This project was born out of The Wordz from the Street sessions. It was born from days spent in Watts. Days of listening, trying to hear through the din and confusion that can turn charity into that which it opposes. Returning from the Grapes Street projects, the thought came, as clearly as if it had been spoken. "Stop trying to help change things on that block," is how I heard it. "Ask instead what they can do to bring relief to lives that are far away." It was a revolutionary thought, bringing change by asking those in need to reach out and help those in even greater need. "Give and it shall be given," isn't that what He said? Educate! Teach that we are all part of one global family. Inspire people to see that they belong to one nation, the human race. Lift up the expectations, and empower even the least among us to realize that we have the power to make this world, not just that within our own four walls, a better place. By giving, all will be given in return. Oh Sa Leone! an album project to benefit the children of Sierra Leone Ten years of civil war ravaged Sierra Leone. Most shocking was the employment of children to do the fighting (well documented). At the conclusion of the war, a young man from Sierra Leone conceived a remarkable concept, to bypass the red tape and lethargy of government aid, and help place children with bereaved parents, taking advantage of an extant infrastructure. Alpha Bangoura realized his program to assist parents who had lost children, or a child, and find able and functioning homes for orphaned children, helping to build healthy family nuclei. His program assisted these family units with health care issues, finding adequate schooling, helping parents be more successful parents. Over the years, he has created a new approach to aid, hurdling the costs, and bureaucratic overhead that is often associated with effective relief, inventing a model that has is has gained international attention.  Since 1994, when I volunteered as an aid worker in Rwanda, I have been struck by the inescapable stereotypes that undermine efforts to help those in need, whether in Kigali or South Central. Even the most well intentioned person or group, can easily fall prey to what is part of the overall problem, as I see it. Our participation must go deeper, and we must be willing to learn and listen, assist in silence at times, and in doing so, we will find ways to recognize the solution that is outside our own way of thinking. Alpha Bangoura has realized this in his work, finding a solution that had been overlooked, and making it work. So it was, returning from Watts last week, wondering what I could do that would have meaning, and be a mindful response to the needs I witnessed, I had the idea of asking the young artists (rappers) who live in the projects to help create an album of tracks that would benefit the work of Alpha Bangoura in Freetown, Sierra Leone - from war zone to war zone - a united voice of support that would raise expectations and world views here at home, and reach out to those who live in an even more hostile environment than what we experience here in the United States. I would like to bring together the young talent we have worked with (Oblivion, Pat's Justice, Skim) and the artists we have met in Watts (Lil'Drawz and others) and record an album over the course of a weekend. One giant collaboration. I would ask Layzie and Bizzy, the Last Poets, Yoyo and others to join the ranks. I would love to reach out to KRS-One, who has paved the way of speaking change and empowerment through his music, and to Common, and Mos Def. I would also like to ask Alpha Bangoura to record songs from the children in Sierra Leone that we could incorporate into the tracks. I know that Rickie Lee Jones and Mike Watt would want to be part of this, and would like to record live instruments as well as electronic beats. Abiodun Oyewole has been such an encouragement, and I am looking foward to sharing this idea with him (when he returns from Paris). The idea is just being born, but it is a model that could help bring the kind of change that has meaning, the kind that lasts. Seeing another person's need, finding a way to offer a hand, this is the true path to healing, healing others, and in doing so, discovering the source of healing for one's self.. Lee Cantelon Los Angeles, CA  Hope in the Ruins Lee Cantelon's photographs and journal from Rwanda 1994   Learn more about The Words project at www.thewords.com

  coming soon : The Words Read by Abiodun Oyewole

    Abiodun Oyewole (founder of The Last Poets) has
   completed an audio narration of  The Words  recorded this winter in Harlem.
   The finished recording will be released in last Spring 2008.