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Monday, May 12, 2008
True Songs of Peace
I have written before about Cameron and Kristina and their Musical Missions for Peace. They have traveled numerous times throughout the Middle East, Cameron playing his oud and Kristina letting her beautiful voice put smiles on every face within earshot. When they're back home in the U.S., they cross the country giving presentations about their experiences in the Middle East. They do this "...so that Americans can see more clearly who the Arabic-speaking people really are...Cameron and Kristina are in Jordan right now, singing with Iraqi refugees. Kristina's thoughts on American loneliness/Arab community gave me a different perspective on that little voice inside my head that calls me to go hide faraway in solitude every few months.
...and so that Arabs can see that there are Americans who love their music and culture and who do not believe that war is the answer..."
Cameron Writes:
We spent last night surrounded by 30 Iraqi refugees singing the "old music" for us: this gathering had been organized to honor our return. Our host works diligently with his violin to magnetize us all into the unified field of the music...Kristina Writes:
...As I look at the faces around me, all men and women who are now exiled from their homeland, I can see the different mixes of hardships and suffering. And I see the childlike joy with which the music emerges from their souls.
We have begun dialogue with the owner of a music shop regarding our Musical Mission of Peace designed to offer support to Iraqi refugees here in Jordan by financially encouraging their children's musical education.
We will soon make a loop through Syria where an even larger number of Iraqi refugees are currently in residence. It is said that at least two million Iraqis have fled to Jordan and Syria to escape the disorder and violence in their homeland. But neither Jordan nor Syria has the infrastructure to offer employment to so many. That is why we are here. We will do what we can, in our own musical way, to provide a pipeline of financial support from sympathetic Americans.
May 9, 08 Day one
As I walked down the street today in Amman, Jordan, tears came to my eyes. I felt like I had come home. This feels like home to me not because the sights are familiar or particularly beautiful. The buildings are mostly grey concrete colors. The streets are dirty. Many people smoke and I dislike the smell of tobacco inside the shops. It's just that there is something else in the air that feels more powerful than the smoke.
So how do I explain to you what it is?
Maybe security is a part of it. If I should fall down everyone around me would come to my rescue. If I should get lost someone would personally guide me back to my hotel. No one is trying to steal my purse. Every shopkeeper and almost every other person I meet on the street is saying a sincere "Welcome" or "Hi."
Maybe it is that there is less fear. I have very little fear here. My heart is so open, because every other heart it meets is so open to me.
I guess another word might be "relief." I don't have to be an island. Women in the lobby of the hotel, whom I have never met before, motion for me to sit down next to them. I am welcomed. I don't have to be alone. Relief to know you're surrounded by loving beings.
Isn't that what home is?
I've heard that there is no word in Arabic for "alone", the closest word means "lonely".
I wonder why I, an American, need "retreat time" or "personal space" or "time to collect my thoughts" or "time to regroup" or just time to shut out the world and rest? For an Arab, time alone is just "lonely." Do we Americans tend to stress each other out? Why do we need a break from each other? Here they just like to sit close to each other and feel the connection. The air is filled with the currents of acceptance, less judgment, more connection. Like Fayez the hotel owner here says, "Arabs are your friend immediately." You don't have to "earn their trust." It's just so much easier this way.
For more information, visit MusicalMissions
Labels: cameron and kristina, loneliness, peace
posted by Carol at 7:57 PM
4 Comments:
They are troubadours on a holy mission. Thank you for introducing them to me.
Da nada, Senor Nick!
They must be added to our list of people and things that bring hope, no?
You never read in the news how so many Iriqis are leaving their country. Bush will have much to answer for when his incarnation is complete. Maybe the God and Goddess will have him be reincarnated as an Iraqi child and have to experience firsthand the destruction his greed and hubris has caused.
Yeah. It would be quite kind of us to help refugees and the countries that are taking them in.
Just imagine what circumstances it must have taken to cause someone like Bush to incarnate as the person he is today. I only wish for him to receive whatever it takes to help him to become a kinder, more conscious being. If that means that he reincarnates as a person who is treated with deep love in order to learn compassion, that's fine with me!
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