The Odyssey of Life, J. D. AnthonyA memorable month in Kenya, Justin AnantawanQuestions, Michael Ga

Anantawan, Justin

Anthony, L. D.

Gaa, Michael

English

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Spiritan Magazine Volume 34 Number 1 Spring Article 8 Spring 2010 Youth perspectives L. D. Anthony Justin Anantawan Michael Gaa Follow this and additional works at: https://dsc.duq.edu/spiritan-tc Recommended Citation Anthony, L., Anantawan, J., & Gaa, M. (2010). Youth perspectives. Spiritan Magazine, 34 (1). Retrieved from https://dsc.duq.edu/spiritan-tc/vol34/iss1/8 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Spiritan Collection at Duquesne Scholarship Collection. It has been accepted for inclusion in Spiritan Magazine by an authorized editor of Duquesne Scholarship Collection. A lthough I was at HurumaChildren’s Home for only amonth, it was a life-changingexperience. I went there not quite surewhat I was going to do and what I wasgoing to experience. However, uponleaving Kenya I had a closer relation-ship with God and a better understand-ing of my calling in life. The orphanage school did not have amusic teacher. For their creative arthour, the kids would go to work in thefields. So, I was put into the temporaryrole of music teacher during my four-week stay. I taught weekly lessons to nineclasses — gospel and children’s songs tothe younger grades and African-Americanmusic history to the older grades. I was also able to teach the childrenNegro spirituals such as Swing Low SweetChariot and I’ll Fly Away. They now singthese in church. I saw how music affected their lives.One thing I remember well — it touchedme greatly — is a rap a girl wrote about herlife as a child labourer. I also became friends with a girl namedMary Kavata. I taught her songs and she andI sang a couple of duets during the lastchurch service I attended at Huruma. Shewants to become a professional musician — it amazed me how she would make usrehearse songs twenty or thirty times until wegot them right.One Sunday a group of the children and Ibaked 230 cookies for everybody at the home.It took hours to do this because the oven wasvery small and did not have a lot of heat. How music helped the childrenI made many friends at the home and I try tokeep in touch with them. The thing that affectedyouth perspectivesThe Odyssey of LifeAlways and ever shall I consider myself blessed.In childhood, gazing out onto the vast plains of Kenya,I stood mesmerized at Earth’s canvas before me:Herds of gazelle, gnu, giraffe, bands of ostriches.As they paused in their grazing to raise their eyes to mine,We stood mutely transfixed recognizing our common bond, Seeming to recollect that in the dim mist of the past we were kin:Nomads, roaming freely o’er this Eden,Each taking only what we needed.Like a giant orchestra, playing in sweet harmony,This stupendous Symphony of Life.Alas! In time, Man’s pride in intellect ensnared him.He thought himself as having ‘Dominion’ over all creation;O’er the fish in the water, the fowls of the air, the creaturesOf the land.Therein lay the sentence to his holocaust,Jarring Earth’s music with dissonanceAs a vain virtuoso, wielding giant cymbals,In disdain of all other instrumentalists.Man’s discordance shattered the flow of Life’s melody;Hushing the sweet strains of many of Earth’s creaturesInto eternal silence.What chord, what melody can issue from a harp with broken strings?Using religion to justify callousness is a two-edged sword.Man’s offspring hear not the lyrics of the winged ones,See not the shy timidity in the soft eyes of a gazelle,Nor the silver swirl of a school of fish;Sense not a communion with nature.Self-centred, blind is Man to the purpose of his Lord.Made in the image of God!Wherein is man’s likeness to the Good Shepherd?Has he upheld his charge as keeper of the vineyardAgainst his Master’s sudden return?Man’s self-conceit confounds him.Deaf to the cries of the distressed that he pursuesOn the highway to extinction.Askance, my eyes raise upwards to the Most High,Who composed the score of the Grand Symphony of Life,Arranging parts for every creature:To Him, whose Dominion is eternal, from everlasting to everlasting— even to the end of Time —To the great conductor!Do thou, once more, speak unto Man thy command,“Ephphata!” — “Be opened!”— L. D. Anthony12 Spring 2010 / SpiritanA memJustin Anantawanyouth perspectivesSpiritan / Spring 2010      13QuestionsThe stories we once toldOur way of life ravagedMy people’s faces unrecalledCovered up by a rope of liesUnheard by the worldWe were forced to fall in lineDishonoured by fellow manExposed, seared and helplessTogether we now layAll we had was each other —A connection that cannot be brokenWe suffered together!We cried together!And we question what will come nextWill the world forget?Will our stories one day be told?Will I be forgotten?Will we be forgotten?— Michael Gaa, Neil McNeilme most was hearing the stories of these children and howthey came to the home. Many of them had lost parents toAIDS, had been abused or abandoned. I saw how musichelped them to deal with their pain, express their emotionsand simply have fun.Thus, I have decided that I want to become a missionarymusic teacher in Africa, or elsewhere in the world, where chil-dren do not have the opportunity to get a music education. I felt a calling from God to do this while I was in Kenya and I still feel it now despite my doubts and fears of what will happen in the future. I am currently applying for TeachersCollege and I will be doing volunteer music teaching at an elementary school to prepare myself. God willing, I will returnto Huruma Children’s Home next year to teach again. I thank the Spiritans for your help in funding my trip toKenya. As you were part of my journey you were also part ofthe children’s lives at Huruma. God blessed me with an expe-rience that opened my heart and gave me a chance to help others in need and I thank him for people like you who madeit possible. norable month in Kenya

Youth perspectives

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