I'm based in rural Mpumalanga where youth unemployment is a rampant 50% or more. I love music and dream of being a successful musician, but I need financial support to attend Casterbridge Music Development Academy, a local and affordable music school.

Most of my peers, like me, are hard pressed to meet the competing needs at home. This makes funding my transport cost of R100 per week sometimes impossible. I know that many students drop out of this music program due to the many demands at home as often the money budgeted for transport is diverted to other pressing needs.

The course fee of R2650 per month ($200), being reasonable, is also beyond my ability to fund. I will get financial assistance from the Academy, when such assistance is available, but this is limited as they're a Non-Profit Organisation.

I want to attend this specific Academy as they run a fully digital course, with all courseware and assessments online. This includes subjects such as history of music, music arranging and music specific business courses. As such I will be using computers daily and will learn the skills needed for the 21st Century. They insist I write a song every week that I must film and publish to my personal account on YouTube. As I progress the quality of these songs and videos has to improve and I will learn to use multiple cameras and digital editing to convert my creation into an appealing video. This is intended to develop my creativity. This is supplemented with two and a half hours of rehearsals per day, from which I will learn the benefits of hard work. Being in a band and learning my part, places me at the heart of a team and makes me a team player in synchronisation with the rest of my team. And finally, performing live in public develops my confidence to face the unknown.

I know dreaming of being a musician is a long shot, but I know the skills I learn along the way will stand me in good stead; I will be a digitally literate, creative, hard-working, self-confident team player that will differentiate me from my peers and will raise my job prospects in any career of my choosing. With your support, I and others at the CMDA, dare to dream.