After making an appearance in French Montana and Swae Lee’s “Unforgettable” music video (which has been watched close to half a billion times), the Triplets Ghetto Kids have a newfound hope for a life out of the slums.
Straight out of Uganda’s capital of Kampala, Triplets Ghetto Kids are causing quite the buzz. The dance group comprises of three girls and six boys ranging in age from 6 to 17.
They were nine homeless, impoverished, or parentless children from Uganda but they have found redemption through dancing and music.
Peep the crew
Since their “Unforgettable” music video debut this year, TGK has appeared on Jimmy Fallon and at the BET Awards. Sources also say that they are expected to work with Beyonce soon.
But that isn’t where they started. TGK’s dancing career commenced after fellow Ugandan artist Eddy Kenzo put them in his viral video for “Sitya Loss.”
Peep TGK’s come up in Eddy Kenzo’s “Sitya Loss”
All of the members were struggling to find money for school as most of their parents were jobless. In a recent interview with BBC’s Haider Saleem with group member Fred Tumwesigye (age 13), Tumwesigye said,
“I was really young and I was with my brother Isaac in the village. So we are collecting scrap so we can get school fees and then I talk to the seller so I can get money and I take it to school. We started dancing and then the man come and told us, ‘You have talent. Can I help you? Do you want to go to school? We said, yes. He saw our mom and then we joined Triplets Ghetto Kids.”
Fred wasn’t alone in the struggle trying to find funds to attend school.
Fellow dance crew member, Patricia (age 12) found TGK through the group’s manager, Kavum Dauda who worked at her school,
“My manager was training at my school – music, dance, and drums. One day he told me, ‘Why are you not coming to school some days?’ I explained to him my mother is not working, my father is not working, so they can not afford school fees for me or my brothers.”
There is nowhere to go but up for these kids. The group’s manager Kavum Dadua is also taking the group’s talents beyond dancing, allowing them to experiment with acting and music.
Peep Ghetto Dreams
Dauda never expected these kids to make it big, he was only thinking of Uganda and spreading inspiration to children worldwide. In the interview with BBC, Dauda said,
“I’m very proud of the kids and proud of myself because I didn’t know that this would come to the world. I was thinking only about Uganda. We are representing Africa and the kids all over the world. We are bringing hope to the kids out there hoping to be somewhere in their future.”