There are so many programs to increase the peace in the community. Activitist Perry "Stix" Smith has his Days of Healing, Restore Belize has their many programs, and so does the Police Department. And maybe in 2013, it's the crystallization of all those efforts which drove the number of murders in Belize City SO DRAMATICALLY. No one knows for sure, but what we do know is that every little bit counts. That's what musician Naphty is doing, adding in his share. He has started a very interesting program and over the Christmas Holidays, Daniel Ortiz visited with them to see it in action. Here's his report:
Daniel Ortiz reporting
It looks like a band of well-trained musicians at a band practice preparing for a show, but actually, these are ordinary citizens, who have an interest in learning the art of drumming.
More importantly, majority of them are people who want a positive outlet of recreation. That need, plus the availability of patient musicians spawned a movement called "Drums Not Guns". It's intent to give young people an opportunity to express themselves through music, rather than violence.
Naphty - Organizer
"The inspiration of couple of youths that came to me and asks me about drumming and they were interested in starting this "Drums. not Guns" movement. My brother in Punta Gorda, Emmett Young, he is a drum maker and he has contributed a lot of drums. Right now we are just trying to create peace and harmony through drumming."
The plan is that, with enough practice, these young people can put on regular performances as another way to show them that whatever latent talents they may have for music and the arts can actually earn them an honest pay check. That transition is facilitated by the growth of the movement where trained musicians stop in to assist.
Naphty - Organizer
"Other instrumentalist comes through like saxophonist like me, keyboardist, guitarists, violinists and we hope and pray that this can be a movement towards a drumming circus instead of gunning, so the name of the movement is "Drums, not Guns" and I hope and pray that everyone can see the sense of it. This happens every Sunday from 3-5 and we encourage a lot of youths who would like to aspire to be drummers or artists because this business here that we do during the week is consist of arts and crafts, so it's a movement to promote creativity and hopefully it could be an alternative to a lot of youths that may not have academic skills to achieve earning a living, through other skills we encourage them to be participants and hopefully it will get more support as the time goes because we are here every Sunday from 3-5."
The "Drums Not Guns" program is open to anyone in Belize City who wishes to join. They congregate at the foot of the Swing Bridge every Sunday between 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.
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