Mission Trip to Haiti this July!

So, I guess I should announce this at some point since I am doing some fundraising.........
I applied and was accepted to be a counselor/teacher for one week in Haiti through the non-profit organization The Red Thread Promise (they also have a blogspot!) Provided I can finally get my blood-typing test ordered from my doctor (it's taking FOREVER), I will be going to Haiti from July 11-22 and working with kids who are handicapped, blind, or deaf. I'll hopefully get to do some storytelling and some music with them and anything else that is needed. I'm very excited!

The last mission trip that I went on was to Izvorsko, Bulgaria as part of my trip for a choral and orchestral workshop in the following week. It was an extremely rewarding experience. The village was a small Roma (Gypsy) village near Varna, Bulgaria. We mainly helped with food items and delivering them.

The last time I worked with my own class of youth was in Milledgeville, GA as music director at First Presbyterian Church. That was also very rewarding and many of them sang in the youth choir there. Later, some went on mission trips to Piedras Negras, MX.

A couple of years ago when Fr. Albergate came to St. Paul's Episcopal, his wife, Kathy, brought The Red Thread Promise and its outreach to our attention and it was a terrific match with our congregation. Members of the church had the opportunity to contribute funds or to actually go to Haiti and help out. Our Sexton, Mr. John Joseph, went last year. He helped assemble and distribute badly-needed wheelchairs there. Once, Inconspicuous 8, a professional women's ensemble in which our organist and I sing, gave a fundraising concert for this organization. Now I will get to go and help out in person!

Check out this video that describes work with orphans and children with disabilities in Haiti.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17IQ4XTUQ30

"Our mission is to provide hope and healing for these precious children. It is an open invitation to all viewers to get involved in our work through donations and volunteerism. For additional information, please see our website: www.redthreadpromise.org  or find us on Facebook at The Red Thread Promise."

I will serve as a counselor at Camp Jake, an annual summer camp designed to meet the special needs of handicapped children from the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Our team consists of 10-15 counselors who will be working with 30-35 campers—who are blind, deaf or non-ambulatory—for a week on the Haitian coast. Here is a great article about Camp Jake by the Physicians for Peace organization. http://www.physiciansforpeace.org/news/sep-07-11/camp-gives-haitian-children-chance-play-learn-and-heal.html

If you would like to support my trip or the organization, please donate at the link below, directly to The Red Thread. All donations are tax deductible. Electronic donations are simple and can be made via PayPal at: www.redthreadpromise.org. Please be sure to put “CAMP – CARSON" in the memo line so I receive credit toward my trip. If you prefer to donate by check, checks should be made out to The Red Thread Promise and mailed to The Red Thread Promise, ATTN: Kathy Korge Albergate, 20 Brookfield Avenue, Glen Rock, NJ 07452. Again, please be sure to put “CAMP – CARSON" in the memo line.

Check our their blog where you can read updates on the organization’s work on Camp Jake and other great projects. You can also read about the first Camp in the January 2012 archives on their blog at www.redthreadpromise.org.

Thank you so much for your support. I know this will be a life-changing experience for me!

Me and Vlad Tepes statue

Carpathian Mountain village

WELL!!! Once again, it's been a year since I wrote! HA! It's like that organ piece by John Cage "As Long As It Takes" or whatever the title is. He began with a REST which lasted something like 40 years (I think) and then they filmed a subtle chord change which a handful of Cage worshippers witnessed in person. I think it's somewhere in Germany. Anyway, I just returned from a fantastic trip to Bulgaria and Romania. I've been to Bulgaria 6 times before to participated in the same workshop, but this gtime, I took some students and decided to simply sing and learn from those around me. It was GREAT!

Haystacks

Yummy vegetable soup!

The very first time I went, there was this depressive event in my life and Bulgaria just magically transformed me into a non-depressed person! It was a choral workshop. I like the country so much that I created a small proposal to teach a class on American music and Amer. Music Education there after the next year's workshop. It was so much fun! The course lasted a week. The third year, I went again and taught a smaller course afterwards. That year and the fourth and fifth years, I did both the choral and the orchestral workshops, one following the other. I learned so much. The 6th year, I just went to visit for a few days and then went to Northern Scotland where I rented a car for a whole week and drove across the Cairgnorms on single track roads and ate whisky pecan pie and angus beef. It snowed on the way to the Isle of Skye and I thiknk I drove through one of the towns where some of my McPherson ancestors used to be. THis year, I met some awesome new friends from Australia and Brazil and also got to see four of my American conductor friends there. I think I fell in love again, damn it for those romantic people who are also hot and extremely ingtelligent! Grrrr on them! Alas, here are some pictures from that trip. I'm glad to be back, but in some ways, the Transylvanian region of Romania and the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria have claimed some of my heart and soul. I also feel like I could just stay there forever, but I know I really couldn't!

So, I'm not posting any people here, but you can check my website to see MANY more pictures and figure out who my awesome new friends are! : )