Angels Gate – Moshi, Tanzania (2019)

Music, Art & Cultural Exchange Residency

Grooveschool × LNADJ Foundation

Overview

In 2019, Grooveschool travelled to Moshi, Tanzania as part of a small invited team with the Last Night A DJ Saved My Life Foundation (LNADJ). The residency took place at Angels Gate Boys Home, a refuge for street-connected boys who have survived extreme poverty, violence, exploitation and abandonment in the Kilimanjaro region.

The project combined DJing, music production, graffiti art, and cultural exchange, while also providing hands-on training for the resident youth worker to ensure long-term sustainability. It formed part of a wider charity ecosystem that includes an orphanage, a SEND/disabled children’s centre, and a women’s refuge — much of it funded by over £60,000 raised through Kilimanjaro-linked music industry fundraising.

The week was emotionally challenging, creatively powerful, and left a lasting legacy of colour, sound and community connection.

Context & Need

Young people at Angels Gate face:

  • High levels of exploitation and gang recruitment

  • Trauma, addiction and survival-based behaviour

  • Stigma and exclusion (particularly for disabled children)

  • Lack of access to safe creative environments

  • Limited opportunities for self-expression or skill development

The residency was designed to bring joy, structure, dignity and ownership to boys whose lives had been shaped by extreme adversity.

What We Delivered

🎧 Music Education – DJing & Production

  • Daily DJ workshops: cueing, beatmatching, mixing

  • Beat-making and introductory production

  • A small studio room created on-site

  • Support for naturally gifted rappers

  • Rhythm, coordination and pattern-recognition development

  • Training for the resident youth worker to continue sessions long-term

🎨 Street Art Transformation

International graffiti artists — George, Samuel, Inkie, Chapter, Paul “Dizzy” Saunders, Nicholas Dixon — worked alongside the boys to:

  • Paint full-scale murals on exterior and interior walls

  • Teach block-filling, outlining and detail work

  • Transform the site into a vibrant, pride-building environment

  • Leave behind a visual identity the boys felt ownership over

🤝 Cultural Exchange

The team also visited:

  • The orphanage

  • The SEND/disabled children’s centre

  • The women’s refuge

  • A Maasai community with deep historical ties to the charity

This day was emotionally intense, with celebrations from children, gratitude from nurses, and a memorial garden for children who hadn’t survived — all of which deeply affected the team.

Impact

1. Positive Emotion

  • Joyful, high-energy DJ sessions

  • Pride in painting their home

  • Celebratory welcomes and shared connection

  • Moments of fun, laughter and musical discovery

2. Engagement & Focus

  • Strong concentration in DJing and beat-making

  • Full absorption during art sessions

  • Flow-state learning across both music and visual art

  • Boys eager to return each day

3. Relationships & Trust

  • Deep bonds formed with the resident youth worker

  • Mutual respect between boys and international artists

  • Strengthened long-term partnership between LNADJ, Grooveschool and the Moshi charity network

4. Meaning & Identity

  • Creative ownership: “This is our home, our colours, our sound.”

  • Being seen, valued and included in a way many had never experienced

  • Real understanding of where fundraising money had gone

  • A shared cultural moment bridging continents and lived experiences

5. Accomplishment

  • First DJ mixes and beats created

  • Full-site mural transformation completed

  • Youth worker trained to continue delivery

  • Boys continued painting in the artists’ style after the team left

Legacy

  • A music programme sustained at Angels Gate through local staff

  • Murals still defining the visual identity of the site

  • Stronger partnership between LNADJ, Loopmasters, Grooveschool and Moshi-based charities

  • Model developed for future music + street art residencies

  • A deep personal and professional impact that continues to shape Grooveschool’s trauma-aware practice

Richie described the residency as:

“Phenomenal. Hard, emotional, unforgettable. You could see exactly where every pound had gone — into children’s lives, colour, music and safety.”

Any questions?

CONTACT NOW!

Contact