In October 2007 the senior leader of 3 catholic colleges and I met over a biscuit and orange juice smiling at one another as they had just received their badges appointing them as the 2008 college captains. As we chatted, I remarked that I had long dreamt of a day or event that would bring all colleges together as a real community. The enthusiasm and energy from the first meeting was electric; these were no ordinary leaders. We held a seminar of all the school leaders where we hatched the idea of a music festival. It was not very long before Tri-UMPH was coined, (3 schools United to make Poverty History). Indeed it is the biggest student based concert or event ever seen in the southern-hemisphere. For the next 12 months the students met every week. Throughout the holidays, through their exams and SAC’s, through driving lessons, 18th birthday parties, cases of the flu, glandular fever and everything else life threw at them, but they battled on. The day required the students to think and organise everything. From importing 4000 wristbands from the slums of Kibera, Nairobi. Organising over 20 aid stalls to arrive and display their wares, food vans from the local community to feed 4000 people, contracting and arranging 8 sensational bands and convincing them to play for free at a student festival. The students had to think about: security, paramedics, police, insurances, stages, wet weather, toilet facilities, staffing, selling tickets, press releases, back stage passes, advertising, banners, inviting guests, opening ceremonies, two stages with professional sound system to accommodate an audience of 4000 people and a huge 15 meters wide side screen plus so many more unknown factors. All this was done by a group of students who had no prior skills or knowledge of event managing and only had the help of a handful of staff who believed in them. I would especially like to thank Monica Ercoli from SJC for her drive and enthusiasm. Without her the task would have been much harder. And so it was that Tri-UMPH indeed was a triumph. It raised over $43,000, was a well-run, peaceful and exciting social discourse with students learning by osmosis that they CAN make a difference to world poverty and that they CAN achieve wonderful things. It was a triumph also because it taught the school community that today’s youth can be trusted to organise and act responsibly. These students are not the rabble the media would lead and like us to believe but rather they have a wonderful social conscience and when given the opportunity respond in an equally responsible manner as was seen on the day. There was not a single poor reason from over 4000 attending staff regarding their behaviour.
Mr Simon Cahir, On Behalf of the organising Tri-UMPH Committee
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