By Andrea Dujardin-Flexhaug

Tracy Fehr, founder of A Song for Hope.

The Summerland vocalist took with her the gift of her voice, and was scheduled to perform at several embassy-related concerts in the capital city of Tunis, as well as several informal ones.

But her trip has involved much more than sharing her musical talent; it has also been a chance to see firsthand how her newly created mission, A Song for Hope, is going.

“For Tunisia, it’s definitely a musical tour,” explained Fehr just before she left B.C. “But my sister-in-law will be doing some speaking and sharing, and she’s quite a gifted speaker in Kelowna.”

She was referring to  Doreen Rosvold who, she said, has a passion for God, and who is helping promote the mission.

Fehr is a classically trained coloratura soprano.  She attends Summerland Alliance Church, and has had a heart for the plight of Arabic women ever since she came to know some of them while at university in Edmonton.

“We lived in an on-campus residence for families – and it was all multicultural families there,” recalled Fehr.

“Often their husbands were coming to work on post-graduate studies, and the women were with them.”

Zitouna Mosque in Tunis is emblematic of the fact that Tunisia is 98 percent Muslim. The country is also known for religious tolerance.

Fehr also had another sister-in-law who lived in Saudi Arabia for five years.

“So I think even her experiences there must have shaped my interest in the Middle East.”

A Song of Hope took shape when Fehr heard a talk about the plight of Tunisian single mothers, given by a woman who had visited Summerland Alliance several years ago.

“I heard their stories, and my heart’s been – for many years – especially with Arabic women, and women who are marginalized.”

She soon came to wonder how “we could help to educate them and train them, and offer them new life.”

So far, the project has enlisted 17 people in the Okanagan as sponsors of these single women – to pay for their monthly education, and tools to start  new businesses.

Several women are in nursing programs, with two others starting a tailoring shop – and another a weaving business.

Fehr said she and Rosvold would be meeting the women who are being supported through A Song for Hope.

“That’s a big part of this too, is meeting the sponsored women,” explains Fehr. “Just kind of making that Canadian connection with them, so they know people here are caring for them – and I can bring back news about them.”

Fehr had learned that when a Tunisian single woman becomes pregnant, she is shunned by others around her.

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“There’s different reasons why they get pregnant so young, and . . . it’s not acceptable in that culture,” she says. “So they’re often sent away from their families. So the girls are living on the street. They’re sometimes being forced into prostitution just to support themselves and their babies.”

Fehr is also working with the organization ACT Development, which has opened a women’s safe home in the southern Tunisian city of Gabès.

“We are connected with these safe homes because that’s where the women come and they stay. And then from there, they are screened for training.”

Closer to home, in Kelowna, A Song for Hope is working with the new Fullstop Society, which shares the vision to “stop injustice against women now,” said Fehr.

“They come with a lot of trauma. They’re very vulnerable, insecure and frightened, and some of them are running for their lives.”

Fehr has long had a mandate of promoting music among women in Canada, with her Okanagan based Women in Song project. And she expressed her enthusiasm for taking the international language of music with her to Tunisian women.

“It will be just giving them a voice, and giving them some encouragement to speak for themselves – and music is a very powerful tool.”

At home, Fehr is a vocal instructor at the Penticton Academy of Music. She has performed often with the University of Alberta Symphony Orchestra, and held concerts across western Canada, Ontario and Central America.

Last November she released her first full length CD, Over My Head – a fusion of classical, jazz and Middle Eastern influences.

“It’s a little bit eclectic, it’s just songs that are very special to me,” she said, and the album includes four songs she has written herself, including ‘Silenced Voices.

“It was written for people who cannot speak for themselves, and encouraging us to speak out for them.”

Fehr is the contact person for A Song for Hope. Anyone interested in becoming a sponsor, making a donation or purchasing her CD can go to www.tracyfehr.com.

April 2009