Kenyan man uses music to aid slum kids
Written by Writer on Wednesday, November 12th, 2008
Kenyan man uses music to aid slum kids
Mikio Kondo / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer
YOKOHAMA–A Kenyan man living in Yokohama is using reggae music to help alleviate poverty in his home country, with the support of his Japanese wife and fellow musicians.
During a recent concert at the Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse, Hudson Were, 35, declared, “We want no more war!” in the middle of a song featuring his lyrics.
“There’s too much gunfire in Africa,” the dreadlocked vocalist said to the audience in a mixture of Japanese and English. “We’d be happy to see an end to it.”
Life is tough in Gitarimarigu, a slum district located 20 minutes by car from the Kenyan capital of Nairobi. Huge piles of garbage emanate a rank odor, and residents use water drawn from a brook, into which human waste is discharged, for cooking and washing.
Gun killings are frequent in the slum and death from diarrhea-related diseases is not uncommon.
About seven years ago, Were felt he had to do something to help children living in slum environments, as he himself had done as a child.
Were was born in a small town about 500 kilometers west of Nairobi. His parents died of disease while he was still a child, and shortly after, relatives came to his house with donkey-pulled carts and toted off the family’s belongings.
Were and his brothers managed to eke out an existence by hunting rabbits and working on farms.
When he turned 18, Were moved to Nairobi, where he learned to play the guitar and started singing in nightclubs.
He joined a humanitarian group with the aim of helping local children facing the same difficulties he had encountered as a youngster, and would look after slum orphans during the day.
During his activities with the group, he learned there was one area that even the humanitarian activists avoided–the Gitarimarigu slum.
As nobody else would take up the challenge, Were decided to start his own activities and started buying food to cook meals for children in Gitarimarigu.
After eating, Were would play guitar, and everyone would have fun. Adults would establish a rhythm by scratching an empty tin can with a coin as the children laughed, sang and danced.
Yuko Tsushima, 31, a former kindergarten teacher, went to Kenya to study Swahili five years ago.
Keen to learn how to play local musical instruments she went to a spot where musicians gathered and met Were.
The guitar player showed Tsushima around various areas, including a bar rarely visited by foreigners, and even Gitarimarigu, where she began helping Were with his aid work.
After the pair were married two years later, Tsushima expressed a wish to return to Japan. While still hoping to help the children, she also wanted to experience a stable married life free of an environment that echoed to the sound of gunfire daily.
However, she was well aware that Were had his own life and activities and was deeply involved in his home country.
However, one day Were said to Tsushima, “I’ll try to make a new life in your hometown.”
Three years ago, the couple moved to Japan, where they currently support themselves by exporting secondhand cars to African countries.
On weekends, Were often plays guitar at a Yokohama park in their neighborhood.
His performances started to attract the attention of other musicians, and before long, Were was making music with many of them.
When he told his fellow musicians about Gitarimarigu, they agreed to support his aid work for the slum.
This led to concerts and the release of a CD. Although the profits from these efforts are not large, Were occasionally returns to Kenya and uses the funds to help care for the children in Gitarimarigu.
The couple plans to return to Kenya someday. “I want to give hope to the children through my songs,” Were said.
“But I don’t want us to be too poor,” Tsushima said with a smile.
Were’s band’s name is Mviringo, which means “ring” in Swahili. One member said, “The children would be surprised if many Japanese were to visit them at once.”
The five members of the band are looking forward to the day when they can play in Kenya.
(Nov. 12, 2008)
