Triplets Guetto Kids, the African kids who taught Shakira to dance: “She said she loves our dance moves”

In Uganda, there are sixty children who this year watch the World Cup with different eyes. One of them, running in a room of the Ghetto Kids house-foundation in Kampala (Uganda), smiles in front of his friends, because a call on the cell phone takes his breath away. It is Shakira on the phone saying she invites them to the final of the World Cup at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, United States. Suddenly, they all become grasshoppers to the rhythm of “Dai Dai,” the original song of the 2026 Football Cup. A little boy moves his waist and another taller one, his knees. “The children were running, jumping, crying with happiness. It was an unforgettable moment for everyone,” recalls Kavuma Dauda, the founder of the nonprofit organization that supports orphaned children since the initiative’s birth in 2007.

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“Ghetto Kids is often made up of street children and those from underprivileged schools. We take care of them and pay their school fees, food, medical care, and housing,” says Dauda.

Although Africa is experiencing a historic participation in the 2026 World Cup, with ten qualified teams, the continent has not made as much noise as the hit “Waka Waka (This Time For Africa)” in the 2010 Cup. That was Shakira’s first major collaboration with an African musical group, Freshlyground. That memory explains her constant attempts to maintain an African presence in FIFA’s official music.

The dance group Triplets Ghetto Kids was already marking territory on social media (9.4 million followers on Instagram and 13.1 million on TikTok), enough to catch Shakira’s attention. But dancing in “Dai Dai” is not the only international achievement of the dancers. Before becoming “the World Cup kids,” they reached the final of the “Britain’s Got Talent” program in 2023.

“The opportunity with Shakira came when we did a dance challenge with the soundtrack of ‘Zootopia,’” he says. Thus, the singer, who voices the character Gazelle in the Disney movie, turned her attention to the children. “She shared the video where we danced and, after all, contacted us to invite us to the United States to dance in the music video,” says Dauda.

“She was happy. She is very kind. She welcomed us. She said she loves our dance moves and would like to do more collaborations with the children. She said she loves them very much. She asked the children to teach her something from our local language,” Kavuma recounts about the group’s meeting with the singer.

How to contribute to the children?

The Inspire Ghetto Kids Foundation, based in Kampala, operates as a nonprofit organization dedicated to covering basic needs for children living in the ghetto, on the street, or in unsafe areas, and channels support through financial and in-kind donations. Contributions can be sent via international bank transfer to the Inspire Triplets Ghetto Kids account.

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• All information is available at this link. Website: https://inspireghettokidsug.org/donate 

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Dancing for education

To get in touch with Kavuma Dauda, it would be logical to take advantage of the eight-hour difference between Uganda and Peru and call him during daylight in his city. However, talking to him means entering a time revolving around the children: full of dance rehearsals, schoolwork, meetings, and trips, where interviews are improvised into the schedule. In this case, at three in the morning in Kampala, and with luck, after a first failed attempt via Zoom a month ago, when the poor network in the area played a bad game on him.

Finally, Kavuma stops to talk without the shrill tone of the Luganda (or Ganda) language, with which he responds to his own. “I myself come from the streets. I am an orphan. Someone helped me when I was very young, because of football,” he says about his skill in the sport, which led him to a school scholarship and then to graduate from university as a mathematics and science teacher. “When I grow up, I hope to help children like me,” was the mantra that aligned his destiny. He combined his knowledge in education with dance, a persistent passion during his university stage, and in turn, it led him to become a children’s choreographer.

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Not all the children could travel to the United States, but the description of some of them helps to know the energy behind the talent. “There is Akram, who is very creative, funny, and likes to dance. There is King, who always wants to be perfect. He is also funny and very attentive. He tries to receive my guidance. There are Ketra and Keisha, sisters, very passionate about dance. Ricky comes from Angola and with Akram they are the oldest,” Kavuma says about the children, who have adopted a paternal look in him.

After the World Cup, the NGO grew in followers and travel opportunities. In that scenario, social media operates as a daily extension of the project. “I always tell them that education is the key. They have to go to school; that is the reason they dance,” Kavuma maintains. The children are his life’s work and he takes care of them even when they go out on the street: the girls are accompanied by a woman in charge of protecting them and the boys walk beside him. “It is my obligation to protect them. I don’t want anyone to make fun of them or intimidate them,” he states.

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