Exactly 365 days ago, on my 50th birthday, I shared my dream of making music education more accessible to children in Nigeria and beyond and formally launched the Making a Difference Initiative. So many of you generously gave of your hard earned resources to support the cause. Thank you!In the ensuing 12 months, we were able to hire and commence the training of a part-time music coach, giving him an opportunity to plug the gaps in his knowledge of music and equipping him with 21st century teaching skills.We delivered music lessons in two schools in Lagos free of charge, one of which is a school predominantly for children with special education needs.Our desire to make music more accessible to children with physical and learning disabilities led us to another round of fundraising which would allow us to purchase the first ever Soundbeam sold to the African continent. Our African Sounbeam featured in our summer concert held last month.
In April, we launched our “Access to Music” scholarship program, offering between 50% – 100% scholarships to children at the beginning of their music learning journey, who would otherwise not be able to afford to take lessons. We now have 10 scholars currently taking lessons, some of whom are children with special educational needs. None of these milestones would have been possible without your faith and generosity.Today, on my 51st birthday, I would like to extend an invitation to you to the after-party, as we launch our “Adopt a School” campaign, where you get to directly become a change agent, by helping to pay for the logistical costs associated with teaching in schools in Lagos State, Nigeria.You see, since the removal of fuel subsidy at the end of May, the cost of travel has in some cases doubled, even tripled, making it much more expensive for us to get to the schools we seek to serve. By adopting a school, you will help us to sustainably extend our reach into more schools in the next academic year. Some of the most needy schools we seek to serve are quite a distance from our centres and will cost in the region of N15,000 (£15 / $20 USD) per round trip or N180,000 (£180 / $230 USD) per term. This is because we need to take all our musical instruments and equipment with us, as the schools, typically, have nothing, and we cannot safely and reliably do so on public transport.
So, the party is still very much on, the music is playing, the drinks are flowing, and you get to enjoy the energy and comadearie of this next phase. To make a one-off or recurring donation, please follow this link.
Thank you.
Kunbi Osinoiki
Co-founder and CEO