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Britain’s Got talent returned for its 16th session on Saturday where Uganda dance group- GHETTO KIDS secured the coveted Golden Buzzer.

Britain Got is a televised talent competition in the United Kingdom where individuals or groups show case their talents in various categories such as Singing, dancing, magic, comedy and more if the act is awarded the Golden buzzer at the end of audition, it grants them a place in one of the live semifinals of the show, skipping the past boot camp stage of competition.

The children, who are aged five to 13 performed an energetic routine to a variety of Songs which delighted the crowd, that Judge Tonioli, couldn’t wait until the end of their audition, something never done before on the show.

From humble street lives, the children who are between six and 17 are now touring the world leaving behind a story of its kind. They are Ashley, Kokode, Nyangoma, Patricia, Ada, Fred, Ronnie, Man King, Isaac Pembe, Sharifah and Rukia. The group was put together in 2007 by a former teacher Kavuma Dauda aka Ticha Manager who now doubles as their manager.

“It does not matter how people look at it, we have gone through the lessons that the ghetto has taught us, we have chosen the good ones and the rest is history. There is good and bad everywhere you go, the choices one makes are what can make the big difference,” he says.

But how did Kavuma scout this hugely talented group of children?

“I first recruited Alex, and if you watch some of Eddy Kenzo’s videos, Alex was featured but not very prominently. Later I discovered Fred a

The group was put together in 2007 by a former teacher Kavuma Dauda aka Ticha Manager who now doubles as their manager.

According to Kavuma he had been thinking of ways how to help the many children that were loitering around the streets when they were supposed to be in school and finally in 2007 he decided would have to start somewhere.

“When I completed my teaching course, I found a school and the headmaster agreed with me that every child I bring from the streets who starts school will not have to pay school fees,” he says.

He says that all the children that form up this group come from the slums of Uganda, and this has been part of their inspiration.

“I also come from the same place. The place we live in, the Ghetto, is where our families live, that is where our energies came from. That is where our very first fans came from. That is where we still see a lot of potential, if only people there can be given opportunities,” says Kavuma.

He adds: We have our roots in the slums, and that we would like to keep. Anyone is allowed to interpret that in their own way – and that is perfectly fine – but we have no regrets about telling a story about this place where you find poor people who have great potential and always wake up hoping someone will listen to them.

He says that life in the slums has different degrees of suffering. “Among the poor people in the slums, there will be some who are a little better than the others, so living in this kind of environment gives us a wide window of themes to pick from,” says Kavuma.

From the beginning he believed that every child if given a chance, can do just as well as those living in the posh suburbs, or even better.

But how did Kavuma scout this hugely talented group of children?

We briefly rehearsed the Sitya Loss dance with these 4 boys and later I noticed Patricia as having some talent though we did not rehearse with her at all. On the day we were to shoot Sitya Loss video, she was passing by, so I invited her to take part.”

The group kicked of their journey in performing arts with a video performance of Eddy Kenzo’s Sitya Loss which went viral, since then they have been featuring in in many videos dancing like Tunakupenda, Amunya, Gingale, Maama ye Maama etc.

They have appeared on major platforms on tours and performances across the world – featuring in French Montana‘s “Unforgettable” video that pulled 1 billion views on YouTube and recently a good performance at a World Cup 2022 event in Qatar.

And the rest is now history.