Community based volunteering including building projects, health care and professional roles.
Join a variety of local building projects in rural remote and poor villages in Uganda, no prior knowledge or specific skills are required for this kind of work, just willingness to have a go. You will work with very friendly people in some of the most beautiful locations in the country, working with a small charities and projects.
There are also opportunities for those with professional skills like teacher, Doctors, nurses, social workers, Knitting and crafts,conservation and environment and so on

Volunteer in child care, care homes, orphanages and other children related projects in Uganda.
This is a unique opportunity to play a life-changing role in the lives of some of Uganda’s most under privileged children. No previous experience is needed here as well, just an abundance of enthusiasm and a desire to make a difference even if just for a short time.

Teaching volunteering work projects in Uganda , including teaching English, Music and drama, art and other subjects at primary and secondary school level.Education is very important to Ugandan young people and those who can be educated to Secondary level will have much better opportunities in life.All lessons are taught in English which makes it easier for our visiting teacher. For people who do not have formal teaching qualification, there are opportunities for you to work as an assistant in a class with local teachers.

Tailor made school expedition, tours and field trips to Uganda with a focus on student development through training, planning, challenge and cultural immersion. School tours and trips are mostly done during the summer holidays for school groups. The School teams are given chance to take part in community projects, volunteering, adventure & cultural activities in a range of exciting and challenging locations in Uganda.

Have a look here on our website if you want to organise a trip for your school, youth group, Church group, family or just want to go out as an individual. get in touch now or check www.msafiri.co.uk

Cost: £25 per person or £10 per hour per person if you have more than 3 people.

I want to invite you to to consider inviting Abantu arts to your school or group so we get chance to work together to deliver skilled African arts and music projects for your people. We at Abantu arts look forward to having an opportunity to talk and work with many of you this new school academic year.

Tips on  buying a good african drum

Check for good wood – traditional jembes and Ngoma drums  if made by artisans in Africa are carved out of a single piece of hardwood. Before you buy check the  drum shell  and dont buy the drum  with any cracks or chips on the wood.

check the Rope – check for weak areas in the binding rope or string in case of Ngoma drums from Uganda. If the string is loose or weak  dont buy the drum because restringing a drum can be a hard job and eparts arenot easy to come by in Europe.

Check the drum skin  - Most goat or cow  drum skins for Ngoma and even djembe  are mostly shaved with a razor or some times very haro knives. Some times can damage the skin if not done carefully. If you are buying a djembe Turn the drum upside down so you can look inside it and  hold it up towards the light to check the drum skin for possible  problems. Thinner parst of the skin will let more light through and will appear lighter and if the skin looks very thin  those points will easily  tear easily. The Ngoma drums from Uganda are not easy to examine like this because you have cow skin all around them but examine the top of the drum.

Check fr wood insects – Small insects in wood  could destroy your drum in no time, so check for tiny holes in the wood and give the drum a bit of a knock to see if it’s shedding sawdust. You might need to spry the drum with disinfectant when you get it just incase.

Drum skin should be nice and  tight – Newly skinned drums  weather Ngoma from Uganda or Djembe from West Africa can’t be tightened too much at first for risk of breaking but  a good djembe skin should be  alsmost as tight as a rock . If you press your thumb into the middle of the drum  and you get quite a bit of movement, it could probably be tightened so ask them to make it tighter for you else dont buy becaus eit will get loose once you have had it a few months.

Check for sound.  It’s difficult to know what sound  to listen for if you’re a new drummer, but take time to listen carefully before you buy. If what you wnat is a deep bass  (lower) sounding drum in case of djembe, look for a drum with heavy wood, a large face and a thick drum skin.

Tight Djembe  (higher sound)  thse are generally smaller, lighter and some times have thinner drum skin. But even then the drum should have a strong even resonance, but not ringy when you play it.

Standing  - Check that your drum stands straight and is symmetrical when resting on flat ground.

Check that the metal rings are on straight. It is nice for the wood to have a nice colour .

Weight : Dont buy buy a very heavy or large drum if you want to take it to  placesbut if you also  buy a small  decorative djembe it may not be playable at all or harder to  get the variety of osunds needed .

Get A Strap:  There are various djembe straps available made of  nylon or canvas.

Buy a djembe Bag: You can buy bags for drums of any size from us or any other online stores. Durable designs are made of multiple layers of canvas with  padded linings with shoulder straps, zips and pouches. There are bags made in Africa  of simple cloth with double-stitching to help withstand the weight of the drum on the straps.

There are opportunities opening up for us in Europe which we are eager to take on. We might also feature in Perth in Australia at the commonwealth heads of state meeting there so watch this space too.

Back in Devon we are looking  for gifted musicians able to be part of a group of very keen African musicians so if you know of any one ask them to get in touch with us.

If you have any ideas of what you would like to see happen next year, why don’t you share that with us and we see if we could make it happen.

We would love to hear your thoughts.

Denis

Black History month of October is nearly here, we are now working on programs and projects for that. If you are a school. college, youth group or community looking for fun, inclusive, informative African music projects for your group please contact us now. We will work with you in the fields of African drumming, African dance, African story telling, crafts work and more. Contact us now