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CMY Ballarat’s Awa virtual choir project goes viral

CMY’s Ballarat team recently launched Awa, an intercultural choir project, which brought together participants from Ballarat, Horsham, Nhill and Ghana.

The video involved young people from 12 different cultures, across rural Victoria, as vocalists, musicians or artists, and has since garnered over 9,000 views on social media.

Awa is a traditional Ghanaian song that means, “looking forward to hugging you”, an apt choice during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Just five weeks before COVID-19 hit Victoria, the Ballarat team had started their program in Wimmera and had to quickly adapt to provide online support to young people and keep them creatively engaged.

Awa was the perfect opportunity for young people to stay connected during the pandemic, especially across rural Victoria.

The online launch party in August included party packs, organised and delivered by CMY staff members for participants and their families to enjoy, and brought together more than 60 young people and their families online.

Thablay Khinshwe, Ballarat Youth Facilitator said, “during Covid-19, we are all isolated and even though we are going through a hard time, it was good to do something fun together. We met at the neighbourhood house to practice singing and making sounds and then went to the learning centre to film, and I made myself available to support the young people who couldn’t film themselves.”

“There were about 20 young people from Nhill, from pre-school age to young adults who got involved. Quite a huge number of the young people are into music and singing. I’m proud to see them present their talent and I’m lucky to be surrounded by them.”

CMY is also proud to announce that the mentees involved in coordinating the project, were recently announced as winners in the “Group Project” category at the City of Ballarat 2020 Youth Awards. Congratulations to all of the young people involved!

Watch the Awa video below.