Let’s sing together: Amala alumnus David discusses music’s potential to bring about positive change in our communities
Amala High School Diploma alumnus David is a 22 year old musician, and now mentor, living in Kakuma Refugee Camp who aims to contribute to the betterment of his community and the world through the art of music.
He is a firm believer in the potential that young people have to bring about change, and has dedicated himself to teaching and encouraging young musicians to use their talents to transform society. An advocate for accessible quality education, David is currently developing various music programmes which he hopes will someday become the foundations of a music school for the youth of Kakuma Refugee Camp.
David on graduation day
David shared that for him Amala was not just an opportunity to complete his high school education, but a life-changing experience that completely changed the way he viewed community, and the importance of community service. Linking to Amala’s name deriving from the Arabic word for hope, David said, “For me, Amala is indeed hope, a hope for all refugees in the world and I am very grateful to be part of Amala’s growing community.”
“I loved everything they talked about and I wanted to join them… I remember thinking: Wow! My dreams of finishing high school are about to come true.”
David first heard of Amala through one of his friends, Ring Ake, who, at the time, was prototyping his Amala project. Upon seeing and discussing the project Ring was working on, and visiting the Amala centre and speaking to the facilitators, David was convinced.
It wasn’t all smooth sailing at first. He shares how in the beginning he found it hard to connect, and found the programme somewhat complicated, as it did not resemble any other education he’d received to date— but as soon as he understood its methodology and perspectives he quickly caught up.
“Every course was designed to help me grow. Amala changed my mindset; until then I was only dreaming of doing things that benefitted me, but Amala taught me that we have to be active agents for social transformation to take place. That is our role as youths.”
“I loved every course. Through Amala I developed a new mindset…the mindset of seeing myself as a global citizen and an active agent of social transformation.”
He recalls being surprised with the material in his first course at Amala, Ethical Leadership, as it introduced him to a very different understanding of leadership than the one he’d previously associated with the role. “It was a very new topic, a new concept, and I was like, “Wow. We have a lot of things to do in my community…” I came to understand that being a leader is not a matter of position or rank, but of one’s ability to do what is needed in the community and to be a responsible member of society.” He explains how inspiring this realisation was for him, as it gave him the capacity to view himself as a leader, and thus lent him the agency to begin creating change himself.
With this new mindset, David wanted to focus on empowering young people, specifically under-18s, to use their talents for the betterment of the community. As a musician himself, David was particularly interested in the power that the arts can have in creating change. It was from this point of view that he began designing a music programme for his Amala Personal Interest Project (PIP). As time went by, his ambition grew; his dream now being to open a music school, with the music programme he began developing at Amala being the first step towards making that a reality.
“Amala is a very wonderful place for someone to learn and to understand what issues our community faces.”
All this has consolidated into David's biggest project yet: the Tuimbe Pamoja Movement, which takes its name from the Swahili phrase “let’s sing together.” David frustratedly tells us that despite there being more than seven million working musicians in the world, 97% of them stick to singing love songs, rather than exploring topics that serve and meet the needs of the world.
“The world is in need of inspiring messages, messages that can positively influence people from different backgrounds, and in all parts of the world, to become active agents for the transformation of the world.”
With this in mind, David began asking himself questions. “How can we channel the talents, abilities and capacities of young people all over the world towards the betterment and the transformation of the world? How can we help the current generation and the coming generations to be active agents for the betterment of the world?”
He believes that the Tuimbe Pamoja Movement is the answer to those questions. Under the mantra of “tunaweza” which is Swahili for ‘we can’, David hopes to encourage people, no matter their background, gender, or physical ability, to develop and apply their talents for the greater good. Through the movement he invites young people to begin thinking about how they can utilise their talents to inspire positive change in their communities, and the world.
He plans for the larger part of the movement to be providing youth with seminars and mentorship programmes that help them learn how to focus their talents towards social betterment, as well as musical instrument training courses to develop their musical ability. These educational components will be supplemented by socially geared seminars on topics such as gender equality or unity and peace. The latter courses would ideally be delivered in art form, —songs,theatre, storytelling, drawings— so that the students not only engage in the initiatives that are taking place in their communities, but have tangible examples of the power the arts can have in bringing awareness and advocacy.
“Education plays a key role in individual and collective transformation.”
Currently, David is working with a group of five young people, aged 12 to 17, helping them learn guitar and singing, with the aim of inspiring them to use their talents to write songs which transmit positive messages throughout the community. David hopes for the group to continue meeting regularly to stay focused on their objective, as well as for the group to grow to include more and more talented young musicians.
“My EP is called Transformation, because I am aiming to inspire people all over the world to rise and become active agents of their societies, to transform themselves, to transform the world.”
On top of developing the Tuimbe Pamoja Movement, David is currently studying music production, with a focus on piano, at the Music-Inn International School of Music in Nairobi; and hopes to one day put his skills towards his dream of opening a music school in Kakuma. He is also working on his first EP (Extended Play), with the songs taking inspiration d from the knowledge he gained at Amala and the Baha'i (faith) community-building he takes part in.
Through this collection of songs, all which focus on socially relevant topics, such as equality, unity, and peace, David hopes to encourage both current and coming generations to look beyond themselves and begin working towards building a higher version of themselves, and of the global community.
“I came to realise that the best thing we can do in our community is to offer service that will help all of us to grow together, because we depend on one another. It doesn’t matter how talented or educated I am, I will still need the support of other people, so I must show love to all people, and live in peace and harmony; and the best way to do that is to interact with them, socialise with them, talk to them. Learning this was the best part of the Amala programme, and it really helped me; and that is why I say I have a new mindset: I’m not only Congolese, but a citizen of the world.”
Find David on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok
Find more of David’s music on YouTube: @davidmateso