Joanna Wos' (Wosh) is a Famous Soprano  from Poland. Joanna sings throughout Europe in leading opera roles.  Her husband Henryk is a respected actor and famous Opera director in Warsaw.   Although they came to the casa for healing and they blended into the crowd we finally found out their little secret and we asked Joanna to sing at the casa (With the entities permission.)  Her rendition of the Ave Maria moistened every eye in the hall.  She treated us to another singing demonstration at the Sunday prayers and We cannot describe to you the impact her voice had on everyone present.  It took a while for any of us to get enough courage to break the silence that followed her singing.    As if that wasn't enough, Joanna graciously agreed to an impromptu performance at one of the local schools.  On Monday afternoon near seventy children sat on the floor with painted faces (it was clown day)  to witness something they had never heard of. Opera! .  Along with the kids, a dozen or so educators a handful of parents and the Abadiania Education Secretary sat in chairs to listen to Joanna sing.   We asked them if they had ever heard of Opera, and nearly all of them had not.  So after a brief explanation Joanna started singing. 

If you have ever stood a few feet from an Opera singer, you know there is a lot of energy there and this time was no exception. So much energy that the kids started to giggle and get unruly, but to Joanna's credit she picked up on it and pulled some of the kids up front to dance with her.  Having  some of their own up on stage was all they needed to feel a part of the performance.  I can only imagine how much effort is needed to nonchalantly dance around the room with a dozen children in tow while singing Opera, but she pulled it off.  At the end of five songs plus an encore Joanna bowed to a crowd of excited and very moved children.  Some vowed to study music, some were simply shaking and would spend the rest of the evening telling their dumbfounded parents all about opera.  There was also the deaf mute girl who stood up and tried to imitate the singing because for the first time she could feel the singing in her bones.  There were too many touching moments and we cannot describe them all.  But after photos were taken and autographs were signed, Joanna left these children with an experience they may have never had in their lives and I believe they left a little bit of Abadiania in her heart.

Just like a pebble in a pond creates expanding circles of ripples, so the mission John of God has taken on creates ripples around his work.  Many lives are touched by the casa, the soup kitchen and sometimes by unexpected moments such as this one.