The creativity of Colin Gibson's music and Margaret Mahy's words will combine in Dunedin next month to raise money for a humanitarian project half a world away.
Emeritus Prof Gibson, a retired professor of English at the University of Otago and a respected composer of hymns, has set about 15 of Mahy's children's poems to music for piano and choir.
A selection of them will be premiered in Dunedin on May 23.
Mahy, who lives near Christchurch, had accepted an invitation to attend, Prof Gibson said.
"She sounded very delighted to be asked. It will be an opportunity to give something back.
Such a great New Zealander deserves some sort of creative response."
The evening recital, to be held in the Mornington Methodist Church, will raise money for rainwater collection tanks for Palestinian families living in the West Bank, the area occupied and controlled by Israel.
The seven congregations in the Dunedin Methodist parish, plus All Saints Anglican church and Knox Presbyterian Church together hope to raise $5000 to add to the New Zealand target of $82,000.
Prof Gibson, who has been the organist at the Mornington Methodist Church for more than 50 years, said he hoped the concert would raise a substantial portion of the Dunedin contribution.
He said he had been working on the compositions for about three years. They would be sung by the Mornington Methodist choir. Mahy would also talk about her work and read some of her children's books and poetry.
Water in Palestine comes mainly from underground aqui-fers. Israel controls the water and the Palestinians are not allowed to sink or repair wells.
Accessing water was "a grim world" for Palestinian families, particularly mothers, Prof Gibson said.
After hearing a presentation about the situation, several Dunedin church decided to help.
"We thought we could do something about this ... rather than just wringing our hands, saying `how terrible' and doing nothing."
Dunedin peace activist Christina Gibb, who spent 13 months working in the West Bank town of Hebron between 2004 and 2007, said yesterday she was "delighted" the Dunedin churches were doing something to help Palestinian families.
