Mission & History

Daraja Music Initiative (DMI) was founded in 2010 as Clarinets for Conservation by clarinetist Michele Von Haugg, with the aim to promote awareness of valuable natural resources through music education. Fueled by a desire to connect clarinets and clarinetists with the wood that their instruments are made of, Michele traveled to Tanzania with a suitcase filled with 12 clarinets to learn more about mpingo and connect with the Tanzanian community. The mpingo tree – also known as African Blackwood, Grenadilla, and Dalbergia melanoxylon – is the national tree of Tanzania and is used to make musical instruments, including clarinets and oboes. The tree is highly valued by instrument makers, artists, and furniture makers worldwide, but due to its high demand, the mpingo tree is commercially endangered. 

In 2015, Daraja Strings was created by Hillary Herndon, Associate Professor of Viola at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Building on the establishment of the clarinet program, Daraja Strings provided lessons on violin, viola, and cello to DMI students. After a successful inaugural summer, Clarinets for Conservation and Daraja Strings unified under the name Daraja Music Initiative. Daraja means "bridge" in Swahili, symbolizing the initiative's aim to bridge music education, cultural connectivity, and conservation.

Each summer, DMI provides students in the KIlimanjaro region of Tanzania with an interdisciplinary educational program that fuses music and conservation. As part of the program, students receive music instruction, participate in conservation efforts, and act as an ambassador for sustainability in their communities. Since 2010, DMI has impacted over 300 students and 14,000 community members, and has planted more than 3,000 Mpingo trees in the region.