At the blow of a red whistle the children began to dance. Four boys drummed an upbeat rhythm while their peers, dressed in traditional African costumes, paraded around the stage waving their arms and singing in unison.
Composed of 26 children, aged 7 years to 10 years old, from Uganda, Kenya, South Africa, Rwanda, Nigeria, and Ghana, the African Children’s Choir performed in front of a capacity crowd at the Eugene Faith Center on Wednesday night. Accompanied by choreographed dance, the choir sang traditional African and American songs to hand drums and pre-recorded music.
Halfway through the event, the children skipped, one-by-one, backstage to change costumes. They returned dressed in yellow shirts, purple pants or dresses, a yellow kufi for the boys (a short, rounded hat) and a leopard print headdress for the girls. The children then introduced themselves.
“Hallo, my name is Paul and when I grow up, I want to be a musician.”
“Hallo, my name is Anna. When I grow up I want to be a pastor.”
The children spoke articulate English, smiling and slowing down mid-sentence to emphasize their career aspirations. After minibiographies from a handful of aspiring pilots, doctors, musicians and one scuba diver, the song and dance resumed.
The children concluded their concert by giving a send-off in four different African languages.
The choir is touring the United States and some parts of Canada for 15 months to raise money to bring health care and education to nearly seven thousand impoverished children in Africa, said Kari Trieb a volunteer for the Music for LifeInstitute, which sponsors the choir.
“Most of these children in the choir have lost one or both parents to AIDS or other diseases,” she said. “If the choir didn’t perform concerts, (Music for Life) wouldn’t have the means to support those thousands of children in the schools throughout Africa.”
Trieb spoke about Moses, a past participant of the choir who came to America and was fascinated by the road system.
“He grew up and now is a civil engineer in Uganda,” she said. “He would have had no idea what even a road was before then. But because he was exposed to something bigger, he can hope to do something like that.”
Ray Barnett started the Music for Life Institute in 1984 and his vision of “bridging cultural gaps and bringing hope and joy to audiences throughout the world while shining the spotlight on Africa’s most vulnerable children,” continues 22 years later.
The organization has established several schools throughout Africa and has helped thousands of deprived families receive the emergency food, clothing and medical care they need to survive, Barnett said in the program’s brochure.
Each year Music for Life selects 50 children, many of whom participate in community classes sponsored by the organization, to join the Music for Life Camp. Located in Kampala, Uganda, the camp feeds, educates and entertains the children until the camp finishes and 26 children are chosen to join the African Children’s Choir.
The experience of traveling outside of Africa exposes the children to another world, builds self-esteem and confidence so that they have the strength to pursue their goals, former choir member and current Music for Life volunteer Henry Tumwesigye said.
“When they go back home they are able to go to school; they get free education sponsored by the organization,” Tumwesigye said. After the children complete the primary and secondary levels of schooling, “they can go as far as they can.”
But what happens to the children who do not make the cut?
“Of course all of these kids we meet have to do with a need,” Tumwesigye said. “So we always give an opportunity to them, next time, when they do auditioning.”
But the performance didn’t just benefit the choir members; Gabriel Hamel left the performance with a smile on his face as well.
“It was amazing, very touching,” he said. “It blessed me a lot.”
African Children’s Choir performs, raises funds
Daily Emerald
November 30, 2006
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