FOX 21 News, KQDS-DT

DULUTH-Chester Park United Methodist Church is the place that drew in two UMD students from Haiti years ago. On Sunday, it celebrated a special connection to the country.”
 
The faith community, teaming with the Kako Foundation, has a goal to spread youth music education to the very poor and struggling nation.

In its fifth year a special concert helped push forward that mission.
 
The sweet notes of a violin show years of practice. The work, showcased at a Kako Foundation benefit, can be a reminder for an old Haitian saying.
 
“Literally it means ‘behind a mountain is another mountain’ and that indicates the challenges that we all face every day,” Rudy Perrault, who started the Kako Foundation, said.

"This was something that I’ve been thinking about for a long time: to have music education for the underprivileged kids of Haiti and life get in the way and before you know it gets put on the backburner,” Perrault said.

“Until the death of my nephew and suddenly it struck me – I haven't done a thing about this,” Perrault said.

Perrault calls 2008 murder of his relative, nicknamed Kako, nothing short of brutal.

Now his foundation helps large groups of children learn music in the county of the crime scene - where poverty is life for kids who could not afford instruments without support.
 
"You can take just about anything away from a human being but they will have their creativity,” Board member for the foundation Kathy Bogan said.

“And that's what allows us to face adversity to build relationships with one another to find within ourselves something very unique that doesn't exist with any other person. It's really the source of what's within us,” Bogan said.

The money raised here also reminds Perrault of a second Haitian saying.
 
“It means 'with a lot of hands, a load is not as heavy. If you are the only one carrying it you might feel the weight of it but when you have a friend or a few to help you carry something, then it's not as heavy,” Perrault said.

For more information on the Kako foundation and how to donate visit the foundation's website at www.kakofoundation.org.

The group is also planning to partner with Nettleton School for a special choir next year.