Germando Barathi. The sun was blazing and the cars and taxis were crisscrossing between the potholes in the red dirt road.
” Wouldn’ t it be good with a song about the TTT?” Germando asked.
“ What a brilliant idea!” I replied with my experiences from how TTT was turned into a song in Sierra Leone fresh in mind.
“ Everybody loves singing here in Congo. That will make it easier to remem- ber the Trauma Tapping.”
“ I will write one today”, he promised.
We decided to meet the following day at the rehabilitation center for child soldiers where Germando works, to practice.
Germando was already rehearsing his TTT-song when I opened the red
iron gate and entered the rehabilitation center compound. Some of the former child soldiers had joined him in the singing. The song was simple and easy to remember. We formed a circle and started following Germando while tapping and singing over and over again. One of the boys ran to get a drum. Finally the young boys knew the lyrics and the gestures well enough for us to film. You can check the result on our website.
We have used this song many times since, especially for trainings but also projecting the video at conferences to show ways to spread TTT. We have also found new ways to develop the combination of Trauma Tapping and music.
We have encouraged those who are musicians to compose Trauma Tapping songs, and more songs have been created since. In Africa, like in other places, people love singing. We have never heard anybody say“ I don’ t know how to sing” there, which often happens in Sweden. Therefore Trauma Tapping songs are attractive and give good results.
Another colleague, Ajing Chol Giir, did a song during a training we had in South Sudan. He is using it to spread TTT in Dinka-speaking communities. After Ajing started using the song he wrote: