My Drum is Love - School Regeneration Campaign
THE BIG CAUSE:
HOLISTIC REGENERATION - USING MUSIC AS A VEHICLE TO EMPOWER THE COUNTRY
Our Goal for the “My Drum is Love Campaign” is to lead by example, showing that a few individuals with vision and passion can bring a country together with MUSIC, to empower the YOUTH and the COMMUNITIES that surround them.
South Africa and the world is in a state of transition, the need for holistic solutions, sustainable and regenerative economic development, food sovereignty, mental health and overall wellness within communities is becoming a global trend.
We intend to educate and uplift communities through regenerative festivals - using schools as a central hub - bringing in facilitators to empower the learners, teachers and parents in holistic permaculture practices of Earth Care, People Care and Future Care.
Earth Care: Management of the Ocean and Land
People Care: Interpersonal and Intrapersonal Care
Future Care: Long term investments, planning, management, adaption and monitoring
THE BIG VISION:
HOLISTIC REGENERATION OF SOUTH AFRICAN SCHOOLS
THE BIG VISION IS TO UPLIFT AS MANY SCHOOLS IN THE COUNTRY AS POSSIBLE BY:
1. Targeting schools in need
2. Uplifting the schools structural foundations - fixing all that needs to be fixed - updating classrooms, toilets
3. Empowering the learners, teachers and communities around the school in a week long Regeneration Festival where all will be facilitated to build and sustain community food gardens, conservation workshops, mural painting projects, music workshops, mental health awareness and techniques
4. Ending in a half day music festival to bring the community together and celebrate their success in dance!
5. Repeat with the next school
WE AIM TO PROVIDE SAFE, MAINTAINED, CARING AND EMPOWERING LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS FOR OUR COUNTRY'S FUTURE LEADERS
Proudly in collaboration with
My Drum is Love - Regeneration Campaign
Using Cami Scoundrel's "My Drum is Love" music video launch as a vehicle to raise funds to regenerate schools in South Africa using sustainable practices.
Our fund raising goal for MXOLISI PRIMARY:
R 3 330 000
Mxolisi Primary is a school close to our hearts, our director Buyi is an educational facilitator there.
Music Video and Single Launch
Launch Date: 18th October 2022
My Drum is Love is a song about following your heart, spreading love, and the message of intentionally building a world that is beautiful for everyone. Dancing to the drum beat of love.
The song and music video have spent almost a year in production from conception to a cross country collaboration between Cape Town, Soweto and Durban to birth the song and music video. The sound of “My Drum is Love” has been described as akin to Freshlyground and has its own undeniable South African pop flavor that just makes one want to spread LOVE, break down cultural barriers, uplift each other, ourselves and dance.
Produced by Willem Möller - who has worked with South African greats including James Phillips, Johannes Kerkorrel, Koos Kombuis and Blues Broers, and backed Rodriguez on his first tour of South Africa in 1998.
Written by Cami Scoundrel - activist/musician. Cami believes that creatives have a role in society and that role is to spread positive values, stories and morals, that work towards building a cohesive and peaceful society. This is her passion - building a healthy regenerative and sustainable self, community and earth.
She believes this song embodies these principles and is using the song and music video as a vehicle to launch a fund-raising campaign to uplift Mxolisi Primary School in Soweto. With the aim to carry on the campaign to other schools in South Africa - BECAUSE THE YOUTH ARE THE FUTURE.
My Drum is Love features Buyisiwe Njoko of The Sun Xa Experiment, who deliver "a spiritual ancestral sound that tells of stories of who we are as the global community without race, color or nation."
The crew says their music is part of a spiritual journey into self-discovery which connects their listeners to their ancestors, reminding them of who they are and where they are from as human beings.” (OkayAfrica.com - https://www.okayafrica.com/south-africa-sun-xa-experiment-bayede/)
Cami was jamming the song in the kitchen one morning while Sun Xa were on tour in December 2021 and staying in her house, Buyi started singing a response in Zulu while making breakfast for the band; they performed it that night at Mpire Music in Woodstock.
As Cami was leaving to work with a counter-poaching unit on the border of Limpopo and Botswana a few weeks later - the song was recorded with Willem Möller - motivated by The Feminists - Scoundrel’s band; featuring Derek Craig on drums, Mike Hardaker on lead guitar and Craig McKune on bass. The recording was then sent to Scoundrel’s long time musical collaborator Matt Vend who recorded Njoko’s vocal lyrics while she was in Kwa-Zulu Natal.
Buyi was flown down to Cape Town from Soweto and the music video was shot DIY in Cami’s spare room by Jaqcui van Staden who is the eye behind many iconic images of South African musicians including Blk Jks, Karen Zoid and Wonderboom.
But just releasing the video or the song is not enough for Scoundrel and Njoko whose roots are firmly grounded in healing and activism. “We want to use this song to raise funds to uplift as many schools as possible, starting with Mxolisi Primary in Soweto - where Buyi is a teacher and her Sun Xa Experiment bandmates have started a food garden.” Scoundrel explains.
The upliftment program will involve a weekend festival of creativity and practicality working with Grow Community Grow, Flowers for Africa, Digging Thoughts and other facilitators - fixing toilets, windows, painting class rooms and the school’s outer facade, facilitating mural painting, creating a permaculture system and food garden, healing and creative workshops for the staff, students and parents to empower the community to empower themselves, and at the end of it all have a mini festival of music to celebrate and bring the community together further in their achievements.
We have a dream, that dream is for everyone to be dancing to the drum of love, and join us in building a world where intention is true.
Follow the link to prebook “My Drum is Love” on Spotify or donate to our Quicket fundraiser, all proceeds of which go to uplifting and regenerating Mxolisi Primary and beyond.
Mxolisi Primary - Soweto
Report from Buyi on the facilities at Mxolisi Primary:
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The water supply and outlets, for the school especially the drinking fountain for the kids where the kids have to go and drink the water from, needs an upgrade. Out of the three types of drinking fountains that were meant to be installed, there is only one that is functional but it still leaking. There is also a water supply underneath the tree but there is no proper drainage system in the area and causes muds and puddles
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There is a side toilets outside the toilet facilities in school that has one toilet. That toilets needs a toilet door, a toilet cover and water tank box.
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Boys toilet: one sink is not functioning five out of nine toilets are out of order, sinks are out of order, all is outdated
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Girls toilet: 3/10 toilets out of order. Whole trailer needs renovation. The toilet cisterns are broken.
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The school doesn't have a secure school gates. There is no way to leave and lock the gate in a in a proper manner so at night they put a chain on the gate just to for security.
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The classrooms need painting and blackboards.
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Staff toilets - male: The urinal basin sink does not function. In the main male's toilets they are six toilets that function, one at the one at the far end is just disgusting.
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The female staff main toilets: There are seven toilets in total there are functioning - needs a facelift