Impact
We count what happens in the field, and we tell the stories of the people who started as students with us.
As of September 2026. Current figures come from our teaching book, in which every visit is recorded; historic figures come from our field reports.
From the reports
The South Ankole Diocese expected 15 to 20 young people for a residential training in 2018. 49 came: 36 on keyboard, 7 on drums, 3 on bass and 3 on guitar.
Read the report →At Kashaka Girls' Secondary School we set out to challenge the idea that instruments are for men and girls only sing. By the end of 2024, at least five girls could comfortably play the piano.
Read the report →At All Saints, Kanyeganyegye, children, women, men and youth learned the keyboard together. By Christmas Day 2024, four of them played the hymns in church.
Read the report →At Kabatereine Memorial and Tiny Tots, many children sat at a piano for the first time. After four months, some were playing with both hands and reading beginner sheet music.
Read the report →I never thought I could play like this. Now I want to teach my little brother too.
Grace · Primary 5, Kabatereine Memorial Primary School
What happens after the lessons
The band and the Foundation grew up together. Disan Kato founded The Vessels Band in 2014 by training seven young musicians. When they wanted to share what they had learned, Living Music Foundation grew out of the band in 2018.
Since then it has worked the other way round too: the band is the professional stage for what the Foundation teaches. Franklin, Innocent, Power and Stephen all trained with us and play in it today. They perform at weddings, in churches and at events across the region, and they are paid for it.
For a young person in Mbarara, earning a living from music is rare. This is the point of everything we do.
The band is an independent group of professional musicians and takes its own bookings. Donations to the Foundation do not pay for it.
From student to professional
Franklin's family fled the war in Congo and found safety in Nakivale refugee camp in 2014. His refugee status kept him out of formal work. At Living Music Foundation he started as a volunteer drummer, trained, became assistant drummer and percussionist in The Vessels Band and later its full drummer.
Today he teaches drums for the Foundation and supports his whole family with what he earns.
Power and Stephen came to the Foundation with a passion for music and a wish to learn. In training they developed solid keyboard skills and the confidence to perform.
After their training they were recruited into The Vessels Band, where they now perform, build their careers and earn a living through their talent.
Innocent lost his mother early and never knew his father; relatives kept him in school. A friend, Disan Kato, handed him a bass guitar. He discovered a passion that has taken him onto stages across the region.
He has since trained as a sound engineer and now teaches for the Foundation, passing on what he learned.
A pharmacist by profession, Jojo escaped the war in Congo with his family and was registered at Kyaka refugee camp. In Mbarara he found a place at Living Music Foundation.
He became an instructor and lead guitarist, earned a living from music and supported his family in the camp. Here he is teaching guitar to girls at Kinoni.
Donations are received by Living Music Foundation e.V., a registered non-profit association in Germany. It issues tax receipts and sends the funds to Mbarara, where they pay for teachers, transport and instruments.
