May Term Music Trip

A Dream Became Reality!

This week, a dream became a reality.  Two years ago, while chatting with my boss, we were dreaming of what it could be like to have a band in Haiti.  We imagined all the kids at Source de la Grace with band instruments in their hands working together as a team to create music.  Not only creating music, but building on a marketable skill that they could use for gainful employment.  While there is still long way to go before the complete dream is realized, this week, it became a reality when a small team of us successfully delivered 23 band instruments to Port-au-Prince.
If you've been following this story, you know that Alayna Bolwin, a senior from Edina High School, approached me last year to ask if it would be possible to take instruments to Haiti and teach band lessons as a May Term project.  I joyfully said yes, and then Alayna got to work.  She made contacts and got the ball rolling in several areas.  We were able to collect 15 instruments via the online instrument donation wish list, Instruments in the Cloud.  Vega Productions, the company that runs Instruments in the Cloud, had agreed to match any instruments we collected, giving us a grand total of 30 donated instruments.  Vega Productions not only donated the 15 additional instruments, they also donated several other things we needed like valve oil, slide grease, clarinet reeds, cleaning tools, pad savers, and two really nice metronomes.  I'm not even sure I can put a value to the things that were donated and transported to Haiti this week.

 Caitlin and I with all the instruments in the back of my van.

All of the instruments and the three oversized containers.

Edina bandies helping to clean the instruments

 All the trumpets got a good bath

The flutes and clarinets got cleaned and polished

A Series of Miracles

Before we left, I was advised to be sure I had enough cash to get through customs in Haiti.  Sometimes, in Haiti, when you are bringing in valuable items, the people in customs like to take a cut for their own personal gain, or make you pay in order to keep everything you've got.  The whole idea of bartering or negotiating makes me really nervous.  I don't like confrontation and I don't like feeling like I'm being dishonest (about how much money I'm carry and could pay to keep all my things).
Despite how I was feeling, I asked everyone I talked to about it, to pray for us on the day we traveled, and I made sure I had enough cash on hand to ensure we could get the instruments through Haitian customs.
I was so focused on customs in Haiti, that I didn't even think about the size of the three containers we were transporting the instrument in.  Upon arrival at the MSP airport, we were informed by a very friendly American Airlines employee that our cases were "oversized".  They were not over weight, just too big and we would need to pay extra.  She went to check on the overage fees and returned to tell us were were going to need to pay an additional $200.00 per container, for a total of $600.00!  I asked if there was anything we could do and she asked about what was in the containers.  When we explained they were band instruments going to Haiti, she helped us finish printing our tickets and then told us to meet her at a special ticket window.  When we got there, she printed our luggage tags, and then took all three containers without charging us a thing.  Once we realized what was happening and expressed our deep gratitude, she said it was no problem, and those kids in Haiti deserve to have some band instruments and music in their lives, and wished us luck.
The three of us were amazed!  As we wondered over the the TSA lines, we noticed the second miracle, we had all been granted pre-check!  Once that line opened, we were through security in just a few minutes and made our way to our gate.  The rest of our travel was flawless.

During our flight from Miami into Port-au-Prince, I spent a lot of time in prayer.  While I was praying, bits a pieces of lots of different scripture were crossing my mind... keep your eyes on him and don't grow weary... with thanksgiving, present your request to God... Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see... Do not worry... and many others.  I was comforted by the fact that I knew many were praying, and that no matter what, God was in control of this and it was going to go His way.
We landed in PAP, collected our bags, and with confidence approached the customs counter.  When they saw us coming with our three large containers, they stopped me and asked what what inside.  With a big smile and lots of confidence, I answered, "band instruments."

"Are they new or used?"
"Ohh used, defiantly not new"
"Please step over there."

Oh man, here we go, I thought.  We stepped to the area where they check through bags and with my confident smile, and some broken Creole, I answered their questions joyfully about them being used band instruments.  They were impressed that I was trying to speak to them in Creole.   They were not impressed by my skills, more the fact that I was being friendly and trying to speak to them.  I explained that I am a music teacher and was taking the instruments for the children in the program I work with.  At this point, I was extremely thankful for the luggage tags I had purchased.  They were the kind that you insert your business card and it self-laminates.  I was able to point to it and show them where it says "Director of Music" and "Haiti".  They opened up the first container and saw that it was full of band instruments and music books.  They asked if the other two were the same and when I answered yes, they said, "Ok, have a nice time," and sent us on our way!  They never gave us any trouble, never even hinted that they might take something from us, or that they would charge us to take anything with us.  I was so relieved I could have done a happy dance right there in customs!  I figured I shouldn't push my luck and instead bee-lined it out of there.

Our oversized containers arriving safely at the guest house.

Steady as She Goes

The rest of the week has gone just as smoothly.  We have had no trouble on the roads and all of our teaching sessions went just as planned.  We taught flute and trombone on Thursday, clarinet and trumpet on Friday, and on Saturday, we helped the Haitian staff show the instruments to the students, and helped the students try each of the instruments so that they could make their choices.

Alayna shows the supervisors a flute

Hannah shows Jean Marie a clarinet

Lynn teaching some trombone

Adelcon supervising some clarinet students

Lynn making some corrections while Adelcon is goofing off

The supervisors and a couple students learning the trumpet

More trumpet and our fantastic interpreter Sony (he is the bomb diggity)

One of the students trying the trumpet

Adelcon working with some students as they try the trombone

Hannah showing a student how to put a reed onto the clarinet

Alayna demonstrating how to get a sound on the flute

Some of the girls who really liked the trumpet

Another successful student trial on the clarinet

The entire class is excited to start their lessons on these instruments.

Not Done Yet

Today is Monday.  Alayna and her sister, Hannah, are spending the day at the local clinic (both have interested in the medical field, or public health) and enjoying the opportunity to see the way that the clinic with 4.5 doctors/NP's serve in an area where they have almost 5,000 registered patients.
Tomorrow, we will be headed home.  Unfortunately the trend has been on the way home from my most successful trips is when the trouble comes.  Please continue to pray for our team as we head home tomorrow.  Pray that our drive to the airport is without pause or interruption, that our flights are all on time, and that we have a smooth transition through customs in Miami.  Thanks for praying!

Moving Forward

I had an amazing realization today.  After planning for almost two years about how to get instruments to Haiti and how to get them started, we've done it.  Today I got to start dreaming about the next steps.  I started to think about short-term groups coming down to do band camps, or master classes.  I've started dreaming about their first concert.

I'm so thankful for this amazing adventure.