Kododo School in Tanzania

Earlier this year Simon Smith, Head of Music at Amery Hill School in Alton, visited Kododo School in Tanzania.

The Kododo Project

The Kododo project aims to help resource and develop the primary school in a remote village in the Uluguru Mountains of Central Tanzania. Since October we at Amery Hill School have worked hard to raise money for the project, using our profile as a Specialist School for Music in the process. Through various concerts, a BigSing event, a Battle of the Bands and a non-school uniform day, we have raised £1500 so far, a tribute to the hard work of staff and students and the generosity of those who supported the events.

I visited Kododo for the first time in February with my wife Hannah. The first thing that struck me was how isolated and far removed from other communities the Kododo is. As we neared the village along a recently carved dirt track, we were warmly greeted by the sound of excitable children running out towards us. The money that we had raised went towards 160 recorders, which we distributed as gifts alongside school dresses donated by Chawton Primary School. The whole school performed their village song to us before we sung together Swahili songs that we had learnt prior to our visit. We took one of these songs, Jambo, and, after they had finished making as much noise as possible, taught it to the children on the recorders! Our time ended with Hannah performing her violin amidst a sea of faces that looked on with intrigue and bewilderment.

It was wonderful to see the unity and joy that music brings and to see the impact that we can have on those less fortunate than ourselves. We are hoping that our money goes towards new desks and new sets of text books in the near future and that this will be the start of a long-term relationship between Amery Hill and Kododo. We are already seeing the difference we can make.

Simon Smith
Head of Music – Amery Hill School

You can visit the Kododo school on our 2 week South Tanzania holiday - Hakuna Matata.