At some point today, tomorrow and for months to come, a Cincinnati woman's voice will ring out on radio stations half a world away:

       My vision blurred I closed my
       Eyes and began to see
       A little light whose name was
       Hope and hope was born
       Through me.
       

        That's Carolyn McFarlane speaking to the children of South Africa on Hello South Africa; It's America Calling, a CD full of choral and spiritual music written to inspire hope in a population where hope doesn't spring eternal in the human breast.

        That population is the township of Atlantis, a settlement outside of Cape Town, South Africa, where poverty, disease, hunger and need are a way of life.

Carolyn McFarlane at home in Hyde Park (Tony Jones photo) | ZOOM |

        “I heard about it from Margaret McEwan (founder of Impact South Africa) and was amazed at the suffering those children had been through. Even though apartheid has come to an end, the suffering hasn't.

        “Margaret knew I was writing songs and asked if I'd do some that spoke to the children. I had the first one in 10 minutes.”

        Nine songs and two poems later, Hello South Africa is a hit on Radio Atlantis, the station servicing the entire township.

        All proceeds from the CD go to Impact South Africa, a non-profit group which provides supplies for impoverished areas. Impact will use the money to build and equip a vision station that will provide screening and eye care for Atlantis villagers.

        “I was just there and did a few radio interviews,” said Ms. McEwan, a former Cincinnatian who lives in Belgium. “They can't get enough of it. So much so that I have an open invitation to go on the air and talk about it anytime.”

       At what price do we forsake
       Others with no health
       and at what price do we forget
       Others with no wealth.
       

        Ms. McFarlane has never been to South Africa, but plans to go soon. That will be a whole new world for this cooly elegant, style-savvy woman (think Hitchcock heroine) who spent the first half of her life herding a bunch of models onto and off runways first in Minneapolis, then Cincinnati when she, husband Roger and two sons moved here 21 years ago.

        “I was producing fashion shows first for Pogue's, then Saks, but there got to be less and less business. A couple years ago I looked at my life, and knew I had to decide what to do. I started writing.”

        First there was a book on interior design. Then one “about three cats I had 15 years ago, building a fashion house. It combines cats, design and fashion in a strange sort of way.

        “I love writing because I enjoy so much being inside my own head. I love the imaginary world more than the real one. You know? I realized long ago that if I can think it, I can own it — that's why the book has a crystal bathtub and marcasite fireplace.”

        So here she is now, sitting in a tiny Hyde Park condo that was once a studio apartment: “We had a big place far out on the west side and kept this for when we'd stay in the city. But now we're selling the west-side house and renovating a larger condo down the hall.

        “I'm 52-years-old, and I'm so happy to be able to tell you that because I'm thrilled to have made it. My mother, father, brothers and sisters, none made it to 52.

        “Having that experience in my life, burying those family members, I understand sorrow. Or at least I have some feeling for suffering and sorrow. I think that helped me in writing songs for the CD, even though I'm not a musician, and I have no musical training.”

       There is an impact we need
       to make
       there is so much that lies
       at stake
       voices of children keep crying out
       

        Most of the CD's songs were written on cocktail napkins, backs of envelopes and old parking stubs because “it sounds crazy, but to me, a song is like a butterfly. It flits through your head and you better catch it or lose it.”

        Most participants on the CD worked for free: Greater Emanuel Apostolic Temple Mass Choir, Washington Park and Chester T. Young Elementary School Choruses. Musicians Union members had to be paid, but they worked for bare minimums.

        “I know the CD's not perfect. It's not slick and not fancy. It's grass roots and done with very little money — a group of people doing their best to communicate half a world away.

        “What we're trying to communicate is hope. It's a most universal feeling in that hope is what we live for — the hope that tomorrow will be better.”

       I spent some time observing life
       To better understand
       Why is it some suffer so
       

        “I can't answer that, but I think I know what the children are looking for, and that's real understanding. It's what we're all looking for — someone to understand our joy and our pain.

        “I don't really have a fix on the face of South Africa, not the way Margaret does. But I did some research, and I was amazed at the suffering. Even with apartheid gone, there are still people who don't know where their loved ones disappeared to or where they're buried. I haven't seen that, but I can feel it.

        “I really do believe that if any one piece shows these children that there are people here who care and are trying to do something, however big or small, the songs have done their job.”

        Or, as she assures the children in the title song:

       Hello South Africa,
       It's America listening.
       Or at least Cincinnati.

       Hello South Africa; It's America Calling is $14 by calling 861-3337.

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