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Courtesy Photo
Valery Kuleshov will perform a benefit concert on Thursday. |
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When Buckeystown musician Francisco de Araujo created a benefit concert 25 years ago at the Kennedy Center, the $250,000 raised helped feed hungry children in Africa through the organization World Vision. Though Araujo continued creating and conducting classical music concerts to promote peace in war-torn countries, he didn't realize until a chance encounter last year that his work in Africa was far from over. While de Araujo was at Washington Dulles International Airport, an African couple sat next to him. After talking, the man, Spencer Bugingo, realized that it was Araujo who helped him as a child refugee, fleeing from Uganda. "He said, 'Oh my God, you fed me. You're my papa!' And tears came out of his eyes," de Araujo recalled. Bugingo, who later studied at American University, was at the airport to meet family for his upcoming wedding -- and because de Araujo was now considered "family," Bugingo invited him to the celebration. De Araujo and his wife sat at the family table, where another chance -- or maybe divine is the better word -- encounter with Bugingo's uncle led de Araujo to raise his hand to again to combine his passions for humanitarianism and music. Bugingo's uncle, a pastor in Rwanda, runs a non-denominational Christian congregation of 3,000, with 450 orphans who come for day school and stay at various homes in the community each night. The pastor's budget is $1,000 a month. After paying eight teachers, about $200 is left to feed the kids. "Without thinking what I was saying, I said, 'I'm gonna build you an orphanage.' And that's the project I'm on right now," de Araujo said, "and the most wonderful things have been happening." He created the Dona Nobis Pacem (Latin for "grant us peace") Foundation primarily to promote benefit concerts for the orphanage, and he plans to raise about $150,000 in the next year or so to begin building. A slew of shows are scheduled for December 2010 in Palestine and Jordan. On Thursday, however, de Araujo will bring Russian-based Valery Kuleshov, mentored by Vladimir Horowitz, to perform a benefit concert at Frederick 's Seventh Day Adventist Church on Jefferson Pike. Kuleshov has been awarded Honored Artist of the Russian Federation by former Russian president Boris Yeltsin. De Araujo met Kuleshov at the University of Oklahoma and invited him to perform charity concerts in the Holy Land, where de Araujo has organized several concerts for peace bringing together Palestinians and Arabs through music. This time, the concerts will also raise money for the orphanage. "What a power music has," de Araujo said. Looking at a photo of the 400-some orphans in Rwanda, he said, "They've become my family. If this is successful, I'm gonna build an orphanage in Uganda."
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