Marilyn Jean Dreyer-Pigott

Born 4th February 1951, Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
I was brought up in the Eastern Cape, after starting school in Zambia and returning to Port Elizabeth. I matriculated in 1967.

In 1968 I moved to Cape Town to study Architecture, graduating in 1973.
A scholarship took me to London where I met Ronald Dreyer. We married in 1983 and then moved to Geneva after receiving my doctorate from London University in 1985.

Employed by various international organisations, much traveling ensued over 25 years, primarily in Sub-Saharan African countries, particularly Tanzania, as well the Balkans and central and eastern Europe. I was deeply involved with issues around inequality, gender and poverty. During this time I met Beth Goodson and our long professional association and friendship bridged continents and several life changes. (See Beth’s sharing here)

With school level music tuition, I had ceased to play the piano for over thirty years. But music did not let me go! And I realised I am an intuitive musician. I experienced the healing power of music following the death of my husband Ronald, a Swiss Peace Diplomat, in 2009 when music flowed through and was recorded while I was in a highly receptive state.

I founded the Amani Harmonic Foundation in Switzerland (Amani means Peace in Kiswahili) and by 2013 it was supporting activities for peace through music in both Switzerland and South Africa. The AH Foundation became a structure providing the means for expressing in the outer world the results of my inner contemplative ‘work’. After more than a decade of creative initiatives in both hemispheres of my life, we have decided on its dissolution. (Part 5 of these memoirs may cover some of these rewarding experiences).

I started writing the memoirs shared in My Listening Heart in 2013 and 2014.. Being in lockdown in Stanford in 2020 with the pandemic, I ‘found’ the manuscripts and revisited the contents, and was encouraged. Voice recordings of the chapters were well received by a small group of ‘listeners’ and the project has grown into what I am now sharing with you and whoever is drawn or guided to read and/or listen to these episodes.

My Listening Heart is an offering. I have not created this as a personal income stream but if you would like to make a donation, please consider doing so to the Life Righting Collective in South Africa which is doing remarkable work. See more about this initiative on our Donation page.