If you have visited the Ikeja General Hospital lately, you would have noticed a blocked drainage that could only have been  a breeding place for mosquitoes. This is besides  some discarded items at the back of Ayinke ward that left the hospital looking unkempt.

Thankfully this unhealthy eyesore has disappeared since a three-hour sanitation exercise was recently carried out there with the result that the hospital now wears a new look. And it was courtesy of the corporate effort of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints which recently mobilised its  teeming members for a state-wide environmental sanitation exercise. …

See http://www.vanguardngr.com/2009/08/27/when-mormon-hands-helped-to-keep-lagos-clean/

Please see www.StanfordThompson.com to follow the career of a wonderful LDS Trumpeter. Stanford Thompson is an Eagle Scout from Decatur, Georgia who comes from a talented and faithful musical family. He was the featured soloist with the Atlanta Symphony at Ebenezer Baptist Church for the Black Arts Festival on July 24, 2005 (coincidentally on Mormon Pioneer Day). He continues to be a musical pioneer and a fine example of the gospel with his work at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia to his performance and service around the country and the world.

Here is his recent report from Kenya:

Jambo Friends!

The past two months have been very exciting as I finished my final requirements and earned my Bachelor of Music from The Curtis Institute of Music, organized and ran the Philadelphia All-City Brass Symposium and returned as the artistic director for the 2009 Reading Summer Music Institute. I was sad to say goodbye to so many great friends at Curtis, however I made so many more in Philadelphia and Reading.

The Philadelphia All-City Brass Symposium was a project inspired by an all-day All-City Orchestra retreat at Curtis. I collaborated with the School District of Philadelphia to put on a two week Brass program at Curtis. My aim was to expose music students in the Philadelphia School District to professional musicians and diverse musical experiences through interactive master classes and engaging rehearsals. Four members of the Curtis faculty (and the Philadelphia Orchestra) presented master classes and my fellow colleagues helped coach rehearsals throughout the weeks. The students also heard a performance of the Philadelphia Orchestra and the performed a final concert in the Field Concert Hall at Curtis.

The Reading Summer Music Institutecompleted its second program at the GoggleWorks Center for the Arts in downtown Reading, PA. This year, we worked with eighty-five students from Berks and Montgomery counties. The camp was divided into two concert bands and the students had the opportunity to participate in smaller ensembles including a jazz band, jazz combo, woodwind ensemble, a brass ensemble, and a percussion ensemble.  At the close of the camp last Friday evening, a two hour concert featuring the bands and the ensembles was presented and the kids performed in a way that showed they had learned a lot during the week. The feedback from students and parents was excellent. I am very proud of the clinicians who worked with me to put together this program. They worked hard and effectively with the young folks with a wide diversity of musical talents and brought them together musically and socially.

I am currently in Meru, Kenya working on the Meru, Kenya Instrumental Music Project. This program is the first instrumental music program in the country and I will work with 257 students at the Bishop Lawi Imathiu Secondary School (BLISS), hundreds more at the three local primary schools and the community cultural center for the next 9 weeks designing music programs for the community.  

Instrumental music is alive and thriving at BLISS in Meru, Kenya and lives are being transformed through music education. BLISS is the least expensive and one of the newest secondary schools in Kenya. The first graduating class in 2007 sent every student forward with a diploma and two-thirds who qualified for higher education. These students represent the poorest students in Meru and the first in their families to attend secondary school. Currently 257 students attend BLISS and very soon, each student will have to opportunity to participate in music courses as part of their curriculum.

Two years ago, retired Ann Arbor, MI music teacher Larry Dittmar, began an instrumental music program with dozens of recorders and 194 students. While the students learned how to read music, Larry gathered more than 80 donated instruments to deliver to Meru last February and a helping hand to implement the first instrumental music program this summer. More help is needed and if you are interested in helping this effort, please be in contact with me.

I will spend nine weeks working closely with the BLISS principal, Moses Marete, and the three neighborhood primary schools to add music classes to the school curriculum. I will also direct and expand the local community music program available for Meru adults and create a summer music program for the students to sharpen their musical skills.

Stay in tune with my weekly blog: http://kenyainstrumentalproject.blogspot.com – Become a “follower” of the blog to receive an e-mail update whenever I update the blog.

Interested in making a donation? This project is made possible by the Kenya Urithi Education Fund. Donations are tax deductible and may be sent to 3456 Gettysburg Rd, Ann Arbor, MI 48105.

Please wish me well and keep in touch. I’d love to hear from you!

Warmly,Stanford Thompson
www.StanfordThompson.com

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO 1 May 2009 A new partnership between The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation promises an additional water source for the Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital and Research Center, which is located in the capital city of Kinshasa

http://www.newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/news-releases-stories/church-teams-with-biamba-marie-mutombo-hospital

LUPUTA, Democratic Republic of the Congo — 17 April 2009 — Residents of the town of Luputa in Africa’s Democratic Republic of the Congo are celebrating the arrival of clean, fresh water to a region which has known only scarce water from shallow wells since the 1950′s. 

See http://www.ldsmag.com/churchupdate/090421water.html

“It was really great to see so many people in the community showing up,” said Kristin Scott, 27, of University City. “Everyone is so willing to help each other.”

She and Karen Meyer, 31, were among nearly 20 people with Mormon Helping Hands who decided to spend the day cleaning the street bearing the name of the civil rights leader.

“The leader of a nation asking people to go out and do it makes a big difference in inspiring people,” said Meyer, of St. Louis.

Via: St. Louis area heeds Obama’s call for service (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

A startup humanitarian company develops and installs playground equipment in rural Ghanaian schools so the schools and villages can have some light.  BYU media just did a press release, here is the link:

http://byunews.byu.edu/archive08-Jun-Ghana.aspx

See also this June 2010 article

http://www.mormontimes.com/article/15350/Mormon-teacher-provides-playgrounds-for-underprivileged

Bridging Generations
Area youth link with successful elders

EAST ST. LOUIS….For East St. Louis high school youth, a bright future lies ahead, thanks to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, The Donald Peterson Foundation and other area faith based and civic organizations.  The all-day Black History Remembered 2008 event will begin at 9am on Saturday, April 12th at the Ainad Shriners’ Auditorium, located at 609 St. Louis Avenue in East St. Louis.    Over 400 area youth and parents from East St. Louis and Madison High Schools have registered to attend.

According to Event Sponsorship Director, Reginald Petty, Black History Remembered 2008 is designed to inspire and encourage our youth to envision possibilities of things that could be and help them gain a desire to achieve their dreams.

“We believe that the youth of East St. Louis have great potential to be successful in their personal lives, education, careers, and families,” commented Petty.  “We’d like to inspire them toward success by presenting stories of individuals, both living and , who grew up in East St. Louis and whose lives are rich with success and achievement, as well as goodness and service to others.  We want them to learn from the past that their dreams, their hopes, their desires can be realized.”

The event will bring together many successful individuals who were raised in East St. Louis.  They will share their stories, including their early years in East St. Louis, their dreams and hopes as young people, and their road through education and career to today’s success.

Those invited to come and share their stories are:   Edna Paterson-Petty, Jimmy Williams,  Eugene Redmond, Ambassador Donald McHenry, Reginald Hudlin, Maurice Hurst, Dr. William Mason, Dr. Ted Savage, Dr. Karla Scott, Barbara Ann Teer, Reginald Thomas, James Overton, Phineas Overton, Dr. Gordon Bush, Dr. E Mosley and the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Foundation.

More than twenty organizations will be on hand to provide on-going mentoring, guidance, scholarship and other post-secondary education funding information, career counseling, and leads on employment opportunities.  Lunch and dinner will be served.  All Black History Remembered 2008 events are free to pre-registered area youth and their guests.

Participants will also enjoy an evening of entertainment, featuring The Hallelujah Singers.  The choir will perform A History of Gullah, “Legacy” a celebration of song, dance, and story telling native to the people of West Africa.  A choir comprised of youth from area churches will perform two musical numbers both nights with The Hallelujah Singers.

A public benefit performance featuring The Hallelujah Singers will also be held April 11th at 7pm at the Ainad Shriners’ Auditorium. All proceeds will go to support this day-long event.  For ticket information, visit the Black History Remembered 2008 website www.bhr08.org and tickets may be purchased through Ticketmasters.  Tickets will be available at the door each night.

You can help!  Give a young person a vision of what can be…As an individual or business sponsor; you have the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of our youth and their families for generations to come.  Open your heart and your purse strings and contribute generously.  All donations and disbursement of funds shall be handled through a BHR08 checking account established through The Donald Peterson Foundation, a 501(c) (3), non-profit organization.   Your kind donation will enable us to provide this event to area high school youth, with hopes that they will be inspired to dream, and to work toward making those dreams become a reality.  At the conclusion of the event, all remaining funds will be given to area organizations which offer scholarships and mentoring to area youth.  Donations should be made payable to Donald Peterson Foundation, BHR08 Event and should be mailed to BHR08, PO Box 818, O’Fallon, IL 62269.  Donations are also accepted online at www.bhr08.org.

As a volunteer, you can also provide much needed help before and during the event.  Please sign up online at www.bhr08.org.
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Contact Information:
Reginald Petty
274-1878