Wynton House of Music in conjunction with Sauti Academy presents:
Life & Love charity concert
(in assistance of St Philips Mathare)
28th of November 2009
Venue: Ramoma Art Gallery (Parklands)
An introduction of St. Philips Mathare
St. Philips School Mathare was founded with the objective of helping destitute children in the poverty stricken slum of Mathare Valley, Nairobi, Kenya. The school caters for children aged two and a half years to seventeen years of age.
Although most schools have better and modern facilities for learning, the students of St. Philips still dream of a better future through the opportunities they are given in school. Since the community surrounding the school is full of poverty, many of the children are the first in their family to pursue education.
All of the children in St. Philips come from extremely poor backgrounds. Many can not afford to buy a school uniform or the school fees of about 1750 Ksh per trimester. As the home situation of most of the students does not guarantee a daily meal, St. Philips runs a successful feeding program which is funded by well wishers. Unfortunately, the sponsors that were catering for this and for the staff wages (which are equivalent to about 2000 Ksh per month) pulled out due to financial difficulties earlier this year and up to date St. Philips is in desperate search of funds to continue the feeding program and the teachings.
If you want to assist in meeting these basic needs that are vital for the continuation of this great school, please contact head master and project founder Wilson Otemo Andenyi on: stphilipsmathare@yahoo.com
Wynton House of Music
Wynton House of Music is a school that offers instruction in various musical instruments, including piano, guitar, violin, drums, clarinet, recorder, flute, trumpet, and saxophone. We also offer instruction in music theory and voice. Our courses are student oriented, taking into account the students’ aspirations and needs.
Wynton House of Music’s main philanthropic pursuit stems from its partnership with St. Phillips Mathare Primary School. Initially, Wynton’s association with St. Phillip’s related to preparations for the Kenya Schools Music Festival, but this has since grown to an involvement in the day to day affairs of St. Phillips. After organizing two successful fundraising events last year (a concert at Karura Chapel and a Christmas play at Village Market) the Life and Love charity concert is another effort by Wynton House of Music to assist the children at St. Philips in continuing their education.
Sauti Academy
Sauti Academy provides voice lessons for youth from disadvantaged backgrounds who do not have the opportunity to pay for classes at a regular music school. By reaching out to the youth in their own environment, Sauti Academy hopes to provide opportunities for youth to enhance on their musical talent and possibly develop it to a professional level.
After Wynton House of Music organized two successful fundraising concerts for St. Philips in December 2008, Natalie Lukkenaer (voice teacher and initiator of Sauti Academy) visited the school to see the setting in which the project was taking place. During the visit she was inspired by the teachers’ passion for helping children in very difficult circumstances. During the meeting Mr. Andenyi clearly expressed his passion for music while proudly showing the prizes they had won during the annual Kenyan music festival. This is when the idea was born to start music workshops for the children at St. Philips. Soon after that Natalie was contacted by a group of Belgian music and dance teachers from Musica to organize a cultural exchange program for them. After discussing this with Mr. Andenyi they decided to have the teachers do a one-week daily program at St. Philips, teaching dance and music. To stimulate the process of cultural exchange we added a Kenyan dance teacher and African acrobatics team to the program.
When the week of arts was over, the children kept on asking if we would come back. The program had been a great success with spontaneous outbursts of dance, singing and tumbling throughout the week. After discussing this with the visitors, they decided to provide a small sponsor budget which enabled us to continue the program. We have been working in Mathare since March 2009 under the name MAD; Music, Acrobatics and Dance. In June 2009 we added a new teacher to our team to teach rap.
As the Kenyan primary school curriculum mainly focuses on academics, the art program opens up the creative side of the children. They have gained self confidence, physical fitness, developed communication skills which really helped the children to open up. Apart from gaining social skills art might eventually become an income generating activity for those who do not have the opportunity to pursue secondary education.
Life & Love charity concert
All proceeds of the Life & Love concert will go towards St. Philips Mathare. We aim to raise Ksh 1.000.000. Proceeds will be spend on:
● St Philips food program and other basic needs
● MAD performing arts workshops
The following donations are also recommended:
● Mattresses
● School uniforms
● Clothes (including sports clothes)
● Shoes (including sports shoes)
Or enroll in a special program:
Sponsor a child at St. Philips Mathare
One of the biggest challenges that St. Philips is facing is that the parents can not afford to pay the school fees. Since St. Philips is an informal school (registered as a community based organization) the school fees are relatively high. However, due to the highly understanding administration at St. Philips, children are rarely being sent home because of school fees. This causes St. Philips to be facing financial challenges throughout the year.
Total cost for a child to go to school at St. Philips (including schoolfees & uniform) per year:
Pre-school: Ksh 4750
Class 1 – 6 : Ksh 5950
Class 7 – 8: Ksh 6800
For more information…
● Sauti Academy / MAD performing arts workshops
Email: nlukkenaer@gmail.com
Website: www.sautiacademy.wordpress.com
● St. Philips Mathare
Introduction clip: www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBBJnpaSdGs
E-mail: stphilipsmathare@yahoo.com
● Wynton House of Music
E-mail: wyntonhouseofmusic@gmail.com
