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Now, a little more than three years later, she is one of six students gathering in front of a computer to greet their instructor. Studying this beginner-level Berklee Online curriculum on the grounds of the Scalabrini Center\u2014a nonprofit in Cape Town that provides services for refugees and migrants\u2014Dorcas says the course has been therapeutic.
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\u201cMusic has helped me in difficult times in my life,\u201d she says. \u201cWhenever I feel down or something isn\u2019t going well in my life I can just listen to music and I always feel much better and strengths come back.\u201d
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The Berklee Online course is offered in collaboration with Southern New Hampshire University\u2019s Global Education Movement (GEM) program. Dorcas is working towards her Bachelor of Arts in Management with a focus in Logistics and Operations, through SNHU.
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\u201cWhat I would like the world to know about my situation is that being a refugee doesn\u2019t mean I must be limited,\u201d she says. \u201cAs human beings, we shouldn\u2019t limit other people. Whether you are a citizen or a refugee, opportunity should be given to everyone.\u201d \u201cI\u2019m wondering with all the things that are going on in their lives, how they have the mind space to take on something like this,\u201d says Russell. \u201cThey\u2019re smiling and they\u2019re engaged. I have no idea what they must be going through, the kind of uncertainty and instability they have to deal with on a daily basis that we don\u2019t necessarily have to deal with here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n The majority of Russell\u2019s students are refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (one student is from Zimbabwe, another is from Rwanda). Though DRC won independence from Belgium in 1960, there has been ongoing fighting throughout the country ever since, even after the end of a civil war in 2003. According to the UN Refugee Agency, approximately one million people have fled the DRC to neighboring countries in recent years. But you\u2019d never know it by looking at the Meet and Greet <\/em>portion of the course, where students get to know each other and their instructor through a series of introductory questions, such as \u201cwho is your favorite musician?\u201d There is something overwhelmingly hopeful in the music they pick. Artists like Bob Marley, Lionel Richie, and Enrique Iglesias come up frequently.
George Russell Jr. is the chair of harmony and jazz composition at Berklee College of Music, and the author and instructor of this course. He has taught Developing Your Musicianship<\/em> to millions of students through Coursera. But he says the six students in this pilot program are special.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/online.berklee.edu\/takenote\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/2da41990-cdee-4cd4-ae84-c3232a50d020.jpg\")
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