NextAid: Beats Build Hope for Africa

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Introducing NextAid

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Imagine taking the power of music, the conviction of environmentally sustainable process, and the commitment to the children of Africa and combining them all to reach those infected with and orphaned by the HIV/AIDS virus. If you throw in strong local non-profit organization partnerships and a small team of passionate people, you’ve got NextAid.

The organization is committed to bringing joy to the lives of these children through collaborative efforts with local African partners, allowing these kids to experience life in the midst of a deadly situation. Based in Los Angeles, this organization opened its doors in 2002 and has since made the effort to bring “the next generation of aid to the next generation of Africans.”

Lauren Segal, co-founder of the organization was inspired by the Live Aid movement in 1985, which sought to fight famine through music. “The concept moved something in me,” she said, “I knew that music was the unifying force that would help create the solution to problems of the children of planet earth.”

The passion birthed in Lauren through this movement eventually brought her to the genre of electronic dance music. “My friends got me into it,” she said, “and I as I listened, I realized that this beat, this rhythm is a global music industry, the one that would be soundtrack for NextAID.”

Their mission statement provides a clear picture of what their about and how they do what they do:

NextAid is a Los Angeles based nonprofit organization committed to developing and implementing innovative sustainable solutions to the challenges facing African children.

NextAid’s mission is to promote community-driven environmentally, economically and socially empowering responses to the AIDS orphan pandemic. NextAid collaborates with individuals, businesses and nonprofits to produce culturally-rich, awareness-raising projects and music events involving technology, the arts, public education projects, and volunteer opportunities.

Through grass-roots efforts, NextAid provides opportunities for concerned individuals to make a tangible difference in the lives of African children in need

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The Slums of Kawangware

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This concept of grass-roots efforts is what brought Lauren to the Kawangware slum of Nairobi, Kenya, the location of NextAid’s most current project. “We often see these pictures of kids in poverty and their cute and happy,” Lauren said, “but the kids here, they are suffering and frustrated and though they look for the positive, they know that there’s more.

Kawangware represents a crystal clear picture of extreme poverty. Roads are unpaved, trash is everywhere and as Lauren described, “there is no space”. Prostitution and drug trafficking are everywhere. The HIV/AIDS prevalence in Nairobi is at an alarming nine percent, a number that is often skewed due to the high mortality rate brought by this disease. This epidemic leaves countless children orphaned and neglected.

During her trip to Nairobi, Lauren met Agosto, the director of the Kawangware Street Children and Youth Project (KSCYP) and knew that this would be the next project that NextAid would take on. Agosto, the founder of the group grew up in the slums, and then started this program to take kids off of the streets who were using glue and resorting to gang violence. The kids in the program work together to make shopping bags out of recycled bags and paper as well as other handicrafts. 75 laborers, ages 15 to 22 work to make the bags, the profits of which provide enough for one meal per day for the team and 50 other children who are a part of the KSCYP program. In addition, the participants of the program work within their own community through putting on plays, dances, and puppet shows.

“These kids have this attitude that says, ‘stay out of our way, we are going to change people’s lives’,” Lauren said, “and they will and we are going to work with them to expand their impact.”

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Moving Forward with NextAid

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NextAid’s involvement comes in the form of eco-friendly construction, youth feeding programs, a retail store and other training programs. Later this month, NextAid is going to launch a youth training program that will provide the program participants skills to make earthen bricks, clay tiles and other construction materials.

The kids, through the support of NextAid’s staff and partnership will be able to be an integral part of growing their own business and have the ability to start construction businesses of their own. NextAid’s hope for them is to build sustainable ways for these children to find dignity in work and craftsmanship the most eco-friendly way possible.

Back in the States, artists, passionate youth and committed donors are helping to make this initiative possible. You can find a list of groups getting involved in a recent article from Planetwize.

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From Beating Rhythms to Beating Hearts

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In my travels, I have seen how music breaks down the barriers of culture and language. People are moved by song-emotionally, physically, and spiritually. And to see that this group is taking that tool and using it to orchestrate a vision of hope, love and joy, reminds me that we can use the terms “effective, efficient and sustainable”, but unless we remember that our services are aimed at improving the lives of the people we serve, we become no better than bureaucratic policy process.

NextAid has the tagline “Beats Build Hope for Africa”. And yes, the beats of the songs speak to the heartbeats of these children and of us who live lives of plenty…and this builds hope within us. Joy heals. I’d encourage you explore how profound this really is. A true sense of hope and future fills the eyes of the suffering with abundant life and dignity.

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