Kamuli Community Brass Band: Instruments, Food & Medicine

© courtesy Kamuli Community Brass Band

“This is my friend Tibagalika Geofrey’s Community Brass Band program for children in Kamuli, Uganda. Right now they are in SERIOUS need of money for food, Malaria medication and mosquito nets. Very small amounts are VERY helpful and all funds get directly into the right hands.
Thank you ONE & ALL!!”

Tom Myron

GOFUNDME.COM

Kamuli Community Brass Band is founded in Uganda in East Africa in the district of Kamuli. It’s helping the disadvantaged children and youth (age 8 to 25 years) through a brass and jazz band. This can help them to acquire different skills, for example music by developing their talents attaining vocational skills by taking them to a vocation technical school/institute after primary and secondary levels through the children and youth empowerment program.

The band project has 140 children and they are sharing only 24 used instruments and most of them are in poor playing conditions, these children join the band free of charge and we teach them practical and theory part of music.

How I regulate is through making different groups basing on the level they are at and also the age. Registration is free of charge I don't charge any fee to join the band because the objective of this band project is to help the less privileged people through music.

© courtesy Kamuli Community Brass Band

On the issue of few Instruments. I have groups and they practice and do rehearsals at different schedules.

The first group has 30 players that already read and play music well and they practice on Thursday and Friday every week.  At 4pm to 6pm.

A second group has 40 players and we divide them in two groups so everyone is able to use the Instruments. Each group trains for two days a week starting at 4pm to 6pm. These ones can play but not so perfect like the first group.

And the 3rd group  has the largest number of 60. These ones are dived into two groups of 30. They spend much of the time on the theoretical part and on how to blow Instruments using the spare mouth pieces we have. They also play in shifts and since most of them are in primary school that is out at 1 pm, they start theory and practice at exactly 2 pm up to 3 pm  every day Monday to Friday .
Then on Saturday and Sunday we do theory classes for all the groups and few practical sessions on Sunday for only group 1 and 2.

Kamuli community brass band  has 140 children in the band but due to the Covid-19 I had to release 100 children (those who have families they can go to) so we had to remain with 40 children .these one are total orphans .we have to look after them with feeding and other Basic needs.
Since the pandemic (covid19) we have no any other source of income because the activities where we could get some incomes are still closed and therefore we are only depending on  support from friends .it's a pity that we can't get any support from the government and we have been in elections for the political positions in the country, so the situation has not come to fair yet .

© courtesy Kamuli Community Brass Band

The truth is we are really suffering with feeding the children and we can't send them away because they do not have any other home to go other than our orphanage . We fortunately sometimes get some food from our band garden but unfortunately it can't feed them for many months because it can't produce enough food.

Since March when the government put a lockdown and until September when it started easing on the lockdown things are not okay .. We thank friends who have always stood with us through these hard situation, we are so grateful for your kind support.

Some days we feed on porridge or one meal a day so that we minimize on the food we'll be having in the store..

Right now I am looking for some finances to support us through, so that we buy food for the children. Kindly donate through this link. It will reach to the children of Kamuli community brass band.

Any amount counts and saves.

Kamulibrassband.org
https://www.facebook.com/kamulicommunitybrassband/

Our major challenge are instruments and feeding for the children in the orphanage. THANK'S FOR YOUR SUPPORT !!!

© Tibagalika Geofrey