Container filled with musical instruments shipped to Alex school

MC Weiler Primary School was the recipient of a container full of more than 300 different musical instruments shipped by a German philanthropist.

Musician and theatre artist, Ingo Hagemann, founder of the non-governmental organisation, One Child One Instrument, came all the way from Hamburg in Germany to personally hand over the instruments to the school.

He was accompanied by an entourage of more than five musician friends, also from Hamburg, who played a crucial role in gathering the instruments from across Germany.

Trucking friends of his in Hamburg also donated their lorries to collect the musical instruments from locations in the country from people who were willing to part with their unused instrument.

Click here to read more about MC Weiler Primary School 

Hagemann said One Child One Instrument was inspired by his experiences during a tour of Johannesburg for a show last year and by some presentations made to him about township life and the poverty and deprivation that prevail in those settlements.

“Music is a universal language which connects the world together and soothes all your sorrows, whatever they may be,” Hagemann said, urging the children to put the instruments to good use in their musical lessons in class.

“I hope these instruments can become a catalyst in transforming your lives and that one day you can also form a band just like the Rolling Stones or one of you become another Whitney Houston,” Hagemann said to the children.

Speaking at the handover ceremony, a representative of the German ambassador to South Africa, Anita Ohl-Meyer, who is head of cultural affairs, said she hoped the instruments will play a major role in transforming the lives and career development of the children.

Receiving the shipment of instruments, school principal Flaki Ramothata thanked the “men and women of good hearts who are servants of the Lord as they have gone out of their way to organise these musical gifts for us. I am extending an invitation to you already to please come back to watch a concert of the MC Weiler Orchestra. We’re definitely going to form one,” the principal told her visitors.

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The school already has a partnership with the South African Music Education Trust (Samet), which the principal housed when they were thrown out of a property they were renting in Alex, and Ramothata hopes the NGO will put the instruments to good use.

“My empathy in housing Samet at my school has turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The delivery of this container full of instruments will not only benefit the schoolchildren but the entire community through the children and adults who attend the Samet music lessons on weekends,” Ramothata told Alex News.

She said Samet and the school will work together on the music project and the formation of the orchestra in order to maximise on the delivery of the instruments and also to take the donation and music lessons in the school to another level.

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