Harare — BONGO Love, the Zimbabwean music group on a four-month tour of the United States, last week played before a 60 000-plus crowd during a three-day joint show with an unlisted American group, Dispatch, at Madison Square Gardens in New York.

The sold-out show's proceeds were for helping charity organisations in Zimbabwe where one of the members of Dispatch, Chad Urmston, taught for six month a year ago.

During the show, held under the title Concert for Elias, donations were collected by organisations such as Books for Kids, Rock for a Remedy and Musicians on Call while a shoe-making company, Crocs, gave 10 000 pairs of sandals to the children of Zimbabwe.

The Elias Fund is a non-profit organisation that provides hope and opportunity to Zimbabwean youths through education and community development.

Through community centres in Zimbabwe consisting of school tutoring, medical aid, sports activities, general life skills and nutritional aspects, the fund works with primary through secondary level students and identifies potential university level scholarship recipients through its programmes.

There is a dualistic approach to the fund's work though -- interacting with secondary schools through college age people from across the US and several other areas of the world to raise awareness and support.

Through volunteering, college internships, individual fundraisers and high school and college Elias Clubs, American Elias "reps" work within their local communities to raise support and awareness about work in Zimbabwe.

Bongo Love, which was formed in Bulawayo and moved to Harare, won the inter-regional Music Crossroads competition last year.

Dispatch is a three-piece band that consists of Urmston, Peter Hemibold and Brad Corrigan, who are all multi-talented.

The group, which was formed in 1995, found its popularity when the now defunct online music shop Napster helped it sell some of its albums. African Children's Choir also joined the band on stage.