Post by Village Idiot on Jan 11, 2007 22:57:44 GMT -5
It's time to send guitar strings to Africa. Many of you know of which I speak, which is great, but what is better is that we've added several people to our fold of guitars and gaeity recently enough that they are not aware of what I'm talking about. For those of you who don't know, allow me to explain:
The Soundhole is the third forum to be frequented by a group of people who can be defined, in part, by compassion and willingness to reach out to musicians who can't afford what we take for granted. Several years ago a forumite owned a Yamaha that, via another forumite, was sent to a guitarless guitarist in Croatia, I believe. Since then other, independent but similar occurences transpired, and it was decided that it might be good to organize the giving into an event, and give it a name.
Africa is a continent full of guitar players, and a place where, in many places, the average income is around ten American dollars a month. With that amount of money, guitar strings are a huge luxury, so we decided to launch a Strings to Africa campaign.
We didn't want to send money, which might not be used for strings, we wanted to send the real thing. At first it was hard to find someone to brings Strings to Africa and distribute them there. We've had a couple non-forumites do us the favor, in the past few years, we have been fortunate enough to have on of our own, who makes at least an annual trip to Africa, act as our courrier.
Here's what happens: Forum members send guitar strings or other inexpensive accessories to the Strings to Africa PO box. They are either purchased on-line or at a local guitar store. Those are then sent to Evan Pyle, who takes them to Africa with him, and passes them off to reputable people who make sure they are recieved by musicians in need. As a result, hundreds of Africans have been touched, hundreds of strings and other accessories have been distributed.
Africa is wrought with problems. Darfur is tragic. So is the AIDS epidemic, and the horn of Africa is showing up on the news more often than we care to know these days. Strings to Africa doesn't exist to fix those things. Strings to Africa, instead, is a statement that music is universal, that musicians support each other, and that we as musicians enjoy saying hello to people we will never meet in the most direct way possible.
That's it. For five bucks, Strings to Africa gives you the chance to say "hello". For the price of a McDonald's value meal, you can put a smile on the face of a fellow musician in need.
Evan is going to Africa on February 19th. I'm thinking that strings and other sundries can be mailed in until February 10, which gives us a month. That's enough time, if we act quickly.
There is an American and a Canadian address to send strings to. The Canadian address I can't remember off the top of my head, Sekhmet will provide that. The American address is
Strings to Africa
PO Box 267
Vinton, IA, 52349
We have a new forum, and a new year. Let's make this great.
The Soundhole is the third forum to be frequented by a group of people who can be defined, in part, by compassion and willingness to reach out to musicians who can't afford what we take for granted. Several years ago a forumite owned a Yamaha that, via another forumite, was sent to a guitarless guitarist in Croatia, I believe. Since then other, independent but similar occurences transpired, and it was decided that it might be good to organize the giving into an event, and give it a name.
Africa is a continent full of guitar players, and a place where, in many places, the average income is around ten American dollars a month. With that amount of money, guitar strings are a huge luxury, so we decided to launch a Strings to Africa campaign.
We didn't want to send money, which might not be used for strings, we wanted to send the real thing. At first it was hard to find someone to brings Strings to Africa and distribute them there. We've had a couple non-forumites do us the favor, in the past few years, we have been fortunate enough to have on of our own, who makes at least an annual trip to Africa, act as our courrier.
Here's what happens: Forum members send guitar strings or other inexpensive accessories to the Strings to Africa PO box. They are either purchased on-line or at a local guitar store. Those are then sent to Evan Pyle, who takes them to Africa with him, and passes them off to reputable people who make sure they are recieved by musicians in need. As a result, hundreds of Africans have been touched, hundreds of strings and other accessories have been distributed.
Africa is wrought with problems. Darfur is tragic. So is the AIDS epidemic, and the horn of Africa is showing up on the news more often than we care to know these days. Strings to Africa doesn't exist to fix those things. Strings to Africa, instead, is a statement that music is universal, that musicians support each other, and that we as musicians enjoy saying hello to people we will never meet in the most direct way possible.
That's it. For five bucks, Strings to Africa gives you the chance to say "hello". For the price of a McDonald's value meal, you can put a smile on the face of a fellow musician in need.
Evan is going to Africa on February 19th. I'm thinking that strings and other sundries can be mailed in until February 10, which gives us a month. That's enough time, if we act quickly.
There is an American and a Canadian address to send strings to. The Canadian address I can't remember off the top of my head, Sekhmet will provide that. The American address is
Strings to Africa
PO Box 267
Vinton, IA, 52349
We have a new forum, and a new year. Let's make this great.
