An amazing project came my way

byORobson

236 followers

9 years ago

Hello friends,

About 3 weeks in to my first month at WA, I landed the most amazing project I have ever been involved in. OK, there's absolutely no money involved but the "payment" in job satisfaction is beyond what money can buy.

You may or may not have seen the viral videos of "Ghetto Kids Uganda" on YouTube, I had been following them for a year and I was awed at the effect they were having. I managed to chat to the founder on Facebook and he explained that they were facing difficulties financing the project

Ghetto Kids: the project

Kavuma is a primary school teacher in Kampala, Uganda and wanted to find a way of getting the street kids from the the slums back into school so they could get themselves a future as oppose to being beggars, thieves, prostitutes or being beaten up by police officers.

He taught a small group of kids to dance and shot a YouTube video, Sitya Loss (meaning "I Don't Fear Loss" or "I'm not afraid of losing"). It was released in January 2014 and went viral. The children quickly became stars in Uganda, all over Africa and are gradually getting well known throughout the world. They currently have more than 2.6bn views on YouTube. Something about their joy is really attractive to people but very few know about their background.

WA and Triplets Ghetto Kids

In May 2016 I made contact with him and, thanks to my training at WA, was able to offer them a proper website at no cost. The $12 for the web domain is a minor expense I was more than happy to volunteer.

Future challenges

Contrary to popular belief, being a YouTube celebrity doesn't necessarily guarantee that money rains from the sky just like that. There are a myriad of complicated issues to iron out so that this project can begin to earn revenue and take the edge off things.

The children need feeding, healthcare and schooling (they range from 4 to 13 years old) and the videos cost money to shoot and edit. The children perform almost every weekend and transport to and from events is not cheap.

How the website will generate income to support the project is also an issue that I hope WA will help provide solutions to as I advance through the training. I'm not sure that it's really the place to try and do affiliate marketing.

I plan to add

1. a newsletter sign up
2. a bio (which I'm researching with the founder)
3. a responsive and light video page (which I'm currently working through)
4. A more detailed donation page with perhaps video recordings with the kids

We would also like to launch a crowdfunding program, I've seen some exceptionally well-crafted projects on indiegogo that have done really well.

All the same, we're taking steady steps towards making all this a reality, to avoid scams and being bullied out of royalties. The website is another significant step in the process, it will inform interested donors and fans alike.

Talking people into donating is similar to talking them into buying. There's a funnel and they need a certain amount of convincing. In the end the "product" that the donators take away is intangible so they need to be certain that it's worth it.

What is this teaching me

• A million programming skills I thought I would never grasp
• Wealth is not just money, it's love and it's freedom to do with your time and your skills what you choose
• What WA is teaching us can have major repercussions

Your help

My friends, I trust your insight and perspective. I know you're all on WA for similar reasons as me and you are learning and refining your expertise. All helpful feedback is appreciated and I promise to be open-minded and receptive. This is for the good of the children, not my ego and I put them above everything else.

Anyone who is motivated to volunteering their skills will be more than welcome. I'm still a novice at HTML and programming in general.

This is the website: tripletsghettokids.com