Musicians for World Harmony was created and founded by Samite Mulondo, a Ugandan-American performing artist whose songs of simple joy and peace have captured a worldwide audience. Samite fled Uganda in 1982 when his brother was slain due to his political views and Samite was threatened. After a period in a Kenyan refugee camp, he made his way to America where he lives in Ithaca, New York. In 1997, he returned to Uganda with a documentary film team. Along his way home he stopped in Liberia, Ivory Coast and Rwanda to see for himself if the dismal picture of these countries painted by the western media was accurate. He found that in spite of staggering losses of human life and devastation, the survivors of Liberia's civil war, Rwanda's genocide and decades of civil strife in Uganda were full of hope and caring for themselves and each other with great resourcefulness and dignity. The PBS documentary Song of the Refugee documents his remarkable experience. When he sang his songs of peace for the people, the light of joy returned to children's eyes and young and old responded with songs, dances and instrumental performances that had an immediate, positive impact on everyone present. He and a group of like-minded individuals formed Musicians for World Harmony to expand this work and bring the healing power of music to those who have suffered greatly elsewhere, and to those of us who could be uplifted by knowing that hope is alive everywhere in the world, even in the places where we least expect it.
Musicians for World Harmony was incorporated as a 501c3 organization in November of 2002.
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