By Eric Martin
Singing has been scientifically proven to benefit our mental well-being, and when done in concert for charity, it has the ability to change the lives of others too.
Lumina, the West Australian ensemble specialising in sacred choral music, led a superb cast of choirs at St Mary’s Cathedral on Sunday 27 October for the Houses for the Poor Charity Concert, a special event with all proceeds going to provide shelter for the impoverished in Sri Lanka.
Under the direction of Cameron van Reyk, Lumina has developed a reputation for exceptional quality in sound and performance and each of the ensemble’s eight members have extensive experience in music: they are passionate about performing exquisite choral works which range from the polyphony of the Renaissance period to the composers of today.
They were joined on stage by resounding performances from the Salvado Schola Cantorum Choir; the Sisters in Song, who travelled all the way from Kalgoorlie to participate in the concert; St Paul’s Parish Choir; Aquinas College Schola Choir; the Green Pasture Singers, and; Canticum.
Highlights included the complicated vocal work by Lumina in Pater Noster and Lay a Garland, the angelic voices of the student choir from Aquinas in Ave Verum and the traditional African sounds of The Green Pasture Singers during My Soul Proclaims the Lord My God and The Spirit of the Lord.
The Houses for the Poor Charity Concert is an initiative of Fr Dilan Perera OMI of Sri Lanka, who founded the charity in 2006 in cooperation with a group of friends in Brisbane, Australia (The Dream Team), who had been made aware of Fr Dilan and the much needed help he required to improve the living standards of the people in the town of Buttala, Sri Lanka.
Cameron van Reyk’s mother, Barbara van Reyk, is close friends with The Dream Team and responded to their call for assistance in raising money for the charity, heroically assisted by her son and daughter-in-law who organised the Lumina Concert in support.
While acute poverty is no longer an issue in Sri Lanka, general poverty still remains widespread and continues to be a challenging problem, with some 90 per cent of the poor living in rural areas, alongside 80 per cent of the population.
Their isolation from the social and economic infrastructure of the cities and their markets is a contributing factor to the higher levels of poverty incidence within these rural areas.
In addition, with more than 40 per cent of the rural poor people being small farmers, their production systems may be negatively affected by fragmented landholdings, poor economies of scale, low investment levels resulting from poor financial services as well as inappropriate or limited technology.
According to the Asian Development Bank, the population of Sri Lanka was 19.71 million in 2015 and in 2014, 6.7 per cent of the country lived below the national poverty line. During the same year, it was also reported that 50.5 per cent of the population aged 15 years and above were employed.
Through concerted efforts to achieve it’s 11 Sustainable Development Goals:
Zero Hunger, Good Health and Wellbeing, Quality Education, Gender Equality, Affordable and Clean Energy, Decent Work and Economic Growth, Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure; Reduced Inequalities; Sustainable Cities and Communities; Responsible Production and Consumption, and; Partnerships for the Goals; Sri Lanka had improved its poverty ranking in 2016 to 4.1 per cent.
However, despite these achievements, the poorest families still live in houses which are not structurally sound or a safe place for their children: houses consist of dirt floors, no windows, and no power or running water, open fire cooking and open pit toilets are extremely common.
The Lumina Concert raised enough money to build a complete house for a family in Sri Lanka.
“Thanks to you, this family will soon feel that they are moving into a palace,” Mrs van Reyk said.
“This palace being a two bedroom, brick, tile and cement cottage, with kitchen and toilet facilities, and probably home to about ten – as it is customary in Sri Lanka for three generations to live together with their extended family.”
“To the choirs and directors, we cannot thank you enough for graciously volunteering your time and amazing voices to help make this night a musical success.”