“Many people are smoking and drinking alcohol everyday, and just sit at home with nothing to do. I am happy to be in the Field Band”. (Female band member 17 years). 
Many people have changed their lifes through Field Band Foundation. PULSE is very interested in figuring out getting to know the outcomes of participation in Field Band Foundation are, and to get to know the members and their communities better. That’s why one of our main objectives in 2015 is to conduct the survey: “Who am I and who am I going to be? – a survey about music, health and ambitions.” 150 youth inside the Field Band and 150 outside the Field Band will be responding to the survey. So far over 200 have helped us and we feel very privileged to have met them all.
The survey is asking questions like: Who is your role model? What is most important to you when you get older? What do you find challenging to reach your goals? Take a look at one of our respondents answers here:
When talking to the youth we see that violence, crime, drugs and nothing to do is a challenge in the townships. The looting, rebelling and xenophobic attacks in Gauteng the last few days are examples of the tough environment the children and youth we work with live in. Several youth have been involved, some have been killed, many arrested. During the last week, things like this have constantly appeared in the news: “The looting of foreign-owned shops in Soweto continued into the night and spread further into the township, with youths scouring the streets for abandoned shops. Foreign shopkeepers evacuated Soweto and could be seen loading their stock into trucks and leaving under police escort. Two people have died and 121 were arrested in the wave of looting that was sparked by the shooting of a teenage boy by a foreign shopkeeper in Snake Park, Soweto on Monday”. “A 14-year-old boy was shot dead on Monday and a 15-year-old boy was shot and injured. He has since been discharged from hospital”. “The Star reported that Zanele Majozi, 19, was allegedly running out of a vandalised shop in Kagiso with a bottle of cooldrink, with her month-old baby Nqobile strapped to her chest. People noticed blood on her top, where his face had been resting, and his hand facing the wrong way round. When she unstrapped him she saw he was dead”. Since last week even more people have been arrested and injured. Many foreigners have fled the townships without any other secure place to go. The rebelling and looting continue to spread to different townships in the Gauteng region. As an organisation working for justice and equality, PULSE strongly condemns the last day’s happenings. Everyone has a story to tell in South Africa. In 2015 PULSE continues to work with our mascot Gira. A giraffe that has a life story that many Field Band members can relate to in different ways. 
We are proud to have finished a brochure about Gira. It will be used in a lot of workshops, meetings and for promotions during 2015 by the PULSE team.
Written by Siri Thorson and Hanne Johansen
PULSE Music Matters 