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Update From Ghana's National Youth OrchestraWhen Instruments For Africa first visited Ghana we met with the director of the National Orchestra Isaac Annoh, who told us that if he could acquire the proper instruments he would begin a youth orchestra and have the young players mentored by members of the senior orchestra. We eagerly donated the equipment Mr. Annoh was lacking and within a month auditions were being held and before long Ghana's new National Youth Orchestra were immersed in rehearsals and were ready to begin performing.
When we returned in October, 2020 we were happy to supplement the Youth Orchestra's collection with a flute and two huge boxes of accessories and repair equipment, including plenty of cork grease and reeds courtesy of The D'Addario Foundation, along with extra mouthpieces, countless violin and clarinet parts, and a pile of instructional books. Just a few days later the Youth Orchestra met for rehearsal and Mr. Annoh sent us along these pictures. We are thrilled to have helped to launch such a wonderful undertaking and we would like to extend this excitement to all of our donors, each of whom deserve an equal share in this success. 
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IFA's Second Trip to Ghana a SuccessIn October of 2020 Instruments For Africa founder Todd Snelgrove returned to Ghana to sort and distribute IFA's most recent shipment of musical instruments and accessories.
Though the large crate of equipment departed Ottawa in October of 2019, it took almost a full year for 100+ instruments, hundreds of books, and countless accessories including music stands, clarinet and saxophone reeds, strings, disinfectant, and extra mouthpieces to finally clear customs. Once the shipment was released, the Ghanaian Ministry of Education had the equipment delivered to Accra High School and arranged for representatives of nine schools from all over Ghana to meet with Snelgrove there on October 28th and 29th to receive their instrument donations. In addition to supplementing the instrument collections of these nine schools, IFA was pleased to grant another donation to Ghana's new National Youth Orchestra, which was started following our initial donation to the National Orchestra in 2018. Due to concerns related to covid-19 Snelgrove kept his time in Ghana to a bare minimum and out of an abundance of caution he declined to personally visit the donee schools. 2020 recipients: St. Roses Senior High School, Akwatia Ebenezer Senior High School, Dansoman Mozano Senior High School, Gomoa Eshiem Anglican Secondary School, Kumasi Fijai Senior High School, Sekondi Mawuli School, Ho Jachie-Pramso Senior High School, Kumasi Ghana Secondary School, Koforidua Accra High School, Accra Ghanaian National Youth Orchestra 
Teachers gather from all over Ghana to pick up their instrument donations.
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The Ministry of Education delivers instruments to Accra High School for sorting and distribution.
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Equipment en route to Accra High School for sorting and distribution.
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The Kalomo Secondary School Concert Band, May 2014
In May, 2012 Ottawa-based music teacher and guitar player Todd Snelgrove found himself near the end of his vacation in Zambia and looking to donate his travel guitar to someone who might need it. The first school that he walked into had not a single functioning musical instrument despite having 300 students enrolled in music classes. Later that year, Instruments For Africa was born.
Instruments For Africa collects musical instruments of all kinds, stands and accessories, sheet music and instructional material from people like you. Have a trumpet or clarinet you're not using? We know some kids that would love a chance to give music a try. Everything is inspected and serviced prior to shipping so don't worry if your instrument hasn't been played in a while; if it can be made playable we'll get it to Africa.*
Our first mission was to fully outfit the Linda School in Livingstone, Zambia with an orchestra of instruments. With the support of many generous Canadians we easily surpassed our goal. In addition to delivering a full bevy of gear to the Linda School we distributed over 200 instruments amongst ten other schools across Zambia and Namibia in October, 2013. In co-operation with the RBC Bluesfest we launched an extension of their Be In The Band program in Lusaka in May, 2014 and we've sent two shipments of instruments to an organization in Democratic Republic of the Congo, expanding our reach to three countries. In October of 2015 IFA returned to Zambia for our third round of donations in the country. IFA looks to strengthen our ties with our existing partners while we look forward to expanding our reach to other needy regions.
Click here to help
*In rare cases some instruments are sold or traded for instruments better suited to the needs of our project. In such cases we make every effort to contact the donor to discuss our intentions. Please be sure to include contact information with your donation.
Instruments For Africa collects musical instruments of all kinds, stands and accessories, sheet music and instructional material from people like you. Have a trumpet or clarinet you're not using? We know some kids that would love a chance to give music a try. Everything is inspected and serviced prior to shipping so don't worry if your instrument hasn't been played in a while; if it can be made playable we'll get it to Africa.*
Our first mission was to fully outfit the Linda School in Livingstone, Zambia with an orchestra of instruments. With the support of many generous Canadians we easily surpassed our goal. In addition to delivering a full bevy of gear to the Linda School we distributed over 200 instruments amongst ten other schools across Zambia and Namibia in October, 2013. In co-operation with the RBC Bluesfest we launched an extension of their Be In The Band program in Lusaka in May, 2014 and we've sent two shipments of instruments to an organization in Democratic Republic of the Congo, expanding our reach to three countries. In October of 2015 IFA returned to Zambia for our third round of donations in the country. IFA looks to strengthen our ties with our existing partners while we look forward to expanding our reach to other needy regions.
Click here to help
*In rare cases some instruments are sold or traded for instruments better suited to the needs of our project. In such cases we make every effort to contact the donor to discuss our intentions. Please be sure to include contact information with your donation.
