Ugandan school named for local singer

A high school in Uganda named two years ago while internationally acclaimed baritone and Hesston College sociology professor Anthony “Tony” Brown visited that country now has students taking classes.

Brown reports that leaders of Friends of Orphans, the Ugandan agency that sponsored his visit to that war-torn country, indicate 50 formerly abducted child mothers and 70 former child soldiers, vulnerable children and youth not in school are receiving academic, vocational and technical training and entrepreneurship programs.

Friends of Orphans, founded in 1999 by Anywar Ricky Richard, provides a variety of ministries in Pader District and the town of Pader.

Located in northern Uganda, Pader District and its people have been devastated by more than 20 years of civil war between the Lord’s Resistance Army and the Ugandan government.

The army abducted an estimated 40,000 children for its war effort in the north; up to 2 million people fled the fighting and lived in government-run Internally Displaced Persons camps.

Peace talks have been conducted periodically for nearly two years, with no final agreement.

When Brown and Ken Rodgers, a member of the college’s music faculty, spent a week in northern Uganda in June 2006, Friends of Orphans took the opportunity to lay the cornerstone for the Anthony Brown Baritone Comprehensive School.

According to Friends of Orphans, in a recent concept paper written about the school, “The Anthony Brown Baritone Comprehensive School will have an agricultural component known for its agricultural training as well as local production. Local production will become part of the school’s income and sustainability plan. Within three years of operation, Friends of Orphans will launch a kindergarten and primary school.

“The school will be free for former child soldiers, orphans, vulnerable children and youth,” the paper stated. “Scholarships, sponsorships and other means of support will be sought, including income generation, to ensure the high quality of education is maintained and the school is maintained.”

A humbling event

Brown, who has sent several thousand dollars for the school, is excited about the progress.

“I’m thrilled to know that they’ve moved ahead with planning and developing the school,” he said. “The first wing for the high school is complete. I hope to be involved in fund raising for the school on a continuing basis.

“I’m humbled by their naming the school after me,” Brown said. “I’m honored to be involved and to be a part of the transformation of young people who were badly treated. The emphasis should not be on the fact that the school is named after me, but that it presents an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of some young people.”

In a related matter, Brown announced the recent formation of Peacing It Together Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that will use music and the spoken word to bring people together across the divides of nationality, race, religion and ethnicity.

“It will build on the work that I’ve been doing in the world, but will make it possible to do even more,” Brown said. “I hope this organization can promote peace in the world to an even greater extent.”

The foundation’s mission statement reads: The mission of Peacing It Together is to serve the global community as a resource and catalyst for the work of peace and social justice, using music and the spoken word.

“Since 2002, I’ve traveled to many different places in the world,” Brown said. “Almost all of these invitations came without my seeking them. I have been so moved and changed by these experiences and have seen what music together with the spoken word can do. Out of all of these experiences, I determined that I must make an effort to enlarge the work that I’ve been doing. Uganda is one part of that.”

Future hopes

Brown said board members first met May 10.

“I picked people who I thought had some experience or expertise that fits well with the mission of the foundation.”

Board members are Gene Herr of Newton; Karl Brubaker of Goessel; Jim Boyts of Hesston; Patty Meier of Newton; LaVerne Diggs of Glendale, Ariz.; and Hubert Brown of Newton.

“This is not about me,” Brown said. “I hope this foundation carries on long after I’m gone. Other musicians ultimately will be involved. Music is a particular tool to bring people together. It speaks a universal language, the language of the heart.”

Brown also said the foundation is not a part of Hesston College.

“Hesston College participates through its commitment to peace and provides me the opportunity to take these trips,” he said. “So the college is a significant contributor by lending its support.”

Meanwhile, in early June, Brown began a six-month sabbatical, which runs through early December.

He will serve as a visiting researcher in the social work department at Hokusei University in Sapporo, Japan.

On to Japan

“I’m interested in studying the Japanese worldview,” he said. “That will help me understand the culture more clearly.”

Brown also will be a guest lecturer at the university, speaking on racism and discrimination in the United States, with a particular focus on the African-American experience.

He also will sing and speak in public performances on campus.

Before leaving the United States, Brown said he was looking forward to the sabbatical.

“It will help me understand the Japanese people better and allow me to forge relationships with people.

“I also plan to use music to connect with people,” he said. “Through the U.S. State Department, I’ll visit, sing and speak in six areas of Japan, serving as a cultural ambassador, talking with the Japanese about American music and letting them experience it firsthand.

“I feel blessed to have this opportunity to spend six months in another part of the world,” Brown said. “It will be a rich experience, which will change me.”

Brown also plans to make contact with Hesston College alumni and donors, and with Mennonite churches in Japan.