RINGING TO CONQUER RIVER BLINDNESS: HANDBELLS FOR HEALING ...

Patricia Hatton

Informations

• Publié par: yrokaleb
• Nombre de lectures: 78
• Langue: Français

Extrait

 RINGING TO CONQUER RIVER BLINDNESS: HANDBELLS FOR HEALING   PRINCETON, NJ:   black fly can make millions of CongoleseThough the bite of a small people go blind, the ringing of handbells can guard against this disease. Solo handbell artist Hyosang and pianist Akiko Hosaki will perform a benefit concert for thePark United Front Against Riverblindness  (UFAR) on Saturday, May 15, at 7 p.m., at the Princeton United Methodist Church (PUMC), on the corner of Nassau and Vandeventer in Princeton. An offering (suggested donation $10) for PUMCs mission trip to the Congo will be taken. 

Of the 60 million people in the Democratic Republic of Congo, 23 million are at risk of contracting onchocerciasis, known as riverblindness, says Daniel Shungu, founder of UFAR www.riverblindness.org. A socially disruptive disease, it starts with an excruciatingly itchy rash, and when it leads to blindness, children must leave school to be full-time caregivers for family members. There is a drug for riverblindness, provided free by Merck & Co., but it is a challenge to get the drug to remote villages and ensure that every person takes the drug once a year for at least 10 years.

The music of handbells can heal ones spirit, says Ms. Park, and Akiko and I hope our concert will bring physical healing to the people of Congo. Park and Hosaki have written their own arrangements of such beloved works as Jules Massenets Meditation from Thais and Saties Gymnopedie No. 1. The organist and handbell choir director at PUMC, Park has masters degrees in sacred music and piano performance from Westminster Choir College of Rider University, and teaches at St. Jerome Catholic School I West Long Branch.  A collaborative pianist and vocal coach, Dr. Hosaki frequently appears with singers, conductors, and instrumentalists throughout the United States. She is currently the pianist coordinator at the choir college and the organist/choir director at Hillsborough Reformed Church in Millstone, NJ.  UFAR is an African-inspired, US-based nonprofit charitable organization that aims, in partnership with other organizations, to eradicate onchocerciasis, a major public health problem in the Democratic Republic of Congo. PUMC is a diverse congregation whose members come from many surrounding communities, backgrounds, and faith histories. Call 609-924-2613 or visith:ptt//www.princetonucmo.gr/for further information.

-30-  Tom Lank 609-924-2613 [e-mail] 



