By Shannon Boodhoo

Columnist

The kids sit in a tiny, poorly ventilated choir hall of the Kariobangi Community Outreach School, yet they belt out tunes as if they were in Carnegie Hall.

The 375 Kariobangi students are part of the United Nations' school food program, which serves about 84,000 children in Nairobi's slums. The music program is part of the Kenyan education system's effort to help students escape life's hardships.

"Students need to build encouragement and self-esteem," said Tobias Omondi-Otieno, a choir director, in an ABC report. "They need to be motivated and have a feeling that they are appreciated. Music plants the seed for [the student] to do his or her best and sing from the inside."

Most of the students come from very poor families; they live in shacks and makeshift buildings around trash-filled streets. Even the slum's name, Kariobangi, is a reference to marijuana in Swahili. Despite these obstacles the students persevere.

"I tell them that the life they are currently living or the lives that their parents have lived are not the [lives] they will live," Omondi-Otieno said.

The hard work of the students paid off when the choir received awards and national recognition.

"In 2006, the students won first prize against private schools that had more funding and resources. The school plans to defend its reputation in the district competition this June," said the report.

For these students, music has become an escape to a better world, one without poverty, crime and hunger. The children continue to work hard in their classes with the support of their teacher.