An important and encouraging thing in life as a child, is to see your parents supporting you in everything that you are doing, this encourages you to do better and feel confident in everything you do as child. You see your parents as super heroes, mentors, your protectors and pillars in your families.

The past weeks, Pulse Round 6 team experienced that parental and community involvement in Norway plays an important role in many bands and that makes it easier for the bands to function better in the daily running activities.  There are ways that can make bands to be a fun and exciting place to be, this includes creating band activities that will help the bands sustain members and motivate members to recruit friends to join the band.

Parental engagement also helps a lot in many band activities, this includes helping with preparing meals during the rehearsals, meals that are taken during the rehearsal breaks as snack to band members. Parents also help the band to fund raise by bringing or baking cakes and coffee to be sold at the bands’ concert.  People socialize using coffee and cakes in the events and this brings that cool vibe at the concerts.

There are also other ways to raise funds like creating a second-hand market where clothes or any household material will be sold to public, it is known as flea market and in Norwegian slang is called   Loppemarket.  Loppemarket has been around for decades in Norway and it has become more popular in recent years due to environmental awareness.  The retro style that has become trendy when it comes to interior design. The market helps lot of people including the community and other people in need. The bands invite the public to come and buy at their flea market using social media like Facebook and other networks and this helps the bands to generate income. Parents are assisting in the flea market by selling the items and this includes Kiosk where self-made cakes, hot dogs and beverages (Coffee, Tea and Soda) are sold to raise funds for the bands. This creates a healthy relationship between the bands and the community. The funds raised from the activities are for well-being and sustainability of the bands and members, including band trips and other financial needs in the band. The Pulse team was also involved in assisting the bands with their activities, and the Pulse team sees parent as the positive stability in the bands.

After taking part in the Flea Market, both band members and parent had a feeling of achievement, belonging, togetherness and team work, where everyone worked towards the same goal. It really shows how people are stronger together!

Written By Bongani Goliath

Photos by Martin Sibiya