Kenyan Ghetto classics progeam transforms slum kid's lives with music / 肯亞貧窟古典樂團 弱勢童奏出人生希望　　　　　　　　　　

In Taiwan, there's saying that goes kids who learn music don't go astray, and indeed music, especially Classical music, which is too often associated with the rich and well-educated, is making a difference in one of Kenya's largest slums. For 8 years, the 'Ghetto Classics' program has provided Kenyan youth with opportunities to study music and acquire skills to make a living as musicians. More than 650 young people have found their lives transformed by turning to Brahms and Bach, instead of crime and drugs. Kenya's Korogocho slum on Nairobi's outskirts is not the kind of place that inspires high art, but in a room overlooking the biggest rubbish dump in East Africa, a group of young musicians is discovering a glimmer of hope through classical music. This is the 'Ghetto classics' --a youth orchestra made up of people living in the slum who struggle to master their borrowed or donated instruments. ==SIMON MUNGAI Ghetto Classic Orchestra trombone player== When I'm playing my instrument, I feel very nice. First, that's my passion, second, I enjoy doing it and it takes me to another world. The 16-year-old musician comes from a single parent household, and his mother has to scour dumpsites, collecting plastic bottles and paper, to make a living for her 4 children. Mugnai is one of the lucky ones enrolled with Ghetto Classic, a community education program, which gives disadvantaged youth the skills and confidence they need to help them escape the slum. ==SIMON MUNGAI trombone player, Ghetto Classic orchestra== Because of peer pressure, I could have joined the gangs in the city, gambling and this would have made me not to give back to the society. Set up in 2009, the orchestra is finding fame as the musicians have performed for dignitaries like President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya and Pope Francis. ==ELIZABETH NJOROGE Ghetto Classic orchestra founder== The kids who were in a hopeless situation and were street children or had nowhere to live, had no food, were not in school. They have overcome those challenges and are now maybe in university, are now productive members of society, that they are happy and walking around, skipping around, that they have friends. For 8 years, the Ghetto Classics program has taught over 650 children in Korogocho slum and 5 satellite areas around Nairobi. The majority of the students have managed to improve their education results too. 6 of their ex-students are currently in University while giving back to the community as tutors. TRANSLATED BY：SASHA CHIU