Samite Mulondo is someone good.

Music is a healing art.

A musical instrument in the hands of a child can change their world. I should know: it happened to me when I was just 9 years old. I battled illness as a kid and when it culminated in major surgery followed by a long recuperation, my Mom and Dad unwittingly changed my life by giving me a guitar. Music is a healing art.

No, this story isn’t about me, but my experience made the story of Samite Mulondo so compelling and familiar to me that I asked Annie if I might take a stab at writing it for Something Good.

Samite Mulondo is a world-famous musician who plays flute and kalimba. He now lives in exile in Ithaca, New York, a world away from his birthplace of Kampala, Uganda. Though he grew up in a prominent family, they were not safe from the fear of Idi Amin’s brutal dictatorship or from the terror of war. Amin was overthrown in 1979; by 1982, violence was commonplace.

Mulondo eventually found himself in a Kenyan refugee camp. There, he expanded his musical knowledge and, against all odds, fell in love and was married. After immigrating to America with his wife Joan, he discovered his new role: inspiring joy and expression through music.

In 1997, PBS was filming the documentary Song of the Refugee. They invited Mulondo to join them on a trip to visit refugee camps in Liberia, Rwanda and the Ivory Coast. The journey was transformative, and Mulondo’s eyes were opened to the possibilities his music could hold for people in need.

Here’s how it happened:

While touring one of the camps, the film crew was turned away by the refugees. In an attempt to gain their trust, the producers asked Samite to play a song on his flute. Imagine a camp full of people with little to eat and even less hope. Would music even matter? The answer is “yes.” When Mulondo began to play, the scene changed to one of joy. Hundreds of people began to sing and dance, and the deeply moved Samite Mulondo became a hero to the crowd. The film crew, of course, was welcomed into the camp and allowed to shoot as much footage as they wanted.

And there’s more. Inspired, Mulondo began to donate instruments to the camps, spreading joy everyone within earshot. He asks groups of children to sing. “Sing anything,” he says. “Tell us how you feel. Tell us your story. You are safe here with us. After all… it’s just a song.” At first they are shy and ashamed, but they soon take turns telling their stories of horror—really belting it out—and exorcizing their demons in the process. They cannot change the past, but through music they can come to terms with their stories in a way that is non-threatening and safe. Music is a healing art.

Samite Mulondo dedicates his life to helping others through music. In 2002 he founded Musicians for World Harmony (www.musiciansforworldharmony.org), a non-profit organization that sends musicians to the camps and also identifies musicians they find there and gives them instruments so that when Mulondo leaves, the music plays on.

Samite Mulondo is now at peace with his past and hopeful for the future. "I think that the most important thing is sharing! I'm trying to do that as much as possible. I feel like I'm being used to put this music out, to sing for the poor, the sick, old people, or to talk to some sad person sitting there, or even somebody who's looking happy,” he says. “All it means is giving time and it makes the world a better place!"

To me, this is Something Good.

-Tad Wadhams
March 2009