Editor’s note: This statement is in response to recent controversy over the YellowJackets’ fundraising for a trip to Kenya.
Thank you to everyone who has been supportive throughout our campaign.
Since the campaign’s release, we have received feedback about the way in which we presented it.
We know our experience will be inspiring, exciting, and memorable, and we hope that our hosts in Maseno, Kisumu, Butere, and Nairobi will find the exchange as meaningful as we will. We are grateful for the kindness and generosity of our hosts and humbled to be welcomed into their community.
We are also grateful for the feedback that we’ve received from you, our fans and friends, for helping us realize our mistakes in how we expressed both our goals and intentions for the campaign.
And what are those intentions? To celebrate the music that binds us together, immerse ourselves in a world-renowned musical culture, and leave our hosts with something in return. We’ve also decided to ask the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence to provide us with some guidance on how to make sure our cultural exchange is as meaningful for our hosts as it is for us.
Meliora,
The YellowJackets
