The sale of the Third Edition of the Rhythm in the Barrios’calendar has been a total success with over 800 calendars sold and $8,000 made! This amount allows us to continue another year helping improve the education and quality of life of so many children through music. The calendars had a suggested price of $10, but everyone helped with what they could, the minimum that was paid for a calendar was $2.50 and the maximum $130. The money was used to buy instruments, diverse materials used in classes, our teachers’ salaries and organizing training sessions.
School’s first semester in Nicaragua ended in July, and even though we found ourselves going through changes this year with a new coordinator in charge of the project things are going well in the 9 schools we work in we are happy to deliver good news from Rhythm in the Barrios. The most important one is that even though the majority of the help we receive is foreign, now in Nicaragua the project is being run by NICARAGUANS!
The entire semester has been full of frantic activities with a lot of training sessions (by our volunteers), children concerts in all the schools’ activities, an appearance on national television, lots of volunteers, initiation of rehearsal and fund raising for the III edition of RITMOS SOLIDARIOS concert which will take place at the end of the school year. The whole team is doing a great job: Oscar who is fulfilling his job as coordinator wonderfully as well as the other 6 Nicaraguan teachers (Milton, Juan, Josué, Marianne, Alexander and Jose), along with volunteers from several countries that have been supporting the project with their time: (Quelo, Deiene, Laura, Marta, Sergi, Bruce, Emely, Cristina, Ute-Maria and Sarah). A special mention for Quelo who by the time the school year ends will have been in Nicaragua over a year and who is doing an impressive job teaching in several schools, training teachers, coordinating new volunteers, and organizing RITMOS SOLIDARIOS III. In the next couple of weeks we are expecting Lenya and Belen to arrive.
Other great news is the release of Global Lingo CD containing one of our songs “EL TIBURON DEL LAGO COCIBOLCA”. See the details here.
On a sadder side is the passing away of Jim Wenzell who through “Connecticut Quest for Peace” worked tirelessly to send us from the United States a great deal of instruments. It’s definitely because of people like him that we have been able to do our job through the years. We are immensely grateful to him.
No less important for us are the people that donated one instrument insignificant as it may have seemed. The collection organized in Barcelona was also very successful and the instruments that arrived this month in Nicaragua were received with excitement from the children.
Rhythm in The Barrios is a clear example of how "unity is strength". During these years we have received several important donations but nowhere close to the amount of smaller donations that have helped us move forward. We are not only referring to the 800 people that bought the calendar but also to the people that helped us make it, and of course those who help us distribute it as well as the people that in the past 6 years have donated instruments, assisted to fund raising concerts, bought previous editions of the calendar and helped in any other way.
To all of you, thank you and big hugs.
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