Calming Harp Music to India
by Steve Rees, Ret. RN, Harpist
The places my Calming Harp music has taken Shirley and I have never ceased to amaze us. It is a testament to the understanding that music is global. Every culture and nation embraces some form of music, sometimes several, and India is no exception.
About 8 years ago, I received a note on my Facebook message board from one of my friends, Prabhu, who lives near Rajahmundry, India. He was telling me of his need for a small surgery for his son and asked if I might be able to help him. I decided to put him to the test and see if he was responsible for following up with me once I sent a small donation.
Once the surgery was completed, Prabhu sent me pictures of what was done and thanked me profusely for helping his family. After several more communications, I found out that not only did he have his natural son, but he was taking care of about 20 other children. Some of them were true orphans whose parents had died from various illnesses or only had a destitute single parent. On top of that, they were living in a shack covered with palm fronds and a dirt floor. He and his wife house, feed, and clothes them, and ensure they get to school.
Not long after discovering this, I was with some friends in Texas whom I had made a harp for, and somehow the conversation turned to this little orphanage and how what we send them was making such a difference. My friend asked if buying some land for them could help them grow some food and make their situation a little better.
Within a month, we found a decent plot of land to buy, and it began to make a difference. However, they were still in less than adequate accommodation. About 3 months later, Prabhu sent me a note asking if he could sell that land so that he could buy another even larger piece of land that had a proper house on it. After conferring with my friends, we told him to go ahead and make the arrangements. The price of the new land was $10,000 and we told him to use the money from selling the smaller piece so that he could put a well in and do the necessary upgrades to the house.
In the meantime, we found out how little the average field worker made, and how much the US dollar could do there comparatively. The average wage amounted to about $3 per day and the US dollar was equal to 83 rupees. We found out that $10 US dollars could buy enough rice to feed a family of 4 for a month.
At this point, they began to encourage us to visit them and see how wonderful their new home was. At first, we thought that the money it would take to buy tickets to go there might be better used if given to them directly. However, they continued to request us to come, so we eventually decided to make the trip and bring our Calming Harp music to India.
We took 4 different flights to get there which spanned 23 hours. When we arrived, the greeting we received was amazing. We were adorned with flower garlands and petals thrown all over us. Everyone wanted to shake our hands and take our picture. It was quite embarrassing as we had never received such attention and did not see ourselves as anyone special. They invited us to speak at meetings and took us to other communities they were working with. They even had us help pass out food and blankets they had purchased with some of the money we had sent ahead.