Twenty-six-year-old Tapiwa Kudakwashe Mugadza -- “Taps” for short -- couldn't have gotten off to a more difficult start in life. For, when he was just two days old he was abandoned on the doorstep of an orphanage in Harare, Zimbabwe, in southern Africa.
“Taps” said, “That made me the youngest baby to be dropped off at any
'Taps' at Sanctuary Church in Beaumont, CA
orphanage that year. I never knew anything about my past or about my parents. I never even knew what tribe I was from.”
In Africa, tribal identity is important and a person carries a tribal identity and heritage that is very important in African culture.
“I had no identity, in fact, based on my appearance many thought my family was from far away in West Africa. But no one really knew where I was from,” he went on.
Tapiwa was without any family and any identity and without any hope.
“I spent most of my early childhood at this orphanage home. I was eight years old when I was suddenly moved to a completely different home. It was terribly traumatic to be taken from the only home you have ever known. I clung to the doorway and cried begging not to be taken away. But I was forced into the vehicle with four other boys and taken to another orphanage called St. Joseph’s Home for Boys. There I spent most of my teenage years.”
“Taps” with Glen Megill and
Dan Wooding at KWVE studios holding his guitar with “4” insignia
“Taps” and those four other orphan boys were a group of five friends and the closest thing he could call a "family.” They were the "5."
I met “Taps,” who is involved with the music ministry of ROCK of Africa Mission, when I interviewed him and ROCK of Africa president V. Glen Megill for my Front Page Radio program on KWVE in Southern California (www.rockofafrica.org).
“As a child I always knew that music was a part of me. During the lonely days of my life and the most difficult times in my childhood, I would often cry because of the untold pain that I was going through,” he continued.
“Taps” had a lonely and often painful childhood, but he did have his pseudo family of five orphan boys. One day one of those boys became sick and people saying it could be cancer. The medical options are very inadequate for orphaned boys in Zimbabwe.
“One morning we were all ready for school and my friend who was sick didn’t come to breakfast,” he recalled. “I ran to his bed and shook him, pulled down the covers and realized he was dead. We knew he was sick, but we just didn’t know he was that sick. It was terrible.”
Very suddenly Tapiwa’s group of friends, the “5” became just four.
“At any early age, I found a place to release my pain. I would often sing to myself as I cried. I would tell myself that everything was going to be alright. All the pain of unanswered questions was released into my music. I found that when I would sing to myself, it brought me an inner peace in such a special way. At that age music became my best friend, it became a force that I could confide in. It was able to interpret what I was feeling in a better way than I could. And most of all it gave me a reason to see beyond tomorrow.”
He went on to say, “My love for music is not a premature love, but it is a love that has been built through years. I believe it is not what you get from a dying world, but it’s what you give to a world in need.”
Until age fifteen “Taps” was very shy. He spoke to almost no one outside his group of four orphan friends. But one day a church group came to visit the boys’ home and one of the church members gave an old beat up guitar to one of the friends. It had but four strings, and none them knew how to play it, but when Tapiwa played with that old guitar he made music!
God used music to radically change the life of “Taps,” and what an amazing change! “Taps” gave his life to Christ and his Lord became the father he never had. He saturated himself with the gospel. He sang and played his guitar, and everyone began to notice. Within three years, Tapiwa Mugadza, the shy forgotten orphan with no real family but his group of four -- the orphan boy who never had a single music lesson, was leading worship, playing guitar and piano at Celebration Church, the largest church in Zimbabwe!
“Taps” comes from a country that has the highest Inflation rate in the
'Taps' singing worship music
world, listed by The Cato Institute as 89.7 Sextillion (1021) percent; a place where the average life expectancy is barely over 30 years old; a place with political unrest, economic collapse, famine, disease and despair are the norm.
“Starvation and AIDS have wiped out most of my people,” he continued. “Most people flee to other nations to seek refuge from all the chaos that is rapidly leaving young people with no hope for a future in our nation and leaving older people with no reason to live anymore.”
ROCK of Africa Mission, president, Glen Megill speaks with enthusiasm and affection regarding “Taps.” “Three years ago Tapiwa met one of our fulltime missionaries based in Zimbabwe and he soon joined ROCK of Africa Mission as worship leader for our mission outreaches. What an impact he has had. His ability to lead people into worship, with a wonderful Africa style, has had a dramatic impact on every outreach in which he participated.
“Tapiwa has a remarkable vocal range and to hear him sing, play the guitar, and the piano so magnificently all without one single formal lesson is stunning. We are certain God has great plans for “Taps” and we wanted to give this most gifted orphaned young man a chance at a real education,” said Megill.
During the summer of 2009, ROCK of Africa brought Tapiwa to visit Southern California with the hope of finding a school and sponsors to allow him to realize his lifelong dream of an education in music. While in the US he performed with the worship bands of several California churches.
In May, “Taps” visited one of the most prestigious music colleges in the world, the Musicians Institute of Los Angeles whose unique campus is located in the center of Hollywood, California. The three-story, 60,000 square-foot main building contains world-class recording and performing facilities along with classrooms, practice rooms and library. Nearby are facilities housing additional classrooms, practice rooms, studios and performance rooms as well as MI’s administrative offices.
Tapiwa was interviewed, given an audition, and immediately received a most unusual verbal guarantee of his acceptance as a student. Through the help of many wonderful individual sponsors who recognized Tapiwa’s very special natural talent, ROCK of Africa Mission has been able to raise enough support for Tapiwa to begin his music education in October. “Taps” has now returned home to Africa to apply for his student visa, before returning to the United States to attend school.
“I chose this school not only because it’s the best at turning raw talent into perfected skill but it also turns musicians into artists,” he said. “My goals at the school are to become a better vocalist, and become an instrument for change in my country. With this help, I am one step further in making a difference in my country.
'Taps' during Front Page Radio interview
at KWVE studios in Santa Ana, California with Glen Megill looking on
“I believe that music is a powerful means of communication. It does not only target the minds and hearts of people, but it has a special way of bringing hope and bringing people together. This will also show all the boys I grew up with in the orphanage and many other children in my situation that through hard work and believing in yourself and also finding people who believe in you that anything is possible.
“Being given this opportunity to come to a world class school will set a platform for me to bring about awareness to the crisis that is tearing my country apart. Sometimes it takes someone who has been in the very same situation you're going through, to spark a new hope inside your heart.
“I know how it feels to wake up and not know where the next meal is coming from, I know the fear that grips your heart when you get sick knowing that there are no hospitals to help you with your illness. All you can do is pray that your body is strong enough to fight for you to stay alive. But I also know what it feels like to have hope creep into your heart and how it’s able to stand above doubt and fear. I know if I am able to attend school and have access to the tools I will become a much better artist and better musician and be able to make a difference.”
Besides his performance skills, Tapiwa is a very accomplished songwriter. He sings about Africa; he sings about God and hope; but he dreams of what he will one day do for other orphaned children. While he will physically spend time in America for college, his heart will always remain in Zimbabwe. His guitar is emblazoned with a large number “4” representing the four orphaned boys that were his only “family.” He vows to one day go back to their home, St. Joseph’s Home for Boys and rebuild, fix, and upgrade the orphanage, and give other lost and lonely orphaned boys a bit of music and a lot of love from their Heavenly Father.
