Amazing Grace

By Jordan Mareno

“Okay, I want you to be practicing the B minor for next week. But make sure to focus on your biology test. I know that you’re going to kill it.”

These words of encouragement from Elizabeth Raby capture the mission behind Musical Empowerment, a student-run non-profit organization in Chapel Hill.

On the surface, Musical Empowerment is a program that pairs local underprivileged children with UNC student mentors. The university students meet with the children once a week and engage in one-on-one music lessons. From piano to ukulele, the program invites local students to engage with musical instruments that they may not otherwise have available to the them. In fact, the organization even lends instruments to the children, allowing them to practice at home in their free time. However, Musical Empowerment goes so much deeper than its description may let on.

I got the chance to sit in on one of Querli Gonzàlez’s guitar lessons with her UNC student mentor, Elizabeth Raby. Querli, a freshman at Chapel Hill High School, is one of the older kids in the program, as they accept children starting at the age of 6.

Querli arrived with her mother and two little sisters, who waited patiently in the hallway while she met with Elizabeth. The young girl sat down with her mentor and they began to play “Amazing Grace,” a song that they had been working on for a few weeks. Querli sang confidently and clearly, unaffected by the new faces in the room with her. Elizabeth smiled and added words of encouragement throughout the song as Querili led the way.

“That’s really great, Querli. I can tell that you’ve been practicing,” said Elizabeth as she put down her own guitar. She pointed to different areas along the neck of Querli’s instrument, making sure that her positioning was just right. “Try to adjust your index finger just a little bit. Yeah, like that. Okay, for our last run through this song, do you want to hold that note out or just play right through it?” 

As the two girls strummed on their guitars, they did not appear to be a student-mentor pair. They seemed to be musical partners, enjoying the melodies that they could create together. After a solid run through “Amazing Grace,” they moved on to a second song, one that really showed off Querli’s vocal abilities.  Comfortable with her instrument and excited to hear her voice filling up the room, Querli looked entirely natural with a guitar resting in her arms. Elizabeth taught her the tricky B minor chord and encouraged her to work on it at home.

In between songs, Elizabeth asked Querli about her family and how she liked school. And it wasn’t small talk. The two were genuinely interested in what the other had to offer in conversation. A familiarity existed that could only be the result of quality time spent together. In the hallway outside, kids and parents were giggling and running around, waiting for their lessons to begin. The church basement where the lesson was held was filled with an air of joy in its most pure form.

The girls posed for a few photographs before heading home, displaying authentic smiles and an image of camaraderie. The invisible benefits of Musical Empowerment were visible in Querli as her lesson came to a close.The program teaches its participants to be confident, to be responsible, and to be dedicated. It gives them a feeling of safety and comfort, knowing that an individual outside of their family is truly invested in their success. And, in tandem, college students have an opportunity to share their passion for music with people in their community and to continue to explore their own musical abilities.Musical Empowerment brings together people from radically diverse backgrounds and allows them to bond over the beauty of music. The effects of the program are, in their own way, an amazing grace located right here in Chapel Hill.

Photographs by Graysie Carreiro & Isha Garg

Sunshine on Our Minds

It’s hard to believe in the middle of February that there would be days that the temperature rose above the chilling thirties and sat at the warm sixties, but today was one of those rare days and the UNC community took full advantage of the warm afternoon. Walking around, the passerby could see sunbathers, tightrope walkers, collections of Frisbee players and runners all enjoying the sunshine. Pockets of laughter erupted every couple seconds as the community enjoyed a day of comradery and warmth.

It was in this warm atmosphere that I met Ayya and Maha, two sisters eleven and nine respectively, and Noor, nineteen, a close friend of the girls. Ayya, Maha, and Noor are from Iraq and are adjusting to life in America, befriending Jaehee through the Ethnic Ministry at Jaehee’s church, and allowing them to eventually meet me. I was excited to meet Maha, Ayya, and Noor, and although they were timid, they were enthusiastic for this new experience. We met outside the Pit Stop as Maha and Ayya watched the spirited college students walk by, and Noor chatted with Jaehee, Linda and myself—Shengmei, another photographer, was catching up to us after a change in our meeting location. The prevalent happy atmosphere rubbed off on us as we sat down to enjoy ice cream and get to know each other. After challenging Maha and Ayya to an ice cream eating contest, of which I was the victor with Ayya at a close second, we walked around campus laughing and reveling in the warmth of the day. We even got some pictures in before Ayya and I finished our ice cream cones while Jaehee finished Maha’s.

Noor, a current student at Durham’s Technical College and a soon-to-be Tar Heel in the Dental Hygiene program, was thrilled to be on campus. Once the camera came out and the posing began, Noor began to model for Jaehee and Shengmei. Exuberant and confident, her personality showed in her poses and through the pictures captured by the photographers. Her sisterly affection toward Maha and Ayya was revealed as she navigated the occasional language barriers and herded the girls and myself, trying to keep us out of trouble. Together, they posed in front of a number of UNC landmarks, becoming fast-studies at modeling for the cameras.

Uncertain at first, Maha and Ayya soon lost their camera-shy expressions and quickly began pouting for the camera, running over afterwards to see the results of their modeling. Laughter spread as we organized picture after picture around Wilson library and the quad in front with all of the college students lounging about and taking advantage of the glorious afternoon. Talking with Maha and Ayya was bittersweet for the Lens team because as much as they like America, it was obvious they missed their home. When Linda asked whether Maha liked America, Maha replied no, saying it wasn’t as beautiful as Iraq. As the afternoon progressed, Maha gave us descriptions of her homes, both old and new, expressing equal parts happiness at the novelty of America and sadness at the beauty left behind in Iraq.

 

As Ayya, Maha and I quickly became friends, an impromptu chemistry lesson began around the Old Well where the water collected in the basin of the fountain. After playing with the water collected in the bowl as Ayya and Maha looked on with confused expressions, I taught them about surface tension and how the water pushed at your hand, resisting as you tried to submerge your hand in the water. Ayya was skeptical at first and I had already lost Maha to the more interesting camera, but I showed her just how much pressure to apply to the surface of the pool and she was amazed, either that I was right or that the water actually resisted her hand. She and I played with the fountain a while longer before Linda asked what we were doing and Ayya rushed to explain what she had learned. After girls were finished with their pictures, a game of tag erupted as Jaehee posed with Noor around the Old Well. We ran across the grounds of the quad screaming and giggling, Linda calling after us like a mother hen, “Don’t go too far!” Of course, I was still ‘it’ when it was time for them to leave, not being able to catch my much faster and younger friends. Giggling erupted in the group as we wove through the adults trying not to interrupt, but also trying not to be the notorious ‘it.’ After giving hugs and successfully transferring my ‘it’ status to Maha and Ayya, we parted, hoping to see each other soon.