Hand in Hand Music Foundation

From the Founder and President—Emily Good-Perkins

As a small business owner in Carmel, Indiana, mom of 3, and resident of Carmel for 10 years, I have witnessed the beauty, compassion, diversity, and creativity of the Carmel community. At my music school, The Music Playhouse, I have over 400 Carmel families join me every week to ensure that their children are musically enriched and stimulated. Carmel families are empathic, honest, educated, curious, family-oriented while still being globally-minded and globally-educated.

The children in my Carmel music school inspired me to explore the ways in which I could bring the same benefits of early childhood music education–typically reserved for those who are most affluent and educated–to Africa, of all places. Why Africa? I was born in Nairobi, Kenya and grew up in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo until I was 9. I played soccer and danced and sang with my African neighbors while attending The American School of Kinshasa where I met children from all over the world. The global mindset and fluency in French that I was gifted from this experience are invaluable and have shaped who I am today. Africa will always be an important part of my identity.

With this in mind, this past February, my Congolese colleague, Emmanuel, and I embarked on a 3 week journey to Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda to explore the ways in which we could help Congolese refugees, displaced by the war in the Congo, who are living in these countries. Emmanuel, himself a survivor of the Congolese war, lived in multiple refugee camps before he was able to seek asylum to the United States. He now lives in Westfield, Indiana with his wife and children, has a Ph.D. and owns a small business–a true outlier and change-maker.

While there, we set the groundwork for The Hand In Hand Music Foundation’s first three educational initiatives. The goal of which is to ensure that children have access to a creative, educational space in which they are nurtured and empowered to be change makers, cultural bearers, leaders, and ambassadors within their communities and the broader world at large.