Flutes Across The World Mission - May 2010

Ojai to Brazil

John Zeretzke, associate Maggie Cermenaro and humanitarian advocate Dick Arlet are currently planning a week long mission to the poverty torn areas of inter-city Rio de Janerio. Over two hundred flutes made in Ojai, California by school children will be taken to Brazil by John Zeretzke of Flutes Across The World.  This mission will also include a trip to the jungles of the region to seek out ancient flutes played and still made by elder musicians and those who still know the art and magic of flutes. We are also hoping to have Sir Edward Artis of Knightsbridge join us and accompany members of the team and as part of this adventurous music mission to Brazil!

 

My Last Days in the Philippines

 

We arrived back in Manila on the 25^th and everyone was tired.  The doctors flew back, but I had a few more days here meeting some VIP’s, visiting a orphanage, seeing a few sites with Ramon and Donna, including a trip to visit the local volcano and lake and the old city of Taal.  I was especially drawn to the church in Taal that was built in 1575 by the Spanish.  It seemed to have a very magical and peaceful feeling within it’s stone and mortar and I was very much captivated by the building and spirit of the place.

 

Old City of Taal 

 

My last night in the Philippines included a guest spot playing electric violin with a top band here in Manila at the Hard Rock Café.  The band was by far was one of the best cover bands I have heard playing the Beatles.  They seemed to make every song they played their own and were the nicest musicians to let me sit in with them.  We rocked the house right off the bat with a little ‘Night Train’ duet with band leader John Lesaca and myself both on electric violins.  John is a well-known musician and celebrity in Manila.  He wants me to record with the band next time I am in the Philippines.

   

With John Lesaca - dueling electric violins, Live at the Hard Rock, Makati! 

 The next day, Ramon gathered our team back together, including Wayne who came down from Angeles to visit His Eminence Gaudencio B. Cardinal Rosales, Cardinal of Manila.  I was asked to play for the Cardinal, so I played Amazing Grace in Appalachian modal style along with my song 'Salaam Alaykum', which the Bishop enjoyed very much.  He was a very gentle and kind man and it was a honor to be able to share my music with him.

 

Commander Ramon Moreno, John Zeretzke, Cardinal Rosales, Wayne Johnson and Sir Edward Artis.

Two days prior, at a ceremonial dinner engagement, I was awarded the highest medal of honor by the White Helmets of the United Nations by Commander and now friend Ramon Moreno.  Sir Ed Artis and Ambassador Fredrick Tanner of Geneva also received awards at the honorary dinner.  It was a great honor to be bestowed with such an award at this time in my life. 

 

This mission to southern Mindanao was a success and I have made many new friends along the way.  The Filipino people are gracious, kind, loving, strong, compassionate and industrious.   It has been a wonderful gift to be able to be part of this experience.

I am tired and I am ready to go home...to be with my loved ones and family.  I will sleep well and soundly on the flight home, thankful for all that I have in my life and the opportunity to do this work.  We share what we have to offer to those in need in the world today.

 

I  am sure I will have more opportunities to come back to this wonderful country again. 

 

 

Day Six

Flutes to Basilan

Ed’s quick idea to get military protection so we can go to Basilan, Isabela City, present the flutes program there at a public school and also check out the local community hospital became a reality when we got the thumbs up the night before with the General and his troop support.  Our peaceful mission of flutes and cultural exchange can only occur if our team is able to be protected coming and going.  Now our security was set with a handshake and going fast and light was the way to go.

 The ferryboat to Basilan left at 7:00 am.  It could hold about 200 or more passengers, no cars.  The morning was warm, very humid and stifling at times.  Even though the waters at the docks are an amazingly azure blue and crystal, everyone tosses their food wrappers, trash and garbage overboard.  In so many countries people do this.  In older times, most of what a village created as waste was biodegradable.  Now it’s Styrofoam and plastic.  Doctor Joe and I comment on this, but we both know this kind of an internal change in a society comes slowly and has to be taught.  It’s a lesson coming, in time, to such a beautiful place and wonderful people. 

 

Wayne, Ramon, the Major, Doc, John and Ed.

 

 

The Ferry over. 

Basilan or ‘Iron Trail’ is home to the Yakans, the ancient tribe that inhabited the island.  The Yakan people are also known for their colorful and skilled weavings, but its jungles and forests has been home to the Abu Sayyaf since the 1970’s. 

Upon on arrival at the docks on Basilan, Isabella City, we were all on alert.  About 60 troops were there for our arrival and quickly we were driven, quite fast, to the Philippine Marine base some kilometers through town and down the road in convoy formation.

 

 

Coming into docks at Isabela City, Basilan. 

 

Convoy Philippine-style with the 1st Division through Isabel City, Basilan. 

Meeting the General ‘Rusty’ Guerrero at the base was a delight and since Sir Ed had never met this General before, they went through the normal exchanges and greetings.  They both seemed to click right off the bat.  Rusty was a quiet man - steady, kind and easy, yet had a sharp eye and careful manner about him.  After a short visit about our intentions of being on Basilan, we convoyed to the governors mansion to meet the Vice Governor of the Province, all under the eye of many, many military personnel, staff and pomp and circumstance that goes with such a meeting.

After a quick speech by Ed at the Peace and Reconciliation Conference we happened to stumble in on, we were soon off again, Knightbridge-style to the school where we were going to present the flutes to students in a selected class.  The feeling in contrast to the city, the ferry dock, the community was such a welcomed relief.  As I stepped out of our van to meet the Principal and view the school, the tropical air was electric with anticipation of our arrival.  Children’s voices laughed and broke the oppressive feeling of guns and security that seemed to seep into most of our discussions around me.  They were simply put, just children.  I was a teacher of music from halfway around the world to visit them.  This was a moment that my students in Ojai, California spent months preparing for and myself, personally, thousands of miles of travel to achieve.  Schools, children and arts education is what I know.  This was my turf now.  My feeling of confidence took hold as I greeted the Principal and we started to walk towards the classroom and talk.  Our ‘protection’ was setting up around the school and behind me, but I was more focused on a wonderful two hour exchange with these great kids.   

 

Child and Soldier at school. 

Just like 'cool kids' anywhere in the world! 

 They were all beaming at me as I was setting up.  I have rarely met such a polite group as the children in Jolo, Zamboanga and here on Basilin.  They usually addressed me as “John Sir” or “Sir John” and always with a sweet tone of respect and brightness.  Smiles were everywhere, especially when I explained how the flutes were made and told them about their ‘flute buddies’ in the United States.  As we were having the kids pick out the flute they wanted and then get their picture taken with the principal and myself, I asked her what she thought of the program and the exchange taking place.  She tried to speak, but kept choking up with tears.  She said she could hardly put into words what this meant to all of them – students, teachers and herself, personally.   These people have not prospered under the oppression that surrounds them.  Fear creates it’s own weather like a firestorm burning hot in a canyon.  When a breath of fresh air of hope arrives, people feel and remember what freedom is all about.  In reality, I know very little of what has taken place for these people, but I do know what has taken place right here, right now.  We were all feeling it, from marine and bodyguards to children and teachers.  It was a rare moment that brought hope into the hearts of everyone present.

We were whisked away in our convoy after a short time with the staff and Rotary International members to have lunch with the General back on the Marine base.

It was pleasant in the Filipino style dining area in the jungle compound and the base was very clean, orderly and quite beautiful in the forest surroundings.  After lunch, we all walked down to the Marine’s boat dock at the water’s edge.  The General made arrangements to take us back to Zamboanga with some of this men instead of going back to the ferry landing, a wise and safe decision for us all.

 

 The General’s fast boat to Zamboanga skipped over the waves and in no time we were sitting having a few beers at the palapa style huts on the beach at the Naval Base just north of Zamboanga.  The sun was lower in the bright sky and the palms swayed in the humid breeze.   Later that evening, we had a nice dinner in the warm night air by the sea in Zambo.  The Doctor and I spoke of philosophy, others discussed new projects, we laughed, smiled, I played the fiddle and we all were thankful for our opportunity to be there together at this time in this small part of the world.  Kind acts of humanity, one step at a time.  It’s the kind of happiness that we were all seeking, traveling down our own individual paths and coming all together upon this occasion.

 

Wayne and Sir Edward - on our way back to Zamboanga.  Flute and hospital mission accomplished! 

 

Day Five

From Jolo to Zamboanga

Now that the Doctors from Operation Smile and our mission were in full swing and really in rhythm, knocking out 6-7 operations for cleft palette a day, Ed, Ramon, Wayne and myself found ourselves hanging out in the two damp jungle cafes on the base run by local Jolo merchants.  We could not go outside the wire.   I was amazed at the work that these doctors performed.   It was hard to imagine they could perform such miracles on children with such severe problems.  The transformations were beautiful…and to be able to give back these children a wonderful smile, with dignity.   Many of these kids were branded with a deformity that hid them from their own people, that hid their own smile under a continual and shameful awareness of their appearance to others, knowing they might never be accepted.  When I made some of the girls giggle and laugh in the children’s ward / post-op, they would always hid there mouths from view.

Our military escort to the airport was provided by the Armed Forces of the Philippines and our flight left in the morning, flying back to Zamboanga.

Edwin, a tall, energetic representitive and head of the Zamboanga International Rotary, welcomed us to Zamboanga.  We convoved to a elementary school not far from the hotel we were staying in.  The school sat in a very beautiful canyon, covered with palms, jungle trees of all varieties and thick folage.  The children at the school were joyful, full of innocent smiles and were very happy.  The classroom and teacher I visited were wonderful and loved the flutes I had brought them.  The students really got the idea of a gift that comes from the heart from American students.  They, in return, gave me flutes to take back to America. 

 We were off to the orphanage through the busy streets of Zamboanga after lunch.  Ed has personally helped to fund this facility with many children who were abandoned or abused here in Zamboanga.  Many will not visit here or more dangerous places like Jolo, Sulu Province.

Ed and Ramon made a phone call and by 7:00 pm we were having dinner with the General Ben Dolorfino of the Philippine Army province.  Things were being put in motion for the next day.  Ed was trying to get us security to do a quick trip to the highly sensitive area of Basilan, Isabella City.  The  General was just the ticket and help we need to get Flutes Across The World to a very difficult area of the world, to have a ‘high impact’ in a community that has been deprived for years due to conflict, but we are not going without full protection from all the support we could get.

   

Wayne with our military escort only 1 kilometers to the commercial airport terminal.

 

  

Making friends everywhere we go...

 

 

A view of Jolo from air.

 

 

Bangka powering over the blue seas off the coast of Jolo. 

 

 

New gifts from Ojai, California...to Zamboanga.

 

 

 Public school in Zamboanga we visited with Flutes Across The World.

 

 

 Special kids at the orphanage in Zamboanga.

 

 

 Part of our Knightbridge team in Zamboanga with kids.

 

Day Four 

 Operations and Flutes 

 Too tired to say too much about today.  It was busy here.  The two operating teams, American and Filipino did over 14 operations, while Flutes Across The World had it's first workshop with school children from Jolo.  It was a great day here and everyone was feeling it.

 The pictures say so much....

 

 

 John with a new friend!

 

  

 Children were given some toys and Goin' South Band t-shirts!

 

 

Traditional 'boogle fight' meal after our ceremony for John Hopkins, Flutes and Knightbridge Mission.

 

 

 My new flutes students form Jolo, Philippines playing flutes made by kids in Ojai, CA.

 

 

 Mulsim school children from Jolo listening to Appalachian fiddle music.

Day Three

 

From Zamboanga to Jolo

There was a surreal feeling as we gently lifted off the wet cement pad and easily found ourselves ten feet off the ground.  The prop speed of the helicopter idling for 10 minutes or so as the co-pilot ran down his check list fooled my senses into thinking we could not possibly have enough thrust to lift off the ground.  I was wrong.  We were soon gliding over the southern archipelago of islands off the coast of Mindanao.  The cool blue water was smooth and haunting as we again moved farther south over some of the most remote jungles, mountains and islands found anywhere in the world.  The Philippines has over 1,700 islands.  Hard to reach and for centuries isolated by geography, history, politics, economics and conflicts, the Sulu Province is home to a percentage of the Filipino population that was converted to Islam in the __________ century.  Our mission is to go to the heart of that minority population, in need of medical care (Operation Smile and Knightsbridge) and to introduce my new program, Flutes Across the World to the some Muslim school children of Jolo.

 I could not help wonder about the thousands of roads I have been down over my fifty years on this planet, that somehow all have been leading to this moment in time, in my life. I do not know why I was so overcome with this sensation as we floated in the misty skies above the glittering seas, the untouched beaches and islands that dot this South China Sea.  I it seems less than 72 hours I have made new friends that seem to have been destined to also have taken their own path in meeting me and for doing this work in common for others in need.  We are human beings just trying to help out a little in this world of ours.

I am covered in sweat after our last downpour when we made touchdown here at Camp Batista.  Just sitting, your T-shirt is soaked and drooping.  Our barracks were a sudden inprov due to is missive order, even though our SF mission liaison, Peter, has been throughout and complete in all his planning.  Each room comes with termites, a few spiders, leaky faucets, pail flush toilet, no running water and a paint job that might have been here when first constructed.  Ramon and I are sharing a room, while Ed is with Walt and the other Doctors and personal sharing also in the building.

 The base here sits at the edge of the Jolo airport.  The base is run by the Filipino Army, yet shared with American Marines and Special Forces. 

 Everyone here is so supportive of our work here with the children.  Right down to the hardcore Marine and solider. I have the odd feeling that a shift is taking place.  Call me hopeful, delusional or a bit off, but I could swear we are starting to learn a valuable lesson about when to use force and when to use hearts to create a peaceful existence on this planet of ours.  It feels like a wonderful shift.  Or maybe we are here to just help create another moment that I am feeling

 

 

 Flying to Jolo, Philippines:  Ed, Ramon, Johnathan, Peter, John and Richard - pilot on Rt.

 

 

 A view from the chopper.

 

Central Jolo from the helicopter.

 

 

 

Landing on the pad in the jungle at Camp Batista - Armed Forces Philippines, American Armed Forces and Special Forces.  

 

 

Sir Edward Artis, John Z, Bishop Leto Lampon of Sulu Province and Doctor Joeseph Llenado from Tawi Tawi 

 

 

 Johnathan Cohen of John Hopkins with head nurse of the ward preparing family members for Operation Smile and 40 operations about to take place.  

 

 

 John with Muslim mother and child before operation.

 

 

 Before the first day was over, I played Hawaiian nose flute in the ward for all the children and for the nurses outside as the kids were falling off to sleep. 

 

Over and out, until next time...

 JZ 

Today was busy regardless of the 3 days of heavy rain and flooding.  Commissioner Moreno, who will be with us on 'Team Hot' as Ed has nicknamed us, was up most the night helping poor flood victims here in Manila.  Most everywhere we go, there is a small entourage.  Driving around Manila is like driving blind in Boston x 100.  

 

 

 

Sir Edward Artis at the wheel...

  

 

It's official - Flutes Across The World is on Ed's mission vest....

 

With local musicians at lunchtime - the Filipino version of Mariachi...

 

 

Commissioner R. Moreno and wife Donna...

 

 

Fred, our trusted driver...

 

 

VIP reception tonight for the Doctors coming in from John Hopkins.

This is John from Manila, and till next time, over and out! 

Friday, July 17th.

 After an 16 hour flight from LAX to Manila via a short stop in Guam, I landed in the Philippines. The darkness of night seemed like it would never end, chasing the moon and stars with the sun on the other side of the earth.  My knees ached. The price of being tall in a modern era of downsizing, sitting with mostly Filipinos, who generally do not have that problem.

 Staff Sargent Bling met me on behalf of Knightsbridge since Ed Artis, Ramone Moreno (who has more titles than most military and humanitarian people on earth) and driver were stuck in traffic at 5:00 am.   Bling was a handsome, friendly and warm personality who seemed to make a point a few jet friends I made along the way that I was VIP.  He praised the work of Ed and Ramone and since I was now along with such good company, he was all smiles.  Customs gave us no problems.  All smiles there, too.

 After checking-in in a nice hotel in downtown Manila, Ed and Ramone picked me up to take me to the Change Of Command Ceremony for the incoming CPMC J. Sabban, who I was reading about on the front page on the Philippines Times in the plane earlier.  It was like having a crash course on Marine and military personal of a whole country in, inside politics and the state of affairs in less than 4 hours from touch-down.  My preparation and understanding more of where I am about to go in the south to Jolo was becoming more clear, or muddy, depending on your observations.  One thing became very clear...I am working with one of the legends of humanitarian aid in the Philippines and in the world today.  Ed Artis is one of a kind, unstoppable and has a heart the size of all these islands put together.  No wonder I like him.  It's all about the children, the people.  Ed never lets anything else get in his way to help others in need.  He and many others here are very excited about having me here with the flutes to give out to children.  

Tomorrow, we'll prep for the trip and pick up the Doctors flying in from John Hopkins.  I will post a few picks tomorrow here for you to see.

Over and out!  

JZ 

 

 

Flutes Across the World was first conceived over Christmastime of 2008.  Sir Ed Artis was interested in having the program come to the Philippines where we could align it with a Operation Smile Mission that he was helping to set up.  Maggie Cermenaro of Ojai became my right-hand person in helping me to secure funding and create the first program design.  A thought started to become a reality.