Hope for African Children's Choir in Concert at Centenary

Twenty-three members of a United Methodist children’s choir in Uganda, Africa, have practiced and studied hard for their international debut in the United States from April to July.

The Hope for African Children's Choir, created by the United Methodist Uganda Annual Conference, arrived in Fort Worth, Texas, on April 14 for a tour that will include performances at United Methodist churches in seven states. They will also sing April 28 and 29 at the 2008 General Conference, the denomination's top lawmaking body that meets every four years. The 2008 General Conference meets April 23-May 2.

The children, ages 5-12, come from lives of extreme poverty -- from poor villages and Internally Displaced Persons Camps. The government of Uganda, torn apart by 20 years of a bloody civil war, has moved thousands of people into the camps to save them from raids by rebel forces. Many of the children are orphans

Tonny Mbowa, choir director, and Lydia Namageme, choir manager, have been preparing the children for their first visit anywhere outside their rural country. The children live together and attend an academy also created for them by the Uganda United Methodist church. They are learning English and that God loves them. They sleep in beds, eat nutritious food and play in safety. Thousands of other children they know lie on cold mud floors at night and go to sleep hungry.

Mbowa and Namageme have a deep spiritual connection to these children because they were once orphans also. They were rescued and made part of the African Children's Choir founded by Ray Barnett in 1984. That choir is still saving and training children today. The choir has gained international recognition, performing in some of the world's most prestigious halls.

In addition to the Lexington performance at Centenary, the children will sing at United Methodist churches in Texas, Arkansas, Georgia, Wisconsin, Virginia and Tennessee.

"The world has robbed them of almost every good thing," says the Rev. David Ntogohnya, superintendent in the Gulu, Uganda, District. Being in the choir and the academy has made a profound difference in their lives. "Seeing children happy and smiling is a wonderful thing," he says.