HIV Awareness Music Project -Entusi
Tax deductible
HAMP-Entusi 2015 - website
Our mission is to use music and the arts to improve people's health and well-being, and promote community-based development initiatives in Southwestern Uganda. In order to do this, we must Listen, Think, Act
The Problem: HIV prevalence in Uganda has risen to 7.2% of the population, the 10th highest level on earth. This amounts to an estimated 1.4 million people, including 190,000 children. An estimated 62,000 people died from AIDS in 2011 and 1.1 million children have been orphaned by Uganda's devastating epidemic.
The Solution: In January 2014, a group of American academics and activists who doubled as musicians came together at the Entusi Retreat Center on the shores of Lake Bunyonyi under the auspices of the Global Livingston Institute. Together they formulated a plan to produce a music festival in Southwest Uganda to promote HIV awareness, bridge cultural divides, and boost the local economy. From October 20-24, the Americans met with traditional Ruchiga folk singers and musicians as well as headliner hip-hop stars from Rwanda and northern Uganda. In four days they put together an entire set list of musical collaborations, from folk to reggae to rap and back in five different languages. They even found time to record three tracks at a studio in Kabale!
The concert was held on October 25. The producers and musicians hoped that 2,000 people would attend and perhaps as many as 200 would be willing to take a free HIV test at the on-site facility. That did not happen.
More than 4,000 people came, making it the largest free concert in Uganda. Equally as incredible, 826 people were tested for HIV. Referral services for treatment and further medical exams were eagerly received and the community now has a meaningful foundation upon which to launch future initiatives.
The people of SW Uganda expressed their extreme satisfaction with the festival and we are in the midst of planning another one, even bigger and more effective in 2015. The date is set for October 17, the artists are being selected, and people from around the world have already started purchasing their plane tickets.
Will YOU be part of this historic event ?
Your contribution goes directly to:
Purchasing hundreds of rapid oral HIV tests
Providing a women's health tent offering free exams to the destitute
Distributing thousands of condoms and information packets in the Kabale District
Employing dozens of musicians, construction workers, electricians, and vendors
Funding dozens of workshops by and for the local community in everything from women's self-defense classes to proper condom usage
Feeding and housing a small army of volunteers from around the world
Providing security for the concert
We can't do this without you;
Please lend your support; make a donation below.
Our mission is to use music and the arts to improve people's health and well-being, and promote community-based development initiatives in Southwestern Uganda. In order to do this, we must Listen, Think, Act
The Problem: HIV prevalence in Uganda has risen to 7.2% of the population, the 10th highest level on earth. This amounts to an estimated 1.4 million people, including 190,000 children. An estimated 62,000 people died from AIDS in 2011 and 1.1 million children have been orphaned by Uganda's devastating epidemic.
The Solution: In January 2014, a group of American academics and activists who doubled as musicians came together at the Entusi Retreat Center on the shores of Lake Bunyonyi under the auspices of the Global Livingston Institute. Together they formulated a plan to produce a music festival in Southwest Uganda to promote HIV awareness, bridge cultural divides, and boost the local economy. From October 20-24, the Americans met with traditional Ruchiga folk singers and musicians as well as headliner hip-hop stars from Rwanda and northern Uganda. In four days they put together an entire set list of musical collaborations, from folk to reggae to rap and back in five different languages. They even found time to record three tracks at a studio in Kabale!
The concert was held on October 25. The producers and musicians hoped that 2,000 people would attend and perhaps as many as 200 would be willing to take a free HIV test at the on-site facility. That did not happen.
More than 4,000 people came, making it the largest free concert in Uganda. Equally as incredible, 826 people were tested for HIV. Referral services for treatment and further medical exams were eagerly received and the community now has a meaningful foundation upon which to launch future initiatives.
The people of SW Uganda expressed their extreme satisfaction with the festival and we are in the midst of planning another one, even bigger and more effective in 2015. The date is set for October 17, the artists are being selected, and people from around the world have already started purchasing their plane tickets.
Will YOU be part of this historic event ?
Your contribution goes directly to:
Purchasing hundreds of rapid oral HIV tests
Providing a women's health tent offering free exams to the destitute
Distributing thousands of condoms and information packets in the Kabale District
Employing dozens of musicians, construction workers, electricians, and vendors
Funding dozens of workshops by and for the local community in everything from women's self-defense classes to proper condom usage
Feeding and housing a small army of volunteers from around the world
Providing security for the concert
We can't do this without you;
Please lend your support; make a donation below.
Organizer
Andrew Ward
Organizer
Global Livingston Institute
Registered nonprofit
Donations are typically 100% tax deductible in the US.
