Ship a guitar to Salum in Tanzania

In 2020, Grace Guitar Ministries raised funds to purchase a new guitar for Salum, who lives in Tanzania. Shortly after, the pandemic hit and international shipping became a complex situation - I heard stories about shipments being massively delayed or held indefinitely in quarantine. So shipping the guitar was delayed because of that.

In October of 2022, we raised $475 from a Livestream event to ship the guitar to Tanzania. I did get a quote from a shipping company called Pack & Send, and they estimated that it would cost almost $1,400 and possibly more for taxes, handling, stamp duty, etc.

Salum has faithfully and diligently studied guitar with me for several years and has shown incredible progress. He's currently playing a makeshift steel string guitar with nylon strings attached. It's virtually impossible to purchase a proper classical guitar in Tanzania.

I want to thank everyone who donated to purchase Salum's beautiful new guitar. It's a Katoh model MCG 128S valued at AUD 1799.

The program included works by Tarrega, Albeniz, Barrios and composers from The Creative Classical Guitarist

Here's Salum's story in his own words:

"I was born in a Christian family. Our parents raised us in a Godly manner (all thanks to them). We would not miss church unless it were our duty to keep the animals (cows and goats)

I joined a Church Choir in my early teen. Our Church Choir used electric guitars, which were locally made. I started learning rhythm and Bass guitars. I remember the rhythm guitar had three strings, and the bass had four lines. That rhythm guitar caught my interest.

I left home for Secondary School. I had happiness mixed with worry because it was my first time traveling from my village to a distant town.

Though I grew up in a Christian family, I never thought religion was a personal issue. While in secondary school, I received Jesus as my personal savior and got baptized.

The guitar was a forgotten story until I was in Advanced Secondary School. There was a friend who played an acoustic guitar. It revived my interest, and I decided to buy an acoustic guitar one day. I bought my acoustic guitar while in college. My interest in music/guitar grew. I started self-learning through YouTube.

Through YouTube searching, I found classical guitar music that greatly interested me. I listened to music by Anna Vidovic, Gohar V, John Williams, Rodrigo Rodriguez, and others.

I made up my mind I would learn classical guitar, though it seemed tough.

In our place, it is not easy to get a classical guitar. I installed nylon strings on my acoustic guitar and started learning.

I thank God for making it possible to have online classes with Dr. Daniel.

I look forward to serving the Lord and the Community through Classical Guitar."