Cherrelle Druppers & Francis Odhiambo
Building Strong Minds Through Dance
Cherrelle & Francis’s interview will be available RIGHT HERE on Wednesday 9 November at 8am Central European Time / 10am Kenya / 9am Cape Town / 2am New York / 7am London / 6pm Sydney.
During this interview, you will learn & experience:
Cherrelle and Francis’ stories and how they came to found ChezaCheza Dance Foundation.
What they do in ChezaCheza and the effects their work has had on the children.
Why dance and expressing oneself through the body is so important.
Some of the challenges they encounter.
Franco will guide us on a movement journey to experience first hand how he works with children.
How you can connect with Cherrelle & Franco and/or donate directly to them
and so much more …
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Co-founder Francis Odhiambo was raised in the largest slum of Kenya, called Kibera. He is a talented dancer who knows the difficulties of growing up as a child in this area. There are many problems such as crime, violence and drug abuse. He did not know how to handle his environment and navigate life here. All he wanted was a safe space that gave him the right tools to handle his challenges. Luckily, he found a mentor and started to give children in his community what he lacked growing up - a safe space to express yourself and guidance from a mentor. He started teaching children to dance, and it quickly became so popular that children knocked on his door every Saturday morning, asking him to come and dance with them. After some dance classes, Francis noticed the changes in their behavior, more positive attitudes, self-esteem and improved communication skills - he knew then and there that dance had the power to transform lives.
In 2018, Cherrelle Druppers came to visit one of Francis’ classes and recognised the immense potential of Francis’ work. As a development professional, educator and dancer, Cherrelle understood the importance of dance and started to dig deeper into how Francis’ work could be more structured and reach more children. Together they founded ChezaCheza and started working on a curriculum that could support children in navigating their challenging environment. The innovation of ChezaCheza is a dance therapy class that combines Dance Movement Therapy, Social-Emotional Learning, and mindfulness meditation as essential building blocks for change.
Website: https://chezachezadance.org
