Some months ago Mollie Roy (on the right) and Keli Jay (left) came in to entertain us for a music night. They are both in their second year of music studies at Queens University in Kingston, and their respective parents agreed that the investment is starting to pay off!
We had a great evening of songs from each of them, accompanied on guitar or ukelele, as well as some stories and jokes, and best of all some awesome duet harmony singing.
They have kindly agreed to come back and further regale us with their melodies and harmonies, adding an occasional keyboard to their armory of accompanying instruments. I believe the repertoire will vary between pop songs, folk songs (maybe even some country songs for those of you who are culturally-deprived!) and of course some songs relevant to the season of goodwill towards men (and women) that is upon us.
CACHA project update
This music will also set the stage for a special event that will happen at the break. You may know that we encourage any spare change or donations in the shop to head towards our little collecting box in aid of a project at the Canada-Africa Community Health Alliance, an Ottawa based organisation that supports health and educational missions to vulnerable people in communities in Uganda, Tanzania and Benin.
We have a special link to one of the Ugandan projects through our good friend Jimmy Sebulime, who was born there and who worked for CACHA for several years. Jimmy is arriving back from a trip to Uganda this week, so on Friday he will come into the shop and give us an update on progress out there – he will tell us what your donations have been doing.
Over the years since Gaia Java opened, the donations from you (which in another shop would have gone to the staff as tips, but our staff are willing to divert them to this great cause) and our staff have added up to several thousand dollars!
Another exciting thread to this story is that Stittsville Rotary (who as you know are very active around our community in many ways) have agreed to commit funds to support setting up a chicken-rearing project in Kamengo, Uganda and we will match their contribution from the Gaia Java donations. This will be a great moment, so come along to help us celebrate, and learn about how many kids you have helped through school and University in Kamengo.
Since we won’t be having a music night on Dec 26th (Boxing Day!) may we take this moment to wish you all a great Holiday season and especially Christmas if it means something to you. We look forward to seeing you in the New Year.
See more details at www.gaiajava.ca where you can also review the listing of upcoming music night performers over the next month or so.