Like a modern Atlas, Lansana Camara holds up the world for 25 severely disabled orphans in Conakry, Guinea.
Camara lives in Gainesville and makes money by making and selling musical instruments and playing for donations.
He sends the money back to Guinea to support the orphans in addition to his five children and his brother's three.
After saving for years to fly from Guinea to Germany, where he stayed for months to raise enough to travel the rest of the way to the United States, Camara arrived in 2005 and has played as often as possible since his arrival.
"I take care of their shoes, their clothes, their lives," he said.
Camara plays his kora, an African harp he made from wood, nylon and cow skin, for donations at local festivals and events like last week's ONE campaign event to promote awareness of problems in Africa.
In addition to his performances for donations, Camara gives one to two free performances a month during music classes at the Sidney Lanier School for children with severe disabilities.
Camara said he gets $50 or more for playing at a party, wedding or festival, and as soon as he gets enough extra for a plane ticket, he flies to Guinea to spend as much time with his family as he can afford and make more instruments to bring back to the United States.
"They need me there every day to teach them, but when I'm not there, my younger brother teaches them," he said.
In a good month at home, Camara said he and his brother can make up to 20 instruments, which he then sells in the U.S. for $500-$600. Usually, he sells his instruments to school band programs or individuals.
He said that if the children are hungry, though, he will sell them for whatever he can get.
"If they need food," he said, "I have to sell them for almost nothing."
Camara's family, which totals more than 35, lives in a three-bedroom house that costs $100 a month to rent, and $50 worth of rice will only feed his family for about 10-14 days, he said.
In Guinea, the children sing and dance for donations and call themselves Group Laiengee, which means "group together."
Camara is saving to meet a $10,000 goal that would allow him to purchase two vans so the family doesn't have to rent them in order to get to their performances, which is expensive. Walking is too slow, he said, because many are missing limbs or have severe mental disabilities.
"In Guinea, it's a big, big difference from here to there," he said, and homeless children lie in the street waiting to beg for money from travelers on foot. Camara said the vans will also allow them to travel during bad weather.
"Some months, it rains and rains and doesn't stop," he said. "The vans will let us travel anyway."
Camara said his next goal is to lease a building to use as a school and a storefront to sell their instruments in downtown Conakry.
"If I get money today, then I'll go back next week," he said. "I just want to help them."
