Before deciding to turn music into my full time job, I played at the church, and I have continued to do so through my entire music career. It’s a place of spirituality, of inspiration, and of course, of community. As head of the music department of my church, I recently had the opportunity to build connections and meet new wonderful people during a mission trip to the Czech Republic.
The journey was on the planning since around Christmas. Another team visited the church of Kolín then, and learned that the music department there would like to have some support. We flew from Birmingham to Frankfurt (where the people at customs asked a peculiar question, as you may have read on my Instagram) and from there to Prague. Then, we travelled one hour by car to reach the town of Kolín, and another hour to reach our final destination at the camp.
We stayed there for two days, during which I worked with with Slávka, the leader of the music department at Kolín. To start, I made a questionnaire that was then translated to Czech (a very challenging language, I must say!). We had a meeting to discuss their answers and some other matters in what ended up being a very productive conversation. I also had the honour to perform in the service with my sax. Attendants were very supportive, and they said after the fact that they felt inspired and connected with my music.
Once the work was done, we did a bit of tourism around Kolín. I broke my diet trying Czech food and I have no regrets, haha! I found that their cuisine is rather focused on meat and they cook it very nicely. Of course, I also tried the famous Czech beers. We even drank water from a hot spring. According to the locals, the sulfur and other minerals in it are good for the health. The novelty was exciting and refreshing.
We learned about the tragic side of Kolín’s history too. The synagoge is currently a museum, as the Jewish population was completely erradicated from the area. We had the chance to read a lot of information about the discrimination against Jewish people that has plagued many centuries of the country’s history. We saw Stolpersteine (“stumbling stones” in German) installed in memory of the Jewish people victims of the Second World War. It was sad and touching. It made me think about my own heritage of people with African descent slaved in the Caribbean, giving me a lot to reflect on.
Back to Prague, we were struck by the sheer size of the historical buildings and landmarks. We saw the astronomical clock and then took the endless steps towards the Townhall. We even visited a location used for the Mission Impossible movies. The city has a story to discover in every corner, and also an impressively international community.
Visiting the Czech Republic was a fantastic experience and I’d love to be back. I’m still in contact with Slávka, collaborating and talking about the work with music at the church, so perhaps there’ll be a chance for another visit in the future. In the meantime, I’ll treasure all these good memories.
