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<\/a><\/div>\nThe strings begin. The trumpets, clarinets and French horn\u00a0chime in. One by one various instruments join in the orchestra. From the\u00a0smallest piccolo in the front.To the drums and the tuba in the back. Sounds fit\u00a0for a concert hall rise to the tin roof and cobalt blue rafters.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
As music floats out the windows, people young and old, moms\u00a0and dads, children of all ages, begin to crowd the doorway of the open air\u00a0classroom. The youngest get on hands and knees to peek behind the legs of those\u00a0taller, trying to get a glimpse of the makers of this music.<\/p>\n
These are the members of World Vision\u2019s music program in Tinamit Junam.\u00a0They come every Saturday for music classes and rehearsals. Mothers bring toddlers for the early education class, Mommy & Me style, where they sing\u00a0and dance to music. The oldest musicians are no longer students, but now young\u00a0adults they continue to gather in this place every Saturday to play and to\u00a0teach others.<\/p>\n
Standing in the courtyard on Saturday afternoon, one is\u00a0surrounded by a cacophony of noise that at first sounds like unorganized\u00a0clanging. But if given a minute, the melody of each part begins to come out.<\/strong><\/p>\n Three sides of the courtyard are bordered by open air\u00a0classrooms. A group of young men with clarinets set up chairs and music stands under the eaves of one building. A French horn duo takes up residence under \u00a0a tree. Their instructor stands nearby giving guidance. A group of\u00a0trumpet players sit and stand twenty feet away. In one room, Natalie, 5, plays\u00a0\u201cTwinkle, Twinkle Little Star\u201d on a piano. In another, children as young as 5, including Abner,\u00a0stand in rows practicing song after song. Angel, with his cello<\/a>, isstationed in front near the instructor. Chairs boarding the room are occupied by mothers and fathers who bring their children here, fulfilling their own commitment to the Suzuki method\u2019s three part process. Outside the door, Moshe 14, plays Metallica\u2019s \u201cNothing Else Matters\u201d on a cello while his friends\u00a0watch.<\/p>\n Around the corner, near the early education class, the\u00a0concert band begins to play \u201cOde to Joy.\u201dRanging in ages from 11 to 25,\u00a0teachers sit next to students, playing side by side. Many of the teachers at\u00a0the music school are former students themselves who now come back as volunteer\u00a0instructors.<\/p>\n In the back, sit two tuba players, but there is only one\u00a0tuba. When one song finishes, the student removes his mouth piece and hands the large instrument over to his teacher, who then plays the next song in the set.\u00a0They practice as a group from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. each and\u00a0every Saturday, and anywhere from 30 minutes to 3 hours a day at home.<\/p>\n The orchestra is made up of the most advanced musicians. Hector,\u00a0age 19, is a cellist. He\u00a0is a former sponsor child<\/a>, who started playing the cello in World Vision\u2019s\u00a0music program at 11. Last year, Hector auditioned for a spot in Guatemala\u2019s\u00a0National Symphonic Orchestra.<\/p>\n Open positions in the orchestra are rare. About a dozen\u00a0musicians auditioned for the one cello spot, including Hector\u2019s own instructor. She had always told him her goal was that he would one day surpass her skills.\u00a0At the end of the audition, Hector was offered the spot in the most prestigious\u00a0orchestra in the country, a paid position that will be his for life as long as\u00a0he wants it. He has gone from being a sponsor child<\/a> to being able to help\u00a0support his own family.<\/p>\n Hector\u2019s story<\/a> is a story of how investing in a child\u2019s life<\/a>\u00a0can truly make a difference. Can bring them from a child in need, to where they are able to fill the need in their own communities.<\/p>\n An orchestra with many instruments and many musicians, works\u00a0together to create a sound that moves others to gather around.\u00a0 That brings smiles to faces and sometimes\u00a0tears to eyes. In a similar way, organizations like World Vision are made up of\u00a0many parts. Those parts attempt to work in concert with each other.<\/p>\n As a humanitarian organization, World Vision enters an\u00a0impoverished community with a goal and a plan to leave the community in 12 to\u00a015 years. No organization is perfect, but from what I have seen, World Vision is\u00a0doing a lot of things right. Every staff member I met while in country was a Guatemalan. The programs I saw are not run by North Americans or foreign\u00a0missionaries coming into the country to provide aid. They are the people of Guatemala working to better their own communities.<\/strong> World Vision appears to know\u00a0that building community and relationship is the answer to ending cycles of\u00a0poverty.<\/p>\n The\u00a0Guide Mother program<\/a>\u00a0is an example of that. Mothers teaching mothers how to\u00a0care for their children to prevent malnutrition. In Tinamit the 3% malnutrition rate is now nearly a nonexistent problem. World Vision is also\u00a0partnering with local governments and supervising community health centers as\u00a0it invests in local communities to further combat the problem of under nutrition in the country.<\/p>\n World Vision has been working in this community for 13 years and have clearly accomplished much in that time. There are other areas where malnutrition rates are still much higher. I have seen the end result of the work World Vision is\u00a0accomplishing, and it is a community of healthy children, where education is\u00a0valued and where children have opportunities to pursue their passions, like\u00a0music, and grow up to be the relationship builders and investors in their own\u00a0communities.<\/strong><\/p>\n Like an orchestra, like an organization, the body of Christ\u00a0is made up of many parts. We each have a job to do. A role to play.<\/strong> What would an orchestra be without the drummer keeping beat? Without the rich sounds of\u00a0the wind instruments? Without the lone tuba player in the back?<\/p>\n I once heard\u00a0Lynne Hybels<\/a>\u00a0speak. She said we must all ask God, \u201cWhat\u2019s mine to do?\u201d Have you asked that\u00a0question lately?<\/p>\n Will you consider joining the orchestra in sounds of worship\u00a0being raised to the blue rafters? Will you consider investing in the life of a child? Will you join me in sponsoring a child with World Vision<\/a>?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Miz Shelby<\/a> is guest blogging today about her trip to Guatemala with World Vision.\u00a0 The strings begin. The trumpets, clarinets and French horn\u00a0chime in. One by one various instruments join in the orchestra. From the\u00a0smallest piccolo in the front.To the drums and the tuba in the back. Sounds fit\u00a0for a concert hall rise to the tin roof and cobalt blue rafters. As music floats out the windows, people young […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1110],"tags":[4954,299,344,546,4952,766,5038,5052,2856,5083,1342,1898],"class_list":["post-6775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ministry","tag-child-sponsorship","tag-children","tag-community","tag-faith","tag-guatemala","tag-hope","tag-malnutrition","tag-missional-living","tag-music","tag-musicians","tag-poverty","tag-world-vision"],"yoast_head":"\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"