As an Island Fellow, I have had a wide-ranging variety of opportunities and experiences. Out here on Chebeague Island everyone takes on multiple roles and pitches in wherever help is needed. I spend most of my time doing things you might expect of a someone working on sustainable agriculture, such as learning about curriculum development and classroom management in the garden, organizing community food preservation workshops and making friends with every person who has an apple tree on their property.
However, I have also learned how to make authentic Chinese pot stickers from scratch (for the school’s Chinese New Year feast), dealt with plumbing emergencies in the boys bathroom, and most recently, on Oct. 5, helped coordinate the visit of a Ugandan children’s choir, Destiny Africa.
Nancy Earnest, pre-K teacher and community member, took on the feat of arranging logistics to bring the chorus of about 20 kids, plus their chaperones and directors, out to the island.
They arrived wearing puffy winter coats and carrying drums as big as they were. The atmosphere was playful and joking as we set up their equipment and prepared lunch, but once they were on stage in front of a packed audience they were focused and in their element. It seemed as through the whole Chebeague community turned out for the concert.
The first drum strikes sent shivers through my spine. As the rhythm built in complexity and volume, the dancers sprang to life, first just their heads swinging to the beat, then every part of their bodies engaged in the music.
The 11-13 year olds drummed, danced and sang with incredible energy, perfectly in sync. They told their stories—orphans and street kids who found their way to the Kampala Children’s Center and then a loving home. They are on a 16-week tour to raise money for Kampala, and to expand their own cultural experience.
It is uncomfortable to sit face-to-face with the inequality in our globalized world. These children had been the shirtless, starving African children of the news bite we’ve all seen, and here they were, on Chebeague, sharing themselves and their culture, asking for our support.
It’s almost more than a person can handle, when we have so many issues close to home, and definitely more than we want our young children to be handling. However, music and friendship ruled the day. Chebeague and Ugandan kids danced together, ate together and played together. After the concert I saw kids exchanging hand-games: “double this, double that, double-double this that!”
Kids seem to have it pretty good on Maine islands. They get to roam outdoors and pursue their interests with an independence rarely seen on the mainland. The community is a safety net, rather than a possible threat. Every kid feels loved, cared for, valued. The insulation provided by a narrow stretch of deep water fosters a deep sense of identity, self-sufficiency and personal pride.
It can also be limiting, as we all know; when I started this fellowship I imagined myself going into Portland all the time, but I have almost no awareness of what is happening across the water. Much of the cultural diversity in Portland doesn’t reach Chebeague. No matter how thoroughly tolerance and diversity are taught in school, nothing matches the sensory experience of encountering a different culture.
Thanks to Nancy Earnest’s efforts and the support of the island’s free concert fund, Chebeague children forged a connection to African culture through music, dance and friendship. They discovered that Ugandan children may look different and speak a different language, but they love to play just the same.
It’s the sort of opportunity doesn’t often happen on a Maine island.
In an island community, it’s especially easy to become accustomed to a single perspective, to only conceive of one reality and one way of getting things done. During the concert I thought to myself: “If there was a drumming session before every selectmen’s meeting, I bet there would be a lot less frustration and a greater sense of unity!”
I don’t see it happening—we don’t have the cultural background to support it. But it’s good to break the mold of our old thought patterns occasionally and let some new possibilities in. I try to do that through my work by suggesting different ways to eat healthier, grow more of our own food and connect education to the soil and the basic needs of life. This fellowship has definitely brought new possibilities into my tool-kit (I never expected it would bring me plumbing skills), and I am so grateful for the opportunity to have a role in enriching the Chebeague community.
Celia Whitehead is in her second year as an Island Fellow on Chebeague Island. Her work is supported by AmeriCorps and the Island Institute.