Ugandan Children's Choir

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(Locator: Gulu, Uganda)

Outside the capital of Uganda is a place of deep despair – a region where war has left behind a generation of victims.

They are Uganda’s children, two million orphans, scattered across resettlement camps and living in desperation…one of the highest populations of orphans in the world.

But we are heading to a place of hope, a place where children no longer cry. Here, in a choir of orphans and refugees, they sing.

David Ntogohnya, Gulu District Superintendent : “It was the idea of our bishop to begin the “Hope for Africa Children’s Choir.”

They have been here just six months, plucked from refugee camps where other children are sick and starving, and have no chance at education.

Choir member: “My people, they don’t care for me. They never care for me, until when my grandmother came and got me from them, when God chose me to be in this choir. May God bless you.”

It was Bishop Daniel Wandabula who gathered a team who rescued 23 children, clothed and fed them, and taught them their first words in English.

Daniel Wandabula, United Methodist Bishop, East Africa Annual Conference: “These children have changed in a very short time. They are going to be the future of our nation.”

You can already see the difference.  Here they were returning home for the first time after just three months at the academy.

Tonny Mbowa, Director, Hope for Africa Children’s Choir: “When you help such a child, they grow up with a loving heart instead of hating. We are praying for them each and every day and we teach them to pray for themselves. And we have seen the Lord working in their lives, so that is why you see them shining.”

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United Methodists from the South Georgia conference paid for the children and their teachers to fly to Fort Worth from Uganda. The Hope for Africa Children’s Choir will remain in the United States through July and will sing at United Methodist churches in Arkansas, Georgia, Wisconsin, Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee.

Proceeds from the choir’s tour will help 280 orphans and vulnerable children receive care and an education at Humble School in Uganda. To learn more about the Hope for Africa Children’s Choir, you can contact coordinator@hopeforafricachildrenschoir.org.

Also, see: Uganda children’s choir awes General Conference