The Suzuki Latin movement is the new wind of the Andes, sweeping to distant valleys and tiny pueblos. And instead of Conquistadores, Peru is enjoying a new kind of missionary, the dedicated, hard working, hard traveling indigenous Suzuki teacher. Their spirit is willing but Latin countries have a massive proportion of the population struggling to simply survive.

Latin American children are brought up singing and dancing as, in the same way Canadian children learn to skate and ski. Music flows from their hearts to their instruments as well. With Suzuki training their spontaneous and natural expression for music is formalized and focused.

The Peruvian Suzuki Association is at the heart of yearly Suzuki Music Festivals. Working with the Suzuki Association of the Americas, and with the Latin Scholarship Fund, the yearly Festival has grown to become the largest such gathering and conference in Latin America.

Roberta Centurion, Co-Director of the Latin Suzuki Festival, explains:

"Thanks to the Latin American Scholarship Fund we can offer scholarships that make the difference so that teachers can afford to travel and take the training courses. This year [2005] over 70 teachers were recipients of that fund!!

Without the scholarships, we could not run our festival, nor invite as many teacher trainers to come. The Peruvian Suzuki Association does their own fund raising to offer student scholarships (most are partial--half--scholarships). These scholarships have to be channeled via the student's teacher, but if someone comes to the festival at the last minute and asks for a scholarship, we usually give them a partial scholarship."

Registration fees have to be set low enough to enable students and teachers to attend. Yet for many the fees are not low enough.

How is it that children from all over Latin America, including those from geographically isolated and economically disadvantaged communities, are learning to play music?

The answer is through donations.

To continue to grow the Latin American Teachers' Scholarship Fund needs help. It needs finances to provide scholarships for more teachers to attend the Festival and receive further Suzuki instruction.

Teachers who have the courage and dedication to travel to the provinces from the big cities, who must ride a bus sometimes more than eight hours to reach their students, need help to meet transportation costs--for that matter, to attain a decent living wage. As in most third world countries, professional qualifications or educational level does not guarantee a higher income. Teachers often barter their services in order to envelop more students.

Economic Investment: At the core of learning an instrument with the Suzuki Method is experiencing a learning opportunity of the most excellent and highest quality. We know that these young students will one day go on to become teachers themselves. At the very least they are acquiring skills that transfer to any endeavor. They are also a source of pride and achievement in a society that often cannot afford to support such talent and initiative on its own.

Peru and other Latin countries with programs such as these can't help but move closer to their rightful place of influence in the world.

And it all starts with a little child. It always does.

contact carmen@wiseword.ca

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