- The African Children's Choir composed of 17 Ugandan children will perform a free 80-minute concert at First Baptist Church of Waldo on Friday at 7 p.m.
- The choir tours the U.S. annually to provide education and leadership skills to African children and has helped nearly 60,000 children over 40 years.
An evening of praises, hymns and African songs sung by young voices is coming to Alachua County on Friday as the African Children’s Choir stops in Waldo during its 41st annual tour.
The free 80-minute concert will take place at 7 p.m. at First Baptist Church of Waldo (14370 Kennard Street/ State Road 24), featuring famous hymns like “Amazing Grace, “In Christ Alone” and “How Great Thou Art,” along with drums and dancing.
The performance will also provide an opportunity for attendees to give a “love offering” financially supporting the choir’s mission.
Made up of 17 children ages 8 to 10 from Uganda, the African Children’s Choir is one of five programs under Music for Life, an international Christian organization, which provides education, discipleship and leadership skills to thousands of vulnerable and impoverished African children.
The organization looks to build the children into beacons of hope and tangible resources to their communities through the program’s education and spiritual formation.
Tour leader Daniel Tamale said not only do concert attendees get a chance to minister to the children through donations, but they get a chance to be ministered to.
“It’s not just a performance, it’s a whole ministry,” Tamale said. “It’s a time when we get to showcase our culture, but also come with voices of hope, voices of encouragement to the people that attend.”
Since kicking off in September, this U.S.-focused tour has visited numerous areas throughout the country, like New England, Texas, Oklahoma, Georgia and now Florida. Past tours have traveled around the world to Canada, Europe and Australia.
To join the choir, each member auditions during Music for Life camps. Children selected for the tour spend the next five months at the Choir Training Academy in Kampala, Uganda, learning songs and dances while attending school and Sunday School at a local church.
During each tour, with concerts usually held at or sponsored by churches, choir children and staff stay with host families as they travel the world, getting exposed to new customs, foods and ways of doing life.
“I have learned so much from the host families because they are willing to share their culture,” Tamale said. “Just having time with them, to get to know each other, learn about each other, and really be appreciative of the fact that they choose to have you in their homes…they get to love on us, they get to be kind.”
When the tour is over, the children continue their education at the African Children’s Choir Primary School in Uganda. Music For Life sponsors those in the ChangeMaker program through college, aiming to help alumni bring positive change to Africa by practicing trades like medicine, engineering, education, ministry, business and law.
Tamale said the choir has helped nearly 60,000 children over the past four decades, including himself. As a 9-year-old boy, Tamale sang on the choir’s 30th tour.
“I grew up as a benefactor of the African Children’s Choir,” he said. “After my graduation, I was asked if I was interested in volunteering. And I thought this was a good way to give back and be part of what the choir does, but also to experience the full circle of being once a child in the choir and now a leader of the choir.”
After Friday’s concert in Waldo, the choir will make numerous stops in Florida before concluding in North Carolina in May.