poverty, are offered accessible music lessons. These lessons give them great pleasure and new opportunities to develop themselves. Music teacher Darío Eraso works according to a method he developed himself, in which the junior teachers (monitores) have a major role. This method is recorded in a Syllabus. An inspiring document, which describes the basics of the Manglar methodology, supplemented with many examples and instructional videos.

Performances are an important part of the Manglar philosophy. Both beginning and advanced students are given regular opportunities to show what they have learned.

QUOTE from student María José Moncada (Angeles de Amor) just before a performance: “Profe, nunca había pensado que iba a llegar tan lejos” (“Professor, I never thought I would get this far…”)

Music for Children would like to continue working with Movimiento Manglar, including providing financial support and collecting instruments. We would also like to promote contact between music-making children in Colombia and the Netherlands. An example of this is the special video production we made in 2021 in collaboration with Movimiento Manglar. In the video Yo Viajo, children from Colombia, Uganda and the Netherlands play together a piece of music composed by Darío.