Buskaid Article (NY Times)
Posted at 11:29 PM (PST) on Monday, November 24, 2003

From the New York Times (Nov. 22):

Helping Soweto Youths Make the Music of Their Lives
By Otto Pohl

SOWETO, South Africa — Although the immediacy has dulled after 10 years of working in this South African township, there are little moments when Rosemary Nalden is reminded of the desperation around her.

"I saw a student of mine eating a lemon I had picked earlier in my garden," she recalled in a recent interview. "I said, 'Why are you doing that?' 'Because I'm hungry,' he said."

She paused. "You forget."

Ms. Nalden, a 59-year-old transplanted musician from Britain, has had enormous success providing opportunity in her adopted home, but those around her still learn the hard lessons of life in Soweto. When the world gives you lemons, eat them.

Ms. Nalden founded and directs the Buskaid Soweto String Project, an ensemble of string players made up exclusively of young men and women from the township. Although few of them played an instrument before they joined, Ms. Nalden has built and trained the group to where they now play sold-out concerts in South Africa and around the world.

Read the entire article