Hello everyone,

It's been so hectic for me since I got back from London, I've been extremely busy with everything that's going on around me, but also stressed with my team mates about the Summer Academy in August. So far we only have the British Council's seed support of GBP 30k and when the summer academy costs 120k it's obviously not enough. We all thought that money will be an issue, but with such a critical time it's very difficult not to feel stressed as without enough funding we won't be able to have our Summer Academy which means no debut of the orchestra that we have been working on since last August. Making Music have set up a just giving page for online donations but we've only received about over GBP 200 out of 120k, even though we have sent out messages on facebook through two different groups http://www.justgiving.com/nyoi .

I'd feel utterly destroyed if it doesn't happen, I've put so much effort, passion and sleepless night over this, which is something I've always dreamed about. I feel like financial issues have been standing in my way for a very long time in almost most of the things I undertake in my life, and it's always frustrating to me because I know that's the one thing that I cannot control or do something about; but this time I know that I'll do whatever it takes to solve this problem, whatever it takes. ''

See that's why I don't write blogs much often, I get emotional!

xoxoxoxoxo,

Z.

I’ve just been cut off from a phone conversation with Zuhal. I’d been trying to get in touch with her for days to see how she’s doing, but her web and phone connections have both been dodgy – so it’s been incredibly difficult to get through. Today, however, I did manage to speak to her for about five minutes and there was quite good reception, so I could understand most of what she was saying too.

Before we got cut off, Zuhal told me that she is in the midst of crazy exam studying at the moment. After her trip to the UK a few weeks ago, Zuhal now has her heart set on studying at university here – but she needs to get good grades to get in, and find a way of getting some funding too. She’s not the only Battlefronter with exams looming – most of them have. Poor things – it’s hard enough running a campaign without doing exams too… But that’s the life of a Battlefronter…

Anyway, on top of the studying Zuhal is desperately trying to work out whether her summer academy can take place this summer. The summer school is expensive to run and Zuhal doesn’t have enough funding at the moment to allow it to happen. The British Council are very generously helping both financially and by providing admin resources, but Zuhal still needs a lot more help to allow it to happen. She using all the contacts she has both in and out of Iraq – and should know more in a couple of weeks’ time about whether the summer school will run or not. It’s an agonizing time for everyone involved in the orchestra. Fingers crossed it will all work out in time…

Battlefront think this is a wonderful campaign and we really want the National Youth Orchestra of Iraq to flourish!

If you want to find out more about Zuhal’s campaign, watch programme 5 of the Battlefront series at 11.30am on Channel 4 on Friday 15th May.

Bye for now,

Jo x

It was so fantastic meeting Zuhal in the flesh, after 8 months of speaking to her via a dodgy Skype connection! And Zuhal was even more special and talented in person, than we ever could have imagined! Her recital and Q and A at the Wigmore Hall got a standing ovation – and it wasn’t just because of the beautiful music, but because Zuhal spoke so eloquently and passionately about why she believes a National Youth Orchestra of Iraq should exist. I really don’t think there are many 17 year olds who could speak with so much conviction about a cause – and Zuhal did it in a language that isn’t even her own! She even managed to inject some humour into the Q and A, something which endeared her even further to the audience.
Battlefront is very grateful to the British Council and the FairSay for making Zuhal’s trip to the UK possible.
Zuhal is now back home and her internet connection is sporadic, so she’ll be in touch in person when she can.