hava nagila

No, you're not at a Jewish wedding or even a Bar or Bat Mitzvah! You're at St. Mary Kevin Orphanage.

Here are Oscar and Tony, along with Change the Truth team member Monique, belting out the traditional Hebrew folk song "Hava Nagila" ("Let's Rejoice") at the music performance held at the end of our visit in December.

Oscar and Tony both used to play the trumpet in the SMK marching band. They had never even held a saxophone in their hands until Monique arrived last summer for her first stint as music teacher at the orphanage. Not only have the boys learned to play a new instrument, they are now also reading music!

Monique taught them this song, in part, because of Mama Gloria's ethnic heritage. It was a real treat for me to hear "Hava Nagila" floating in the breeze on the days they were practicing. On the day of the performance, I literally had chills running up and down my spine.

Thank you, Tony and Oscar, for your dedication to learning. Thank you, donors, for providing the saxophones. Thank you, Monique, for the gift of teaching. And thank you, Avis, for catching the performance on video.

Stay tuned until the end. The three really get going, and it's a pretty smokin' rendition of the song, especially when you consider that the boys are new to the instrument, they'd never heard the song before and this all takes place at an orphanage in the middle of east Africa!