YONA came into existence because of a dream of Gretel Coetzee, an opera singer, and her husband. Raising children in Windhoek, they realized that there was a shortage of music teachers, despite the great interest among Namibians to learn music. The vast musical talent went undeveloped, and many Namibian children were left to fend for themselves in the afternoons after school. She started to explore possibilities, and discovered the El Sistema movement, which has generated social change since 1975. It started in South America and is now a worldwide movement. In November 2016, together with two other trustees, Eike and Gretel Coetzee formed a registered Trust, with the vision of social change through music and the orchestra. Through networking and negotiations, she obtained permission from the Ministry of Education to use music facilities in schools (which are mostly unutilized). To introduce the concept to children at government schools, she and Elmari Saayman started teaching class music to grade one and two learners at Suiderhof Primary. After two months and a performance at the school prizegiving, they handed out application forms.
In January 2017 YONA received applications for afternoon lessons and started introducing different instruments to the new applications at Suiderhof. In March 2017 a recorder teacher started teaching group lessons three times per week. At the same time there were introductory lessons on violin, only on Fridays: 25 children would stand in line to take turns to play on 5 violins! In June 2017 the big break came: a donation of 15 violins and 2 cellos! Lessons started in earnest, 5 days per week, mostly in groups. Musicians volunteered their time to teach whenever they could. Other volunteers designed a website and a Facebook page.
In September 2017, a violin teacher and local volunteer joined the ranks, and in September 2018 three young volunteers from Germany joined, teaching violin and cello.
As the music lessons and performances followed, YONA received its first substantial funding from RMB, through the FNB Namibia Holdings foundation Trust.
From September 2018 YONA also started a Woodwinds department through the support of a sponsor from Germany.
YONA acquired new instruments and some of the recorder students started learning flute, oboe and clarinet, mostly getting online lessons.
In 2018, lessons in recorder also started at the Bernard Nordkamp Centre (BNC) in Katutura, Windhoek.
Lessons continued at Suiderhof Primary and the BNC, with regular concerts and collaborations with visiting orchestras and musicians from abroad. In 2020 YONA also started teaching recorder at Beautiful Kidz in Katutura.
In 2020, as the Covid pandemic struck, YONA had to close because of the lockdown. However, YONA continued offering online lessons to students and started teaching again to individuals and small groups as soon as restrictions eased.
YONA still gave children the opportunity to perform as much as possible; adjusting to the various Covid restrictions.
As the years went by, YONA desperately needed more space as numbers kept increasing. During the Covid lockdown, YONA started renovations at a new venue and by September 2020, the Suiderhof centre had moved over to 3 Jackson Kaujeua Rd in Windhoek-West.
The board of Trustees decided that YONA should register as a Section 21 Company in order to formalize our status as a non-profit organization. By June 2021 registration was completed. In December 2021 the financials closed in the name of the YONA Trust, and from January 2021 all business has been done in the name of the Section 21 Company.
With the pandemic coming to an end, YONA got much busier, with regular concerts, workshops and international collaborations. In July 2022, YONA hosted the first ever National Youth Strings Festival. Youth from all over Namibia playing violin, viola and cello were invited to participate in a week of orchestra rehearsals, culminating in two concerts at the National Theatre.
YONA continues to grow at our main centre and our sister centres in Katutura. There is also now a recorder group in Havana settlement, Windhoek.
Children from diverse backgrounds come to the YONA centre for instrumental tuition, ensemble rehearsals, orchestra, music theory and general musicianship classes.
We have also an action area for ball games and quiet spaces for school homework.
We continue to provide many opportunities for performances and workshops with visiting international musicians.
The highlight of the year has been the National Youth Orchestra Festival, with 100 young musicians performing together at the National Theatre of Namibia.
