Non-Profit Spotlight: One Note at a Time

Kerri Seger is a Twoshirts member in Columbus, Ohio who just returned in March from her latest trip to Haiti where she is working to start two music schools for Haitian children.

Kerri uses Twoshirts to collect musical instruments for the schools she's starting, and also sews and crochets clothing, scarves, etc for people in return for donations to her cause. We heard about her plans for an upcoming trip and wanted to learn more so we asked to interview her about her plans.

Check out this sneak preview of our interview with Kerri and consider supporting her efforts by donating either funds or musical instruments. We think you'll be as inspired as we are. You can read the full interview in the upcoming Summer issue of The Gift, due June 1, 2008.

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Tell us a little about your goal to start music programs in Haiti.

The first program was started in February this year. I was in the town of Plaissance for three and one half weeks and taught both music and english classes every day. This is a project I've been wanting to do for eight years: I even doubled my major in music to be trained for this "hobby." I graduated from my undergrad this past year and am now dedicating time before I go to grad school in a couple years to have a full time job to support the music program as well as do fundraising and trying to scrounge up supplies.

The second program I'm starting is this June in the town of Novion. I already have the teacher lined up that will take over for me. (In Plaissance I went without knowing anyone and had to train a local music enthusiast.) Plaissance students number 17 and they are learning keyboard and trumpet, but want a saxophone and trombone and a new drum set (the one they have is dilapidated more than I knew a drum could get!) The teacher in Novion is interested in the same instruments: anything brass or that uses batteries (they don't have electricity). The non-profit organization that I am affiliated with is One Block At A Time. It is another single-person 'group' that builds houses in the town of Plaissance. You can find more information at oneblockatatimeinc.org. Most of the kids in the pictures are my English/music students.

The timeline is pretty much determined by when I raise enough money to accomplish each goal. Hopefully in June I will be able to bring some instruments down with me and then ship more later. (I have a friend with a trombone and trumpet but don't know what kind of shape they are in.) I will MOST LIKELY be there June 15-25. I don't plan on starting anymore programs: just managing these two while in Columbus and by taking a trip every few months to bring supplies and train more teachers.

The ultimate goal is to raise enough money within the next two years to jump start a small music community where advanced students get an allowance for teaching beginning students. Right now I pay the main teacher $100/month for batteries and instrument maintenance and bit of a pay check.

Tell us a little about yourself. What do you do and where are you from?

I graduated from Ohio State last June with an invented degree in music ed/zoology/ecology. I am taking a break before grad school in order to focus on this music project. I'll go to grad school eventually in Urban Bioacoustics (the study of how traffic noise affects bird communication). I'm from the little farm town of Minster, Ohio. It's two hours from Columbus. While fund-raising and organizing the music program from here, I tutor and teach piano. (Have to pay rent somehow!)

What got you started in this direction with Haiti?

I got the idea in the summer of 1999. I went with an immersion group to Haiti after my freshman year of high school. Every school we visited greeted us with songs the kids had prepared. When we got to Sister Bruno's School for Girls, we had a lot of time to kill so some of the students put on a spur-of-the moment recital for us. I still remember one girl who could sing opera in 8 different languages. Her parents were unable to afford a small radio and they lived close enough to a local radio station to pull the reception of international airwaves. She taught herself the multi-ligual songs! She could have had a contract if she only lived in the States. This blew my mind as I was barely 15 and it has stuck with me ever since. Upon entering college I decided to add a music education major onto my zoology degree thinking that maybe I could somehow be a part of the Haitian music talent pool I had witnessed.

What kinds of help do you need to make this dream happen in Haiti?

The main thing I need is money, but I think that is always a given. (For plane tickets and donations to the church for letting me stay in their rectory, to purchase instrument maintenance supplies, and to pay the "maestro"). But Twoshirts isn't about that...

The most important instruments that I need are guitars, piano keyboards, drums (including practice pads and sticks), trombones, trumpet, and saxophones. The brass instruments are the most popular since these normally accompany their Kompa bands. I welcome any sort of musical instructional DVD's, music CD's, sheet music or lesson books for the above instruments, batteries (to power the keyboards since they don't have electricity), and simple maintenance supplies like valve oil, slide grease, and saxophone reeds. I have a friend who is from Haiti that has put together a library for Plaisance and is now trying to make an audio-visual department for it, so I am trying to find DVD's and books for him, too.

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Our thanks to Kerri for her amazing efforts and her willingness to be interviewed. We think she's an inspiration and an example of how ordinary people can do extraordinary things.

To donate to her efforts you can contact her via her Twoshirts listing for instruments or you can donate at the One Block at a Time website.

Read Kerri's full interview in the upcoming Summer issue of The Gift, a Quarterly Journal of the Twoshirts.org Community by becoming a voluntary subscriber today. You'll hear more about her recent experiences in Haiti teaching music and being affected by the resilient spirit of the people there.