Brass for Africa exposed
Brass for Africa management tell lies. This page contains the absolute and undeniable proof.
They claim that they have 1,000 participants in their project but it's not true. Worse, they use false statistics/data to raise funds that they never account for
28/04/2020
In there annual report for 2018 Brass for Africa told us that there were 357 girls in their project. On there post for International Women’s Day on March 8th this year they told us that the number of girls in their project had increased by 47% in the last year. That is more than 500 girls in total.
How many have we ever seen playing an instrument?
A year ago they made many posts with women holding brass instruments to mislead people into thinking that they can play in a series called “Balance for Better”. Yet we have never heard even one of them playing.
They recently made a series of posts called “Music to your ears”.
NUMBER OF WOMEN FEATURED PLAYING WAS ZERO.
Last week they told us that they had 6 musicians in the Jess Gillam virtual orchestra.
NUMBER OF WOMEN FEATURED PLAYING WAS ZERO.
Yesterday they told us that 7 of their musicians had passed their grade 5 music theory exams although they didn’t give any details as usual.
NUMBER OF WOMEN INCLUDED WAS ZERO.
This is after $1M in donations, no accountability for the money, refusing to say where the players are, and telling us that they have 500 females in their program.
Some people will believe anything. How they must be laughing at the public.
Salima, 13, from Kawempe, Uganda, has been a brass player with Brass for Africa for one year. "My life would have been difficult… if l weren't playing music, I would not be in school, i would have not found a better reason to be in school. Being at band and playing music motivates me to go to school.” Her favorite music to play is Sisi, because it has a cultural background. She is looking forward to learning more music and learning how to play new instruments. Which instrument do you want to learn? Comment to tell us.
05/04/2020
Six years and no band! Just a photo!
Your donations fund Music Education and Life-Skills training in Kampiringisa Rehabilitation Centre – Uganda's national juvenile centre housing up to 300 vulnerable street children alongside youth at conflict with the law.
Since 2014, Brass for Africa is one of only a handful of organisations allowed to operate within the institution every week and the only charity providing a music programme.
Music is key in improving and speeding-up the process of rehabilitation. Thank you for your support.
19/12/2019
Absolute proof that Trott claims 900 players and 40 bands. But then look at their own video of their Fun Day. It's not true is it? Brass for Africa makes appeals for donations based on misleading information. Isn't this fraud?
Throughout 2019 we have been asking Brass for Africa for the location of the 900 participants that they claim they are teaching in their outreach projects. They refuse to answer the question, although it is a simple one. The reason that they are not answering is that the figure is grossly exaggerated and the 900 participants do not exist. We can prove this below.
Brass for Africa claimed that they had 900 participants and 40 'ensembles' at their recent Fun Day and you can see in this video that it is clearly not true. This is what we see:
Bethlehem brass band - numbers not seen. Maybe 15?
Mlisada Community band - numbers not seen. Maybe 15?
Mummy Foundation - about 10
Mlisada Kalangala - about 20 maybe
Nsambya community Bronze band - numbers not seen. Maybe 20?
Youth Empowerment - maybe 20
Hands for Hope - about 12
Nsambya Community Siliver band - maybe 15
Kasanvu - not seen. Maybe 10?
Kampiringisa - maybe 20
Hope for Children - maybe 15
Drumline players - maybe 20
Brussels band - maybe 20
Kawempe Youth Centre - maybe 25
Save street children - 25
Mlisada juniors - maybe 20
Mummy Gold - maybe 20
Gloneva - maybe 20
Tender Talents - maybe 25
Retrak pbuzz girl players - maybe 20
Retrak pbuzz boy players - maybe 20
Total - about 350 participants and 25 ensembles maximum. Jim Trott said on Facebook that there would be 900 players and 40 bands. In practice they probably only have about 250 players and most of them are beginners. After 10 years and £800,000.
One of Brass for Africa's teachers has told us that Brass for Africa hired outside players for this video and maybe this is why some of them look like big men. But we can't prove it so have stayed with the ones that we can see.
See the photo on this page of Jim Trott's recent Facebook comment for TOTAL PROOF that Trott is telling lies and deliberately misleading the public to get money..
Now look at how many girl players there are in the video.
Brass for Africa said 365 girls in THEIR OWN Annual report (see photo). Can you see 365 in the video? THEY ARE NOT THERE ARE THEY! TOTAL PROOF THAT THEY ARE LYING to get money from donations.
Their band at Gals Forum is not seen yet they posted many photos of women holding a brass instrument earlier this year. Some of you may notice that there are many big boys who look similar in the various 'ensembles'.
They said themselves that they delivered nearly 4,000 sessions to their projects in 2018. Presumably about the same in 2019. Who knows about all the years before this.
DO THESE BANDS LOOK LIKE THEY HAVE HAD 8,000 BAND PRACTICES IN THE LAST TWO YEARS!!
Now some people may be asking why we have gone to the trouble of posting all this, especially in a country that is not interested in brass bands – in particular those that read music from papers.
The answer is that it matters a great deal when Brass for Africa has already received donations from the public of one million dollars (3 billion Ugandan shillings or £800,000) and continues asking for more money. It matters if you are child in Uganda and you have no fees to even to go school; it matters if you and your family cry yourself to sleep at night because you have nothing to eat and you go to bed hungry; it matters when you are sick with malaria or you even have toothache, and you have no money for treatment.
It matters when Brass for Africa have not accounted for even one dollar of the money that they have been given or told us any smallest details what has happened to the donations. It matters when they fly their staff to London for a big Xmas party attended by 200 selected guests. It matters when they won’t tell us how much they are spending on their three Western managers salaries and don’t tell us what they pay their own staff. It matters when they receive £25,000 from donors through their ‘big give’ fundraising specifically for their Kampiringisa outreach project (go to the video at 1:17 to see what Chris Fower describes as a ‘fantastic band’ to persuade you to hand over your cash). It matters when rich Westerners exploits Africans so that they can show all their friends how compassionate they are without actually asking us in Uganda what our own priorities are.
Look at some more of Brass for Africa’s lies exposed to the public. Look at the November post on the page Brass for Africa Accountability and their own diagram on it. They say IN THEIR OWN ANNUAL REPORT that they delivered 350 music sessions to their Retrak outreach project. That’s a band practice every day of the year! Then look at their Fun Day video at 2:48 with the fake We wish you a Merry Christmas backing track. The kids appear to be playing simple plastic pbuzz instruments. Notice that after two years and BFA claims of many hundreds of 'sessions' they didn't actually play anything! Perhaps they were given the instruments to hold on the day. Who knows?
All this after 350 lessons in 2018 alone according to Brass for Africa's own data!
It also matters when their own teachers know that UK management are not telling the truth but who are then forced to continue to support the project otherwise they will lose their job in a country with high youth unemployment. What must they think when their boss claims that they pay for 43 staff but these people are not seen. What sort of example does it set to people in the developing world when they see students misled that the playing that you can see in this video will somehow ‘create a brighter future’. We all know that this is nonsense. A brighter future is achieved when youth get the chance of a decent education, vocational training or opportunities to land a job.
And lastly, it matters to all the other 100 brass bands in Uganda who exist without outside funding and whose players work hard by playing traditional music at functions to get money from customers that they can take home to their families to provide a service that the public wants.
It matters when your supporters – who have never been to Uganda and probably never will - and who have no idea what it’s like in Africa – rely on you people to tell the truth and Brass for Africa are not obviously not doing so. We, as Ugandans, will fight back against these foreigners who use their wealth for the social and cultural oppression of our people. You can’t come to our country and get money for yourselves by exploiting our kids just so that you can swagger to your friends in the UK.
Brass for Africa - creating bigger egos for foreigners.
For God and our country.