Fiaria de Valores

This past weekend we had the Fiaria de Valores, the event that the Creative Expression program at Safe Passage has been planing for the past month. The days coming up to the event started to get busy and a bit hectic as everything came into place. On Thursday and Friday we had group rehearsals with all the students that were going to play music on Saturday. Some of the kids were getting nervous but it was starting to sound good. Saturday came around and it started early. We left Antigua at 6:30 to go to s

et up everything for the fair. We set up everything and it was seeming to go well. Until we realized we didn't have a power cord for the whole PA system, we ended up finding a cord in the project and after fiddling with it a little we got the sound system up and running. We were running about 30 minutes behind schedul

e, but it was alright. Kids were already there helping us set up everything and were already playing in the park.

If you want to read the project's blog about the project you can see it at http://safepassage.org/es/node/5630, but right now i'll talk about my part in the event... the music.

The music started with one of the students, Cesar, playing with Mike, the head of the music program. Cesar played Let it Be by the Beatles and Hotel California. Then I went on with Francisco, Cesar's little brother. We played two songs that we had been working on for about 2 or 3 weeks. Francisco had come in one day and said that he had wrote some lyrics, and was writing a song.

I sat down with him and worked with him to put some chords to the songs and helped him a little with the melody. He ended up with two great songs that we were able to perform. Francisco was nervous as we went up, but once we got to playing he was fine. Then at the end of the performance when I announced that both songs we had played were Francisco's and everyone clapped it was great to see the smile on Francisco's face.

The music continued with more students playing. Then the group performance took place. All the kids

who had been practicing 'Stand by me' (a Spanish and English version performed by Prince Royce) for the past couple weeks came up on the stage. It was a bit crowded, but everyone was having fun playing and singing the song. It was great to see the kids playing together, it was clear

that music was something that all of them really enjoyed. Th

e ones who had been playing for a couple months were having just as much fun as the ones who had been playing for a couple years.

After this a local Guatemalan band, Calimoshos, came on and finished the day off. They were an upbeat band that consisted of a couple guitars, and a bass made of a bucket, a piece of bamboo, and a piece of string. They were great and brought some good energy to the fair.

All the while the music was going on a lot more was happening. There was the art project where people from the community were painting shoes. There were games like bobbing for apples and face paint that were being led by some of the students from the project. Then right outside the park the Graffiti club was working. Some professional Graffiti artists came and helped some of the students put up some of their own designs on the walls outside of the park. The pieces of art said things like No a la guerra (No to war) and Paz (peace).

It was great to see the event be such a success in the community. Not only were there all of the Safe Passage kids running around the park and playing and participating, their families came out, their friends came out, and it seemed like the whole community surrounding the park was participating. It made for a great day that I hope will be remembered by the kids for a long time.

Its funny, before I came down this summer I had the idea of working with music and English and then had the less concrete ideas of working on songwriting as well as a concert as a culmination of the summer. As the summer went a long I kind of lost focus on the songwriting and concert part, but then as I look back on it, I did exactly what I set out to do. I just didn't really realize I was doing it until it was done.

I want to thank again all of you for your support for my trip. I'll have you know that a portion of the money that I raised was what allowed this Fiaria de Valores to happen. I was very happy to donate the money to make this event happen, it was great to see such a concrete result come from the money that was raised.

Its crazy to think now that I only have 2 weeks left in the project. It has gone by so quickly. I am getting excited for the Galapagos though. And I have told Francisco, the kid I've been working on with songwriting, to send me any lyrics he writes by email in the project. So hopefully I will be able to continue working with him even when I am in the Galapagos or at home. This summer I've created a very strong relationship with Francisco. Sometimes its tough, but the good things that have come out of it have been amazing.

Next time I post will probably be when I am almost done with Safe Passage. Its been a great summer, and my travels are not done yet. Thanks again for your support!