Tuck a musical instrument into your luggage
Looking for a gift to leave with the Mennonite family in Paraguay after Mennonite World Conference? A unique program can put dusty instruments – even broken ones – to good use. Sonidos de la Tierra (Sounds of the Earth), a program initiated by Luis Szaran, the conductor of the Asunción Municipal Orchestra, provides musical instruments and teachers in poor sections of Asunción, Paraguay, and numerous nearby small towns. The program’s slogan is: “The young person who plays Mozart by day does not break shop windows at night.”
The music department at Centro Evangélico Menonita de Teología Asunción (CEMTA), the Mennonite seminary, works closely with Sonidos de la Tierra, providing lessons and performance opportunities for children. Musical instruments of all kinds (string, woodwind, percussion, and especially brass), new, used, even in disrepair, are welcomed as donations, says Werner Franz, director of CEMTA.
It may also be possible for some visiting musicians who bring an instrument to visit one of the Sonidos de la Tierra schools, make music with the students, and then leave their instruments there.
For further information, contact Renate Franz, coordinator of service opportunities and the youth committee for Paraguay 2009: RenateFranz@mwc-cmm.org.
—MWC
