Air Force and Grief

I'm the (un)official accompanist for the Air Force of Zimbabwe. All the guys in the Air Force band have to take exams up to a minimum of grade 5 in order to get their rank. Some of them are Salvationists, and so they found out about me, and now I play for all of their exams. It's an interesting break from the day-to-day and is actually bringing about some perspective on the terror and trauma I used to feel about my own music exams as a kid! I also get frequent calls from people in the police, military and air force wanting to know if I will teach them piano/theory, etc. There aren't that many piano players left in the country. One guy came for one theory lesson and decided that he wanted to study music at a university abroad. I suggested he do some research on the internet. He called me the other day, "I found a university in Germany that has a music programme, and on their website it says that they teach Mozart. That's good, right?" Right.

Friday I travelled to Chiweshe to conduct a seminar on coping with grief. It was sobering to pass so many hand-made signs that said "coffins for sale" on our way to this rural area. I don't know anyone here who hasn't experienced multiple grief. Life expectancy is still at about 34, and that is so young! Besides some slight translation difficulties, the seminar went well. Many of the women said that this was their first time to be able to talk openly about their grief. The next day I went to visit Amai Pamacheche and we just talked and cried together. Losing someone is painful, but love is beautiful.