Whistlin' in the Third World

Whistle
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Greetings, all.

I was going to wait until I had a photo to go along with this story. I do, now, GREAT, funny pictures, but I had forgotten that we can’t post photos anymore.

So, Imagine this, if you will:

It’s mid-June. I’m in Haiti, poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, where I am leading a team of teenagers from around Wyoming to donate food, clothing, toys, Bibles, medicine, work, and love, mostly at orphanages. It’s hot. Very, very hot.

So, in the course of this trip, we take a four-hour truck ride into the back country to work with a rural village/orphanage for the day. It becomes quickly obvious that no one here speaks English (the language here is Creole. None of us speak more than a few sentences). So, the food/clothing/ antibiotics/toys have been donated, but the kids are really shy–they really want to be with us, but they aren’t used to visitors (especially white ones!), so it’s hard to break the ice. Much peeking around trees at us, and some shy smiles and attempts at conversation, but not much more.

After a few attempts at communicating in Creole (which does provoke some laughter, so it wasn’t a total waste!), I decide to pull out my trusty Clarke D and start playing a tune or two. A crowd of orphans and villagers quickly gathers to see where that awful noise is coming from. A couple of the girls from the team start doing their very own rendition (: of a jig. More laughter.

A few of the braver children join in the dance, and it isn’t but a few moments until the whole lot of 'em, children and adults alike, are laughing, clapping and stomping out the beat, talking (what did they say?), having a great old time. I feel fairly secure in saying they’d never heard a tin whistle (not to mention a jig or a hornpipe) before, but it didn’t matter.

More tunes, some singing (we had a great time with “Father Abraham” and “If You’re Happy and You Know It,” even though they had no clue what they were saying!) We were all friends after that, in a way that donated food and toys could never accomplish. Ah, music is a gift from God, isn’t it? (:

Tom

p.s. If you’d like to know more about our (non-whistling) adventures in Haiti, do e-mail me. It was truly enlightening to us, really made a difference to them, and it’s fun to talk about!

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You can still post pictures – it’s just that you need a place to store them. If you want, email them to me and I’ll link them into your message. Ditto for anyone else that doesn’t have their own space to stick pictures and tunes.

    -Rich
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If you don’t mind the slight startup hassle, you can get a free website from the likes of geocities and load a page or more of pictures with text, etc. and put the address in your profile. (This will save Rich extra work, and people will be able to find the link later on.)
Tony

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Well, I just might have to try that, Tony. I’m not sure if it’s really worth the hassle since I very seldom have pictures of interest to anyone besides me, but it’s a thought… Thanks for the advice.

Tom

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This reminds me of a missionary assignment my parents did on a certain island in the Philippines (a rather dangerous area) a few years ago. The children were hiding behind trees and peeking at my parents. My mother (who is of Irish descent) was wearing black hose. Some of the children were baffled, and were heard to exclaim, “she’s black on bottom and white on top!”

Walden

Deus converte nos et ostende faciem tuam et salvi erimus

[ This Message was edited by: Walden on 2002-06-11 01:45 ]

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Tom! What a wonderful adventure. Praise God for your work there; I would love to see pictures. Did you get a chance to sample any of their music (do they have music)?

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Awesome, Badge.
You are a gutsy person, high in my esteem for that work. Thanks for sharing with us.

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How wonderful! Music is indeed a gift from God…the universal language! I can just picture those little ones doing “Father Abraham”! That was always a favorite in our old parish’s Children’s Chapel (along with "Peter, James and John in a Sailboat).

That’s one of my favorite things about the whistle too…you can take it just about anywhere without worrying about it. Next time you may want to take along a box of Megs or Sweetones and pass them out to the kids…you just might come back years later and hear someone playing “The Creole Hornpipe”! :wink:

If you want, for very little effort, you can get a free account at one of the photo sharing sites (the one I use is http://www.snapfish.com) and put the photos there. Then you can link to them any time.

Redwolf

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Wow, the thread rises from the dead. :slight_smile:

Thanks for the encouraging words. I’ll see if I can dig out those pictures if you still want to see them.

For those who asked, Wyoming For Haiti 2001 was able to donate 5000# of dry beans and rice, around 40 sets of clothing, 288 French and Creole Bibles, lots of medicines (they have some good docs down there, just no supplies), and a whole lot of elbow grease digging wells, waterproofing roofs, and caring for children.

As for the music, I had two very different experiences. First of all, those people can SING!!! Wow. At funerals, church gatherings, or just walking down the street. Loud and strong, with some amazing harmonies. Whew…

The orphanage we stayed at in Cap Hatien has a wall around it to keep people from coming in and stealing food from the orphans (yes, it is really that bad). One night, about 2 a.m., I was awakened by a Voodoo ceremony going on right outside the walls. It sounded like some sort of procession; drumming, torchlight, people screaming and hollering, something involving chickens…Now that I’m at home safe, I with I’d have had the guts to go peek out through the gate and see what was going on rather than hiding under the covers. :astonished:

I LIKE the idea of passing out some whistles. I wonder if the parents down there would hate me? I’m planning on going back down over Christmas for a couple weeks solo just to learn all I can before I take another group of teens down next summer. I’ll keep you posted.

Tom

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Hmmmmm…this has inspired me! We do shoeboxes every year at Christmas time with the group “Samaritan’s Purse”. The boxes are filled with items for children in need and given as Christmas presents. I must get my hands on some Megs this year to add to our boxes!!

Tom, we have a group of teens heading out in August to the Czech Republic to do the same type of thing…I’ll have to teach one of them to whistle between now and then!

Deb

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To be honest, I think the parents would love you for it. Sure, there will be a lot of squeaking and squawking going on for a while, but let’s face it…happy, active children find plenty of ways to make noise anyway, and there’s nothing so appealing to a parent as someone who shows a special kindness to a child. The way these people obviously love music, I bet some of the kids would find a way to make lovely sounds come out of those whistles (and I wouldn’t be shocked if more than a few adults didn’t line up in the hopes of getting one for themselves).

Might be worth writing to Clarke, Generation, and a few other manufacturers of inexpensive whistles, sharing this story, and seeing if one or more of them would be willing to donate some whistles to be handed out to children. Corporations are often more than willing to contribute merchandise to charitable endeavors, not only for the tax write-off and advertising potential, but also often out of pure kindness. The value of music to a child’s development is so well documented, and I can think of few instruments more suitable than a sturdy whistle for giving to kids who a) will have to be largely self-taught and b) won’t generally have the luxury of being able to coddle a more delicate or finicky instrument.

Redwolf

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Wow!!! That is sooooo cool that you did that WyoBadger!

I agree with everyone else. You should see about giving the children some whistles next time you head down there. Most cultures use some kind of wind instrument in their music, so it probably wouldn’t be to hard for them to learn. Plus, music is a very rewarding experience/hobby, and I, personally, don’t know what my life would be like without it.

Great job!

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WhistlerWannabe…I’m thinking the same thing, and getting rather excited about the idea. What a nice thing to slip into a Christmas box!

Redwolf

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Redwolf wrote:
The way these people obviously love music, I bet some of the kids would find a way to make lovely sounds come out of those whistles (and I wouldn’t be shocked if more than a few adults didn’t line up in the hopes of getting one for themselves).

WyoBadger might instigate the Haitian version of Kwela!

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Thanks again for the ideas, ladies and gents. It’s really fun how this thread lay dormant for almost a year before anyone got interested in it.

Anyway, before I go back down, I plan on contacting Clarke, and perhaps some of our whistle-selling merchants and even members of the board, about some donations. I don’t want to spend money on whistles–that has to go to basic necessities–but laughter and music are just as important in their way, as my previous journey proved.

God bless all–
Tom

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WyoBadger…you’ll want to check out the thread entitled “Kids at Pine Ridge.” This idea seems to be taking off, and it’s possible we could do something on a more organized, united front.

Redwolf