Dear Friends and Family,
Ida and Brenda are neither on this continent nor in this hemisphere. They are seeing other stars and breathing different air as they enter their 3rd day of traveling through time and space to Uganda. They flew to Paris and then Nairobi, stayed the night there, then flew to Kampala Uganda, and this morning presumably were taken by auto to Gulu, where they must be sleeping now. Tomorrow they will be driven down long bumpy dirt roads to the birthing center in the North central part of Uganda near Atiak.
Such a pack of good people you are, who have helped in so many ways over these last few weeks!
Knowing that it could be a while before Ida or Brenda has a chance to write you, I feel compelled to send out the results and gratitudes from that amazing week of fundraising in the end of November.
For our family, this all came up really quickly. Five weeks ago when Ida told us that she wanted to accompany Brenda on this journey, we lurched into some heavy exploring and learning – about Kenya and Uganda and the birth centers, yes—but even more, about ourselves, love, family, fear, service, and Spirit. My heart has been stretched and twisted more than ever before, and I am forever bound now to all mothers and fathers who have watched their beloved child step out into the world in such a dramatic way as this. I hope to find some wisdom to guide myself and others through some of the big questions that arise…but given that I still feel weak at the knees for most of the day, I’m far from ready to hang my shingle as counselor to parents of traveling offspring.
But once we decided that we wouldn’t stand in the way of this dream, it was clear that we could be of service by raising funds for the good people in East Africa who are serving and being served by the birthing centers. The people at Earth Birth in Uganda had specifically said that if we could gather any donations they would be gratefully used to install a solar hot water heater for the birthing center. Ida asked how much that would cost and was told $2,000. Could we raise that much in a week? We didn’t think so, and we didn’t even dare say out loud the real truth: we would want to divide any money we raised between the two clinics, so in order to give $2,000 to Earth Birth, we would need to raise $4,000.
Brenda was soliciting funds for the clinics through the Iowa and Minnesota Midwives’ Associations and also asking regional hospitals for donated supplies. Our family decided to offer two concerts: one the day after Thanksgiving at my folks’ house in Roseville, MN, and another at ArtHaus in Decorah. The Roseville concert, which was announced only 24 hours in advance, brought in 15 people and $700! We were utterly astounded and so happy!
The Nov. 29 Decorah concert was announced a whole 6 days in advance, and though it was to be held on a Tuesday night, we dared to dream that we could fill the 60 seats at ArtHaus. We didn’t want to set a goal for donations there, and secretly I thought we wouldn’t take in as much here in Decorah as we hadin Roseville. That’s embarrassing to admit now…
Friends brought food to share, Brenda made traditional Kenyan foods for people to sample, the room was set, and at 6:30 people started to fill the seats. They came, and came, and came. I don’t quite know how to describe to you the feelings it brought up in us, to see all those familiar faces coming in to listen to our songs and support this idea. Honored. Shocked. Heartened. Moved. Deeply connected. In walked all of our very first friends of Decorah from 32 years ago: the Adelmanns, Sliwas, Schefferts, Birgitta Meade and Bill Musser, the McCargar-Swets, of course Beth and John Rotto – and many more. People Daniel and I had served at the Café’ Deluxe in the ‘80s, people we’d worked with at this and that over the decades…and then, so many dear new friends from more recent years, and young adults, and a great group of children, and still a few other good people whom we recognized but didn’t know well…everyone who walked in the door was a friend.
By the time the concert began, there were way more than 100 people in there. All chairs filled, the space all around the stage was packed with people sitting on the floor, and the standing room in the back was truly sardine-like. Then I looked outside and saw people standing looking in the windows. I learned later that many people who couldn’t squeeze in nonetheless passed checks and cash in through the door…
The concert was well received! Sophie and Ida played the first set, with their rich harmonies and delightful instrumentation. They played feminist songs and playful songs from their childhood, mountain songs, traditional folk songs, and a few originals. Whenever invited to sing along, the audience rose up in glorious community voice. They invited Aidan and Anna Spencer-Berg and Lydia Hayes to join them for a few beautiful pieces, and after that Daniel and I sang with Sophie and Ida. Eventually we got Daniel up singing the classic Catfish Song (“Now tell me how would you feel if I ate you for a meal? –if I threw you in a pan and cut off your feet and hands? If I peeled all your skin, sliced you up and threw you in to a pan without your guts? Well you would think that I was nuts!” –not really an anti-fishing song, though it sure looks like it here) and then our friend and neighbor John Snyder played an original song on his 3-string guitar, looking a lot like Elvis. Another huge hit! The Spencer-Berg family joined us for the second-to-the-last piece, and we ended the night with the whole audience singing along with “Let Peace Prevail.”
After the concert I caught up with Birgitta Meade and asked her if she’d had a chance yet this year to make some of her famous venison jerky. Ida and Brenda had been advised to bring snacks to Earth Birth (!!!), and we were still looking for some high-protein ideas. She regretted to say that she didn’t have a deer yet this year—but Lora Friest, her neighbor, overheard our conversation and rushed over to say that she had a venison roast in the freezer…if she brought it over to Birgitta’s in the morning, could Birgitta get the jerky made before Friday? Yes she could – and so in 60 seconds the plans were finalized and local nourishment would be lovingly prepared to send on the plane with the midwife and her apprentice.
This is just one example of countless such incidents of creative generosity which took place throughout this last week. Finn and his Booma invented a new way to quickly make infant caps, and brought a sweet sample to send along. Blue Heron Knittery donated yarn and needles for making more caps. Niki and Pam loaned technology, Elsa a passport pouch, Trouts and Spencer-Bergs and Martin-Heiners loaned large suitcases in which to transport all the donated stuff, Cerissa donated baby clothes, Diane a crocheted blanket, Seed Savers donated seeds, the Winneshiek Medical Center donated caps, Waukon and Cresco hospitals and Gunderson Lutheran donated supplies, Saer and Rowan held a hot chocolate and toy stand fundraiser, the Craft-Nortons brought wool from their Jacob Sheep, Randi donated a voice recorder to bring home new songs and origami paper, John Snyder prepared mat board for games we made to bring along. Kristen U. welcomed the food crew into her kitchen for the warming of the pots of Kenyan food. When Ida became ill in the days before departure, local health practitioners Kim Huinker (Foot Zone), Brenda Harris (Acupuncture), Jana Klosterboer (massage therapy), and JoAnn Thomas (homeopathy) all rearranged schedules to serve her and charged her little or nothing. I could go on and on! These gifts are simple but not small, quiet but not invisible, individual but part of our interwovenness. Each person offered what it was that they had, each gift was deeply felt, and all together it laid out before us – yet again! – the rich story of our community and what it does.
Back to the concert. After clean-up we went to T-Bocks to get some food and count the donations. Some of the younger people in our party were uncomfortable to have all that cash sitting on the table…they joked that others might think we’re dealing drugs. But we knew everyone in that bar, and they all knew what we were up to. They waited to hear the final number. Amalia peered over the back of the booth at all that cash and said she was going to take a photo for her (fictitious) tabloid. The caption would be: “Rog-Rottos blow donations for East Africa in only one night at T-Bock’s.”
There was so much money, you guys!!! We kept counting, kept finding $10s, $20s, and $50s and checks for 30, 40, 50, $100, $200. I began to think that there may be as much as $1500. Combined with the $700 from Roseville, it would pass the $2,000 mark!
Just then Daniel looked up holding a check and said, “You guys, this check is for $1,000.” We stopped and stared at the check. We celebrated. We kept counting.
$3,000, that’s what Decorah gave in one night.
Plus $700 from Roseville. Plus $650 from the Midwives Associations. Plus other miscellaneous checks tucked into our hands and sent in the mail over the last week. Altogether, $5,000 will be divided between the two clinics.
What does this mean to you?To us it means that community and generosity are alive and well in this place. We hear you saying: “Brenda and Ida and your families, we, your community, trust and support you in this choice.” And: “Give us a real and tangible way to help, and we will can do it.” It’s a living demonstration of your compassion for parents and children – in America, Africa, and everywhere else. And whether you meant it this way or not, it also feels to me also like an attempt to soothe this aching mother’s heart that misses my beloved Ida so very much. It feels like love.
Each of us can only help here and there, intermittently, between doing the dishes and tucking kids into bed and shoveling and going to work. But oh what power we have when we work together like this, using our caring for those we know as a bridge to our caring for strangers.
Thank you.
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