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Dia de Luz

 

Today we battle poverty with joy, color, music, laughter, and hope!

From sunrise to sunset, Love Light & Melody joins hands with friends, neighbors, and nonprofit organizations for a full day in Managua's trash dump community... celebrating and sharing life through music, painting, dancing, kites, and soccer games.


Watch the Video

Love Light & Melody is pleased to announce a new documentary film "Dia de Luz," scheduled for release in Fall 2008 which chronicles this epic celebration of life in the trash dump. Watch the trailers below and stay tuned for complete details...

Watch the new trailer...

 

Special Thanks

Dia de Luz 2008 was an incredible success and we want to thank all our friends who helped to make the day possible, including Orphan Network, Escuela de Esperanza, NicaHope, Manna Project, and Jedidiah.

A heartfelt thanks to all our college friends who chose to spend their spring break with us in Nicaragua: University of Virginia, James Madison University, University of North Carolina Wilmington, Virginia Tech, and the College of William & Mary.

The Day of Light

KC Dewey is the executive director of Love Light & Melody. These are her reflections on Dia de Luz.

When entering what appears to be a war-zone, it seems appropriate to enter with proper armor and protection.  Love Light & Melody has learned however, that sometimes the most powerful weapons of protection are also the most surprising!  This was most certainly the case during this year's Dia de Luz event (the Day of Light). On March 6, 2008, a flood of people, music, and kites invaded the trash dump in Managua, Nicaragua, where nearly 1,500 people live, work, and make their homes.

Love Light & Melody’s second annual Dia de Luz event was created to break down emotional, physical, and cultural barriers, while reawakening the dreams, imagination, and hope of the people who live there. Over 200 college students, associated with Orphan Network’s alternative spring break, and a team from Love Light & Melody participated in the event.

Read the full story...

Austin's Story

Austin Blasingame is an artist based in Los Angeles. He organized the production of a 70'x12' mural in the trash dump at Dia de Luz 2008, alongside fellow artists Patrick Maxcy and Kelli Murray.

The group that arrived Monday, about one-third of us, roughly 25 people, gathered in the courtyard to share words. It felt like everyone was frozen for the first few minutes as Brad began greeting us and welcoming us to his home away from home. The tension eased with every word Brad spoke. A short time after, I was called upon to speak about the mural, which I had been invited on the trip to help create.

I spoke about my passion for the arts, and how Dia de Luz was about connecting with the local people, and not about a perfectly executed piece of work, how it was more important to make the kids feel that they were a part of the production, that their hands and minds would mold the mural, that street art is about being in the moment. Art changes, taking a different shape everyday. I talked about urban decay and the beauty it has in a community, layers that build over time, art getting covered up, new art taking over and leaving traces of old — a metaphor of life itself.

Read Austin's full story...