Local musician will play benefit for Ugandan orphans

Bloomington singer-songwriter Krista Detor will play two back-to-back shows at the Waldron Arts Center Saturday night. The shows are the U.S. CD release party for Detor’s latest album “Cover Their Eyes.” All proceeds from the show will be donated to Indiana Friends of Nyaka, a charity that benefits a Uganda school for orphans. \nDetor, whose latest album was hailed as “one of the best albums of the year” by music magazine Revolver, has made philanthropy a never-yielding career goal. The artist regularly donates to a charity that supports African elephants that fall victim to ivory poachers, and she quickly jumped at the opportunity to raise money for Nyaka AIDS Orphans School in Nyakagyezi, Uganda.\n“I’ve been watching the situation in Africa,” she said. “(The benefit show) was an opportunity to do something at a high-profile level in Bloomington.”\nThe Rev. David Bremer, copresident of Indiana Friends of Nyaka, described the Nyaka AIDS Orphan School as “a movement” and hopes Detor’s benefit show will expose the movement to a different niche of people.\n“We would like to get more people involved (in the movement),” Bremer said. “They will receive joy in return.”\nTwesigye Jackson Kaguri, a Ugandan-born man who witnessed the AIDS devastation of his country firsthand, created the school in 2003. Most of the children the school serves are double orphans, meaning both parents were killed by AIDS.\nBremer formed Indiana Friends of Nyaka in 2004 after meeting with Kaguri at his church. Since 2004, Indiana Friends of Nyaka has raised more than $50,000. The number of students served has increased from 86 to 180. Health care used to be nonexistent at the school, but now a full-time nurse makes home visits and administers free AIDS tests. The staff has increased from three to 11. Bremer said Indiana Friends of Nyaka has raised more money every subsequent year of operation. His goal for the Detor benefit concert is $4,000.\nBremer said the Nyaka school benefits not just the students but the community as a whole. The students are learning valuable trades such as sewing and gardening that will lead to self-sustained employment. With funding from the school, the village has running water now, too.\n“It’s a complete transformation of a village that was teetering on the brink of extinction,” Bremer said.\nShow tickets can be purchased at The Wandering Turtle Art Gallery, 224 N. College Ave., and gallery owner Jaime Sweany has been a supporter of Detor’s for years. She said “Cover Their Eyes” is Detor’s best work to date.\n“To have a benefit concert for her CD release party is really generous of her,” she said. “She’s committed to good things and social justice and all those things we should care about.”\nTickets for the benefit show are $18 in advance and $20 at the door for each show. They can be purchased at www.bloomingtonarts.info, in person at The Wandering Turtle Art Gallery or at United Presbyterian Church, 1701 E. Second St. The first show starts at 6 p.m. followed by the second show at 8 p.m. Saturday.