Stepping Stone International, a civil society organisation, in conjunction with the department of Education Development Centre (EDC) has released a music album through some of their peer educators simply titled @Ambition.
The nine track CD showcasing new talent by peer educators from SSI’s Living Live Skills programme was launched at the Botswana Craft on Tuesday.
┬áIt is generally a ‘feel good, pull up your socks and do something about your life’ kind of music; a breath of fresh air away from your usual bubble gummy and four letter word sprinkled songs that have become synonymous with today’s young musicians.
┬áThe first track, Pregnant With Possibilities by BO, is a hip-hop tune with a difference, encouraging the youth to explore their talents and not to throw their “hands in the air with despair”. BO displays a lot of maturity for someone who had never entered a recording studio before.
Basically all the tracks in the album cover a similar ground in disseminating positive life skills messages by encouraging young people to steer away from bad influences and trying to instil in them a sense of self belief and responsibility using different genres to suite different tastes in music.
Other tracks include, I Remember Me, Let’s Get Help, Living life Skills, Throw Dem Drugs Away, Yes You Can, Boikgapho.
┬áThe peer educators were mentored by some of the top local artists including Eugene Jackson, Bapsta, T.H.A.B.O, D-Nice, Dj Gouvea and Amantle (My Star) all of whom also collaborated with the kids in This Is My Dream. Rapper and Yarona fm breakfast show host, Scar, also blessed the album with the bonus track It’s the Good Life .The eight young people were selected from a pool of forty youth aged between 16 and 24 who auditioned to be part of the album.
The Living Life Skills Programme, funded by BOTUSA (Centre for Disease Control in Botswana) is driven by the Education Development Centre ( EDC), a civil society organisation working with Schools and Stepping Stones International (SSI) which is also a civil society organisation working with vulnerable youth, to improve ‘life skills’ of young people throughout Botswana . The life skills include self awareness, goal setting, decision making, stress management, risk reduction, sexuality, healthy living, relationships and HIV/AIDS.
Speaking at the launch, Naomi Mnthuli, EDC’s country coordinator said she hopes the project will bridge the gap between schools and communities and called on the press to also help spread the message.
Stepping Stones Executive Director, Lisa Jamu, praised the local artists and the Ministry of Education for their input in the project and expressed her desire to see the CD reaching its intended target.
