Beekman Violin, Inc.
1058 Kingstown Road
Wakefield, RI 02879
Hours
Wednesdays 11-3
Thursdays 12-5:30
Fridays 12-5:30
Saturdays 10-3
Appointments are strongly recommended. To make an appointment, visit our booking website or give us a call at 401-284-0265.
Camp at Soui Cat
/in Travel/by Hannah BeekmanThis week we held our first 3-day camp at Soui Cat. We found ourselves a bit overwhelmed on the first day – we were expecting 100 kids, but about 300 showed up. However, we powered through a hectic morning and on the following two days organized the children into three groups that rotated through arts projects, music activities, and parachute games.
We started each day with a short concert by our volunteer musicians:
In the music class, our leaders Rozanne and Laurette taught everyone to clap a set of rhythms. Then we let the children try out the rhythms on drums, triangles, tamborines, and maracas. By the third day, we were able to assign a separate part of the rhythm to each instrument and play them as an ensemble.
On day one of the art classes, we made layers of colors with crayons, then scraped away the top layer with a toothpick to create pictures.
On day two, the kids made chalk murals on brown poster-paper.
On day three, we used an old favorite: pipe cleaners. You can make them into anything, dolls, headbands, rings, or eyeglasses. The kids absolutely love them.
The children who attend our camps are all ages, from babies too young to walk to teenagers. They are all small for their age. One of our fifteen year old American volunteers will easily be a head taller than a fifteen year old from Soui Cat. The babies come propped on the hips of their older siblings, who might be 7 or 8, and are passed casually from one person to the next so it’s hard to tell which belongs to whom. Parents like to come too. They gather outside the pavilion, sometimes calling in to the children to follow directions or encouraging them to speak to us. When our eyes meet they smile at us, and we smile back, and in their eyes there is something like happiness or gratitude – but of course we can’t know for sure what they are thinking, and we can’t tell them what we are thinking. The only communication we have is a smile.
Most of the kids are shy, but some –a few little boys in particular- can get pretty wild. They gather together in close groups, arms wrapped around each other’s shoulders, and in such tight quarters they love to instigate fights, pushing and shoving, punching each other in the arm, and tickling. They’ll also run around and steal the girls’ crayons, chalk, or pipecleaners, and try to mess up their artwork. They’re like little devils; it can be frustrating trying to keep them in line, especially with two language barriers to cross (Vietnamese is their second language). Luckily, we are well staffed with students and teachers from our Cam Duc programs, who can give them a scolding and generally keep things organized.
At one point, I picked up one of the boys to move him away from his friends, and he felt so weightless in my hands it surprised me. They are all so small, but somehow it seems a person who is so disruptive should feel heavier. I expected some kind of resistance. But he nearly floated in my hands, and went absolutely willingly, as though he knew perfectly well how small and defenseless he was.
A few of the girls will do a little pushing and shoving themselves, but most are too shy. They hide from cameras and turn their faces away when you speak to them. Their smiles are slow and bashful. But they are quick to learn and make an effort to be helpful, collecting the instruments and art supplies when it’s time. The older ones will correct any young children acting out around them and are a little braver -they smile more quickly and openly.
At the end of each day, we lined the kids up and hand out snacks and sandwiches for them to take home.
My pictures today are the work of Wesley LaPointe and Rich Ferri. Thank you Wesley and Rich!
Art, Music, and Bikes
/in Violin Shop/by Hannah BeekmanA lot can happen in a few days here. A few days after our arrival in Cam Duc, we had already attended one of RPS’s bike givings, held our first art and music classes for students in the Cam Duc programs, visited RPS’s art program in the ethnic minority village of Son Tan, and made time for a Saturday trip to Nha Trang where we collected art supplies, relaxed at a cafe, and had some delicious vegetarian food.
The Bike Giving
RPS’s bike givings take place throughout the year, whenever the nonprofit raises enough funds to hold one. In Vietnam, children get to school by foot or by bike, sometimes traveling several miles or more. Because school takes place in two daily sessions – one in the morning, and one in the evening – they cover that distance 4 times a day. A bicycle can make the difference between going or staying home. This is particularly true of girls, whose brothers usually get priority when it comes to making the difficult decision about who will stay in school when finances are tight.
During our trips, we attend the bike givings as RPS representatives. There’s a short ceremony, speeches given by officials from the Vietnamese Red Cross, the local school, and one of the girls who will be receiving a bike. When we’re here, one of us will usually speak too. Plenty of photographs are taken and we help to adjust seats, handlebars, and helmet straps. Then the girls pedal off for home.
Strings Class
RPS’s strings students in Cam Duc have been working with their local instructors (who in turn have been studying with a professional violin teacher in Nha Trang) all year long. Our visit gives them a chance to show off what they’ve learned and get feedback from experienced string players and teachers from outside their community. On Friday we walked over to the house where RPS holds its classes to see our music students for the first time and see what progress they’ve made since last summer.
Art Class in Son Tan
Son Tan is an ethnic minority village located at the base of the mountains about 30 minutes from Cam Duc. Son Tan is a very poor village, and children there grow up under particularly difficult circumstances. Most will drop out of school by the 5th grade. RPS has been running an art class there on the weekends for about a year, giving the kids an outlet where they can relax, use their imaginations, and relieve the some of the stress of everyday life. The classes also allow RPS to keep track of the children in the program, encourage school attendance, and help support families wherever possible.
At the art class we attended on Sunday, the students made their own booklet out of cardboard and cardstock – a great project, since the only notebooks they normally have are those required for school. Credit goes to Sierra, one of our volunteers, for designing and leading Sunday’s class.
Thanks to our excellent photographer and videographer, Rich Ferri, for the pics of the music and arts classes!
Hannah’s in Vietnam!
/in Travel/by Hannah BeekmanThis is my third summer traveling to Vietnam with Rocks Paper Scissors Children’s Fund (RPS). RPS is a South Kingstown based nonprofit that works with underserved Vietnamese children. It provides transportation to school and music and arts programming through three main projects: bike givings for girls, art classes, and a small strings program in the town of Cam Duc in Cam Ranh Province. As part of our trip this year, we are kicking off a satellite strings program in the city of Hue.
The role of the volunteers on these trips is to act as “summer” instructors in the music and arts programs in Cam Duc and to run arts camps in nearby ethnic minority villages (more on those later). I will also be working on the instruments in the strings program, making sure they are in good shape to be played for the following year. It’s an important job, since good quality instruments can be hard to find in Vietnam and most new ones will need some adjustments in order to be played properly and comfortably. The weather can also be hard on them – during the wet season, it rains hard every day; during the dry season it may not rain at all for weeks. The kids transport their instruments on their bikes – most families don’t have a car and adults use motorbikes (or bicycles) to get to work. So, for instruments where yearly maintenance is a necessity under any circumstances, here it is extra important to have them looked over for issues and any necessary repairs.
The airport near Cam Duc cannot be reached directly on an international flight. Since it takes about 20 hours of flying just to get to either Vietnam’s two major cities, Hanoi and Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City, we’ve stayed one night in Saigon and this afternoon caught an hour-long flight to Nha Trang Airport, then drove about 20 minutes to our hotel in Cam Duc. After a much needed evening of rest, we’ll get started with a busy calendar of activities tomorrow morning.
Some pictures from Saigon:
More to come soon!