13 September 2016
The release of the Lighting Up The Flame song/video single
Dear All,
We are delighted to announce the release of this year's song/video 'Lighting Up The Flame'. For all of you who participated in this year's project, it's time to celebrate your students' musical achievement and also, to remind them that funds raised through downloads/sales of their singing will make a great deal of difference to improving the lives of the children in Njombe Tanzania, many of whom have been orphaned due to the widespread HIV epidemic in this region.
To get your download now, please click the following link and persuade as many others as you can to do the same - thanks.
Click below to download the Lighting Up The Flame song/video single 
So....the studio is a mess! Lots of empty coffee cups strewn around. Piles of 'OK I will get around to sorting it papers' in different corners. Even Oskar, the usually resident studio dog has forsaken his usual place on the sofa to find tidier areas to sleep! But it was all worth it - the song/video is finally ready for you! It's time to celebrate your students' musical achievements and remind them that they are also doing something amazing that will help needy children in Njombe, Tanzania have a better life.
Click below to get your download now and PLEASE encourage others to do the same
This has probably been the hardest year yet for VATW. With the number of schools participating in the project almost doubling - the workload just went through the roof with filing tracks, editing audio and video clips and reviewing all of the material sent in. But it was all worth it. The quality of the choir tracks sent in has been better than ever and the photos and video clips have been very imaginative. We noticed some schools going to incredible lengths for the video and photo shoots - location shots in local scenic places and some schools even using drones to film overhead video shots. We estimate that the recording involves somewhere in the region of 7,000 voices and on last count, 62 countries registered to participate in the project. No other international recording project has come close to achieving something like this!
Alongside all of the production work we have also been in discussions with the team who are supporting the development of the school in Njombe, Tanzania. All of the funds we raise this year from sales will go to help accelerate progress with the school development. VATW is a member of this team of course. As I write, new classrooms are being completed and three UK teachers will be visiting in October to help support the work of the staff at the school. Money that we raise this year will go specifically to help buy new text books and teaching resources, build and develop the sports area and provide appropriate equipment for this. For the future, we will be looking to see that all of the 'street kids' get to have places at the school and that the class sizes are reduced from the current over-crowded conditions.
We are really hoping that this year we can encourage as many people as possible to download the new song/video and also to make a donation to the Njombe project. Some schools are offering to do their own fund raising work for the Njombe project - we welcome this of course and hope that many more schools will follow suit.