Music heals: Hong Kong charity sees stroke victims regain speech and confidence through choir project
Charity initiative by the Center for Cultural Community Development offers a 'relaxing' way for a 20-strong choir to regain speech and confidence
Nine years ago Dora Pau lost her speech. The former teacher and stroke survivor can now express herself confidently, thanks to years of speech therapy, some singing and a lot of grit.
"When I first realised I couldn't speak any more I felt hopeless, frustrated and very sad," recalled Pau. "But I couldn't even say that I was sad," she said.
Pau, in her 50s, was sitting among musical instruments in a rehabilitation centre, where she and other members of the city's only stroke survivor choir meet for two hours every week.
The Centre for Community Cultural Development, the project partner of the Hong Kong Society for Rehabilitation, was a recipient of last year's Operation Santa Claus charity drive. The cash raised by the joint initiative between the Post and RTHK funded the choir, led by music therapists, for the next three years.
Although the choir started just four months ago, its two music therapists, Kingman Chung and Gloria Leung, said that its members had made marked improvement in their pronunciation of words and confidence.