Three Year 12 students from Ormiston Senior College have donated $8000 worth of musical equipment to the performing arts department of a South Auckland school.
Aadi Golchha, Ashiv Govind and Clyde Fronda of the charity organisation Soundraise have continued their quest to provide low-decile schools with the equipment they need.
They surprised Mangere Central School on July 6 with drums, electric guitars, microphones and other instruments and items for their school band.
Their music teacher Demetrius Savai’inaea, says the students were very excited and expressed “surprised facial expressions”.
One student, Willie, echoed this sentiment. “It was very exciting.”
Another student, Maria, said she was incredibly happy they had new equipment.
“They’re not used to getting stuff specifically for them,” Savai’inaea says. “It’s a whole different experience.”
Soundraise received a $2000 grant from the Auckland Airport. This, along with the support from their sponsors Musicworks, allowed them to purchase $8000 dollars in musical equipment for a school.
“One of Auckland Airport’s primary aims for the grant is to create new learning opportunities,” Aadi says. “We met the target demographic.”
Mangere Central School was chosen because of its closeness to Auckland Airport as part of the grant’s aims is assisting schools within the local community. Theirs isn’t the first school Soundraise has aided as they provided Dawson Primary in Otara with 25 new ukuleles and introductory lessons.
They also won the Auckland Airport charity awards last year.
Aadi founded Soundraise when he was 16-years-old with the intention of providing disadvantaged children with equipment to learn and develop a passion for music. He has been in a band with Ashiv and Clyde for four years.
Music was a lifeline for him when he started a new primary school. He found his favourite activity was going into the music room during lunch to play a ukulele.
As he got older, he realised there was a disparity between the quality of the musical department at his own school and others in neighbouring areas.
“Not all schools have the funding to get the right equipment,” Aadi says. “A lack of instruments and items can impair children’s ability to get into music.”
Savai’inaea has been teaching at a variety of schools around Auckland. He says that this is a recurring issue amongst low-decile schools. “This will help them increase their skills as a band and as musicians.”
The band members – Willie, Laga, Grace, Sione and Maria – have already began practicing with their new instruments and gear with avid enthusiasm.
Soundraise’s motto of ‘Changing lives through music’ is sailing smoothly in the right direction.
“We want to continue helping schools,” Aadi says. “We already have our eye on a few.”
