I must respond. There is a wonderful inspiration started by Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes on her facebook page (a very rich place to hang around).. A kerfuffule -- a communal gasp-- a rise of energy around the song 'Stand by Me'.
Dr. CPE says "South African Yvonne Chaka Chaka sang this song a cappela to an audience after she warned Batswana to quit sitting around shaking one's head, and instead to be alert and to guard in every way possible, against increasingly devastating child pornography and human trafficking in all of Africa.
She sang this POWERFUL song afterward."
It is a marching song, a question, a fearful longing, and an answer. My favorite version is from "Playing for Change"-- Musicians from all over the world are recorded and one by one brought into the shared space of the message in the music. In the end it is a joyful awakening --to the answer of many voices joining together --- and it lets us throw back our heads to sing louder and more fearlessly and to move our bodies. An accompaniment to the work of many hands reaching out to make sure others know, "I am here".
Today I send this good medicine to Abdi and Hassan Nur Iftin in Nairobi (see Abdi flies Somalia from March 2011) because we feel that there is now real hope that their dream of being college students in the US may happen.
As Dr. E says "we can make mere 'light' into Lightning!....¡Relampago!"
In April when I was sick nearly to death in the ICU, Hassan and Abdi found a phone line that reached all the way into that room in St. Johnsbury Vermont from Nairobi. In my fog of grace and darkness a nurse said "Abdi called and his mother is praying for you". I was felled. This mother of mothers living in a Somali refugee camp, whose boys are not safe with her, who has no certainty of food still stops and offers me her prayers and stands by me. This song is for her too.
I met Abdi and then Hassan through his stories on the radio. Listen as Abdi tells of life in Somalia as more and more people move to the restless rhythm of drought and lack of food, again.
Be reminded, he is a good storyteller and we can stand it. The Story: Abdi talks of Somalia now
If we are lucky these young men will soon get to open a course catalog and begin to choose -- feeding their hearts and their brains. Medicine for the murders they witnessed, the sister they lost to starvation, the threats, and the nightmares born in hiding caves, hopes lost in refugee life. Its not perfect medicine but it is strong and it will help,
To pull this off we may have to ask for help but today there is real hope. Wahooo!
Sharon y familia
