Ugive2uganda

UK Registered Charity No. 1115196

Appeal for Uganda’s first Youth Orchestra

Not every child in Africa is hungry. While there is no doubt that some children live in desperate circumstances, many of them have the basics but don’t have anything to do! Put simply, they don’t have the opportunities for cultural and artistic development that exist for children in the UK. This lack of mental stimulation can often take children down the wrong path and lead to the sorts of social problems that you might expect - crime, sexual promiscuity, and so on.

Over the last two years I’ve been working with a charity called the Foundation for the Development of Needy Communities (FDNC) to establish the first brass band in Uganda. FDNC is based in Mbale – a large town in the east of Uganda - and supports a team of health workers, provides youth training in their vocational school, and manages a child sponsorship scheme. It’s a hugely worthwhile charity and an important part of the local community.

Their youth band is not just a brass band as we would know it. The band performs concerts all over the east of Uganda and the fees it earns as a result are one of the few ways that the charity can support itself. So as well as providing a rewarding pastime for the children in the band, it’s also part of the cultural development in the area and a beacon of hope for the future.

I’ve been supporting the band by teaching them to read music, providing them with additional instruments, and by encouraging their development generally. They have very little in the way of equipment and they can’t even afford chairs to sit on!

The band has been improving this year and there is a long waiting list of children keen to learn to play. We have raised enough money to train a local music teacher who, in turn, is providing tuition for the band members.

So we’ve managed to move the band on from the picture above (two years ago) to the picture on the left (now).

One of our greatest achievements has been to raise funds in the UK to enable the band to purchase its own bus (see in the background in the photo) to transport them to engagements. Before we made this possible the band had to travel in a single hired taxi minibus and were involved in a tragic accident in December 2005 through overloading.

But the band still needs support. Many of the instruments are in a poor state and they have no spares or accessories of any type. There’s a huge waiting list for children waiting to learn to play and we’re also keen to start a ‘junior’ or training band.

Alongside the work we’re doing with the brass band we have also decided to embark on an exciting new project to create a music school and the first youth orchestra in Uganda. Obviously this is a major undertaking and will require substantial help from supporters in the UK.

It’s clear that we’ll need the money to buy a complete set of orchestral instruments and, just as importantly, the £3,200 that it will cost for a large shipping container to be sent out to Uganda containing all the instruments. We’ll need to raise around £20,000 for a full set of 100 orchestral instruments unless this cost can be offset by donations of instruments from supporters. On top of this there will be a need for a secure room to be built at the music school for storing the instruments, and we’ll need chairs, music stands, and so on.

So overall, it’s a major undertaking but one that is hugely worthwhile. The orchestra project isn’t some sort of hare-brained scheme. We’ve proved we can create something really exciting with the Brass Band, and it has given children in Mbale their first opportunity for cultural development and the building of self-esteem and comradeship that musical training can create. We’re all very keen to expand this opportunity to greater numbers of children who are desperately waiting to learn to play. There is incredible enthusiasm for this project amongst the children and staff of FDNC.

So I’m appealing for donations of musical instruments of any type in any condition. If you can help in any way please contact me by phone on 0780 193 0404 (eves), by email at phil@ugive2uganda.org, or by post at:

8, Woodlands

Hinchinbrooke Park

Huntingdon

PE29 6JQ

Or see my website at www.ugive2uganda.org

If you can manage instead to contribute to the appeal please make cheques payable to “ugive2uganda” and post them to me at the above address. We’ve already raised £1,600 of the container shipping costs and Oldham Music Services have enabled us to raise the first £1,100 towards the musical instruments.

There is no doubt in my mind that if we can succeed in creating the orchestra the effect of this initiative has the potential to expand beyond Mbale and the borders of Uganda.

Please help me to create a life-changing opportunity for so many children.

Thank you for your support.

Philip Monk

Founder - ugive2uganda

Solo Cornet – Waterbeach Brass

ex-Principal Trumpet - Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra