Once, twice, three times for Salmon - Winter 2008 Wartburg Magazine - Wartburg College

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Once, twice, three times for Salmon

Victoria Salmon ’03 and St. Olaf College graduates Karissa Swanson-Moore and Tom Moore pose for a picture during their time in Guyana. The trio taught more than 50 students in several churches during an eight-week mission trip. Salmon plans to make her third trip to Guyana in summer 2008.

by Michelle Caldwell ’08

Guyana continued to beckon Victoria Salmon ’03 after a service trip made her cognizant that the sound of music was lacking.

The former music education major traveled there through a program sponsored by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of American and Fellowship Lutheran of Tulsa, Okla.

The 7-year-old program partners with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Guyana and is organized by Erv Janssen ’58 of Tulsa.

After graduating from Wartburg, Salmon taught sixth- through 12th-grade choir in the Osceola (Wis.) School District. She then packed her bags for an eight-week adventure in the eastern tier of Guyana.

Karissa Swanson-Moore leads a class at St. Mathew Church and instructs students on creating rhythm with instruments that will later be used for hymns.

This service trip gave Salmon an idea of what it’s like to live in a country where music was almost nonexistent, with no music taught in school settings. Her mission abroad brought melody and rhythm to the lives of hundreds.

Throughout her time in Guyana, she taught 12-year-olds to adults, spending two to three hours at churches and traveling by taxi.

Salmon explained that church is where music comes alive for the Guyanese, but they have little to work with.

“We taught songs that we would sing in church,” she added. “We wanted to enhance the church experiences. There’s no keyboard, no organ, no instruments in any church settings.”

One brother and sister took turns each week rotating from one church to the next to provide keyboard accompaniment, said Salmon.

After finding the experience to be beneficial, Salmon embarked on another trip to Guyana in summer 2007. Again, she taught hundreds of children to read music, sing and play guitar, piano and drums. The lack of instruments she saw during her 2004 trip sparked an idea.

Two music instruction students practice playing the guitar at St. Andrew Church in Guyana. Salmon’s and the Swanson-Moore’s hometown churches donated three guitars to each of the churches they worked at.

She and two others challenged their local churches to donate enough money to provide a piano and three guitars at each place of worship. Thanks to First Lutheran of New Richmond, Wis.; St. Paul Lutheran in Denver, Colo; and Bethany Lutheran in Colorado Springs, Colo., the goal was met.

“I think one of the reasons I like going down there is because it’s so humbling,” said Salmon. “They are very nice people—very welcoming, and they would do anything for you.”

And just as they would do anything for her, Salmon considers it her mission to give back to them; she is in the process of planning her third trip to Guyana in summer 2008.

Caldwell is a communication arts major from Washington, Iowa.