The dangerously handsome man sitting at an adjacent table in the Pokhara coffee shop nodded as I wrapped up my interview with two young girls who’s had an abhorrent experience with a local volunteer operator. A jumble of dreadlocks peeked from beneath Hugo Caminero’s rainbow knitted skullcap as he leaned across the aisle and admitted that he’d been eavesdropping. Hugo was also working with children in Nepal, but he’d created his own program rather than pay a firm to arrange a volunteer opportunity. He flashed a seductive smile through his two-day stubble. Would I like to accompany him the following day to see for myself?
Hugo, drummer for the popular Spanish cover band RETO 999, was inspired by the philanthropic works of Carlinhos Brown, a Brazilian percussionist who was born in Candeal Pequeno, a small neighborhood in the Brotas area of Salvador de Bahia, Brazil. As a child, Brown played in dirt streets where human waste flowed; when it rained, excrement and mud washed into the homes. Yet it was the rhythm and percussion sounds from these same rough streets that brought him fame. Hoping to give back, Brown opened a music school in Candeal and formed the musical group Timbalada, recruiting more than 100 percussionists and singers called “timbaleiros,” the majority of them young kids from the streets of Candeal. Timbalada eventually recorded eight albums and toured various countries around the world. Today, largely through the efforts of Brown and Pracatum Social Action Association community action organization also set up by the drummer, the streets of Candeal are paved and free from sewage.
Can’t view the above video of teaching drumming to street children in Pokhara, Nepal? Click here.
Taking his cue from Brown, Hugo bought a dozen drums, flew to Pokhara, and began looking for an orphanage where he could put his skills to use. One day he knocked on the door of the Protection and Rehabilitation Centre for Street Children and soon he was tutoring kids for an hour or so each afternoon in simple rhythms they were sure to master. At a jam session in a local bar one night he met Kim Jinuk, a Korean guitarist, and Pablo Etayo, an amateur musician from Basque Spain who had studied music therapy. And then there were three.
The next afternoon, Hugo led me through a maze of Pokhara’s dirt back streets on a shortcut to the highway, where the inconspicuous centre concealed itself behind a low concrete wall. A door cracked open we were ushered inside, where raggedy urchins immediately latched onto our legs, our clothes, whatever they could grasp. They bickered and pummeled one another; one young boy performed backflips from a nearby bench hoping to win our attention. Utter chaos reigned until Hugo broke out the drums.
Forming an orderly circle in the center of the courtyard, the children focused on Hugo as he drilled them on their respective parts.
“Ick, dui, tin, char!” One, two three, four.
Within minutes the undisciplined mob was transformed into a cohesive unit, automatically working together for the good of the group. It was quite remarkable to witness and it wouldn’t surprise me to see these kids performing in a major parade someday, featured as one of the world’s great rags to riches stories.
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Posted in Asia travel | 
blogsherpa, cultural travel, culture, drumming, Hugo Caminero, Music, Nepal, percussion, Pokhara, RETO 999, Travel, volunteer, volunteering, world travel
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I love this! How wonderful! As a fellow drummer, I know how awesome it can be to be part of the rhythm.
Great post on how one individual, doing his own volunteer thing, makes a difference. Cool video!
This is cool, really a great video. I think that Nepal is also a nice place to travel to. Thanks for sharing.
I could have sworn that I commented on this before, maybe it was one of those days my internet was misbehaving. I loved this story to bits. I have known some guys like this. They worked with the refugees when I was volunteering with the Red Cross a couple of years ago. It was marvellous to see how the guys lost themselves in the music and forgot their troubles for a while.
I actually looked up this story today, because I am teaching a young woman English. She isn’t a refugee, just a friend of a friend, and is Spanish, but she wants to learn English because she is going to travel soon in India and Nepal, and I thought your stories would be good for her to practise translating because she will be interested. Dunno, just thought you’d like to know that :=)
Oh my Islandmomma! I knew my site was being used in many traditional ways,
but this is a new twist on things! Thanks for sharing!
Hey Barbara & everyone: This is an article dedicated to the plight of the Street Kids in Kathmandu specifically their addiction to glue sniffing (amongst sexual trafficking, violence, poverty & many others). http://hellobisous.com/2012/04/the-street-kids-of-kathmandu/Do read, spread and pass on – the message of the street kids in Kathmandu.Cheers.
Hi,
It’s great to see that there is such passion to give back to the community.
I actually lived in Nepal for a period of three years, working on a project with a Nepali man to provide curative and preventive healthcare to villagers in a rural village in Ramechhap, the Bhumethan Community Health Centre (www.bhumethanhealth.org).
I did not arrive in Nepal intending to become a part of this project, and nor did I arrive with any preconceived ideas of volunteering, as short-term volunteering can actually be more harmful to the community. It was a case of being in the right place at the right time, excuse the cliche!
Megan: I SO agree with your assessment about short-term volunteering. How wonderful that you got to do your project for a more extended period. Nepal just has a way of getting under your skin. I feel a lot like you, with regards to finding my Nepali family. I was just in the right place at the right time.