WE ARE Volunteering in Africa!
Donation protected
Well..this is random. Why a GoFund Malinda?
Because on Thanksgiving Day, as a young girl, I asked my mother if we could volunteer at the Soup Kitchen. She said that the Soup Kitchen did not need help on Thanksgiving Day. They needed help in June, when no one remembered or could be bothered.
My Friends, June is here...and it has been June for a long time.
Soon, four short weeks from now, it will be my great privilege to fly to Tanzania, where I will volunteer at Korongoni Secondary School with Daraja Music Initiative. DMI, now in its sixth year, began with one woman, a suitcase full of donated clarinets, a dodgy NGO, and the belief that she could make a real difference in the world through music.
Why Clarinets, and why Tanzania?
Michele, the founder for DMI, set out for Africa with two main goals. She wanted to teach music, which she believed would help young people develop problem solving skills, facilitate self-suffiency, and provide a healthy creative outlet. The second goal was to replenish the African Blackwood trees, native to Tanzania, from whence the instruments come. While the trees have long been used for clarinets, the purchase of an instrument was never a fiscal possibility for the locals, nor was the ability to learn it.
When DMI first started in 2010, 50 trees were planted at Korongoni Secondary School. Now, six years later, over a thousand trees have been planted at numerous schools and orphanages. DMI started with one person and vision. Now, DMI has a Board of Directors, volunteer clarinettists, volunteers string players, volunteer conservationists, and for the first time this year, a volunteer singer.
Last I checked, I was a soprano...
So, yes. I'm a singer. As a 10 year old, darajamusicinitiative.org I desperately wanted to play clarinet, but I was told that we could not afford the $50 to buy the used instrument. I vividly remember the conversation with my mother. I was sitting at our kitchen table. And I was heart-broken.
My father had died several years earlier, leaving us in terrible financial distress. My mother, alone with a whole mess of kids, was just trying to keep us alive. A musical instrument was not a priority, and my voice was free. So into the choir, I went. And my fate was sealed...that heart-broken day, at the kitchen table.
It is impossible to count the number of times I have been turned away from volunteering, because all I had to offer was my voice, my time, my brain, and my hard work. DMI wants me for all of these things, and I cannot begin to describe my relief in hearing, "Come. The children have never heard a voice like yours. They love to sing."
So, for a month, I'm going to be at the base (ish) of Kiliminjaro, where I will teach singing, language through world music, and beginning theory (God help us all). We'll all plant trees, promote sustainability, and give concerts. And I'll do anything else that they ask of me, which I think will be, you know...a lot. Have Soprano, Will Improv.
Why you?
Because I believe you want to make a difference, too, and this is a real chance to leave things a little better than we found them. Because funding this thing on my own is really hard. Because when we do something together that is hard or scary, we share in the burden and the joy.
...and because the proverbial June really is here...
What's the semi-bottom line?
Four Weeks' Expenses are as follows:
Turkish Airlines: $1,700
Room and Partial Board: $1,000
Visa: $250
Medical Vaccinations: $300
Music and Supplies: $100
My thanks: Value is intangible.
Total: $3,350.
For more info: www.darajamusicinitative.org
Because on Thanksgiving Day, as a young girl, I asked my mother if we could volunteer at the Soup Kitchen. She said that the Soup Kitchen did not need help on Thanksgiving Day. They needed help in June, when no one remembered or could be bothered.
My Friends, June is here...and it has been June for a long time.
Soon, four short weeks from now, it will be my great privilege to fly to Tanzania, where I will volunteer at Korongoni Secondary School with Daraja Music Initiative. DMI, now in its sixth year, began with one woman, a suitcase full of donated clarinets, a dodgy NGO, and the belief that she could make a real difference in the world through music.
Why Clarinets, and why Tanzania?
Michele, the founder for DMI, set out for Africa with two main goals. She wanted to teach music, which she believed would help young people develop problem solving skills, facilitate self-suffiency, and provide a healthy creative outlet. The second goal was to replenish the African Blackwood trees, native to Tanzania, from whence the instruments come. While the trees have long been used for clarinets, the purchase of an instrument was never a fiscal possibility for the locals, nor was the ability to learn it.
When DMI first started in 2010, 50 trees were planted at Korongoni Secondary School. Now, six years later, over a thousand trees have been planted at numerous schools and orphanages. DMI started with one person and vision. Now, DMI has a Board of Directors, volunteer clarinettists, volunteers string players, volunteer conservationists, and for the first time this year, a volunteer singer.
Last I checked, I was a soprano...
So, yes. I'm a singer. As a 10 year old, darajamusicinitiative.org I desperately wanted to play clarinet, but I was told that we could not afford the $50 to buy the used instrument. I vividly remember the conversation with my mother. I was sitting at our kitchen table. And I was heart-broken.
My father had died several years earlier, leaving us in terrible financial distress. My mother, alone with a whole mess of kids, was just trying to keep us alive. A musical instrument was not a priority, and my voice was free. So into the choir, I went. And my fate was sealed...that heart-broken day, at the kitchen table.
It is impossible to count the number of times I have been turned away from volunteering, because all I had to offer was my voice, my time, my brain, and my hard work. DMI wants me for all of these things, and I cannot begin to describe my relief in hearing, "Come. The children have never heard a voice like yours. They love to sing."
So, for a month, I'm going to be at the base (ish) of Kiliminjaro, where I will teach singing, language through world music, and beginning theory (God help us all). We'll all plant trees, promote sustainability, and give concerts. And I'll do anything else that they ask of me, which I think will be, you know...a lot. Have Soprano, Will Improv.
Why you?
Because I believe you want to make a difference, too, and this is a real chance to leave things a little better than we found them. Because funding this thing on my own is really hard. Because when we do something together that is hard or scary, we share in the burden and the joy.
...and because the proverbial June really is here...
What's the semi-bottom line?
Four Weeks' Expenses are as follows:
Turkish Airlines: $1,700
Room and Partial Board: $1,000
Visa: $250
Medical Vaccinations: $300
Music and Supplies: $100
My thanks: Value is intangible.
Total: $3,350.
For more info: www.darajamusicinitative.org
Organizer
Malinda Haslett
Organizer
Terryville, NY