Call for support: Malawi Music Project aims to inspire 30 youngsters

Music Crossroads Malawi is inviting these young people to come to their school for a week to learn about music, practice with each other, perform and record an original song. These students will study about music theory, song writing, traditional music, hip-hop, how to share a message through music and lots more.

Malawi Music Project (MMP) is a collaboration between the United States Peace Corps and Music Crossroads Malawi, which began in 2008. The Project brings 15 youth from Lilongwe and 15 youth from rural communities around Malawi together for a week-long training in the biology, prevention and social implications of HIV/Aids, as well as the history of Malawian music, songwriting, music structure, theory, stage presence and music entrepreneurship.

The students are then put into bands and asked to arrange an original song around the chosen themes. At the end of the project, the bands have an opportunity to record their respective tracks. The original song each of the six bands write and compose will share what they have learned about HIV/Aids throughout the week, including health safety, the larger social implications and their role as messengers. There will also be a Battle of the Bands contest open to the community on the last day of the camp.

Students leave MMP equipped with the knowledge to spread messages about HIV/Aids and other cross-cutting issues through their emerging music ability and their dedication to see Malawi rise above its HIV/Aids infection rates and the social stigma attached to the virus. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for these young musicians to come together and have uninhibited freedom to pursue their passion.

To achieve this, the organisers of the Malawi Music Project 2016 have set up a fundraising campaign to raise $5 000 for participants' transportation from rural communities to Lilongwe (and back), as well as their lodging at a hostel in Lilongwe. With nearly 60% of the target already raised, the organisers have extended the deadline, calling on supporters to donate the remaining amount before 19 March.

For more information on the project, visit the MMP website. To show your support by donating funds, visit the MMP fundraising page.