The African Children's Choir visit Canberra

Hosted at two different venues over two nights, The African Children’s Choir treated Canberra to some insight into Ugandan culture and the backgrounds and homes from which these children come. The choir performed at the Canberra Grammar School a few nights before, however I went to see the African Children’s Choir concert ‘Under One Sky’ on their second night performing in Canberra at the Vikings Erindale Auditorium. Sadly, the crowd turnout for this show was intimate to say the least, however the message and impact that these children had on their audience was truly incredible.

The African Children’s Choir is comprised of African children from the ages of seven to ten. Many of these children have lost one, if not both of their parents through the devastation of war, famine and disease, but they have not lost hope. At the beginning of the show, the audience was shown a video outlining the places from which these children come. The mood of the room was solemn, as the audience watched a video of poverty stricken scenes filled with cheerful children.
The audience heard two testimonies halfway through the show from one male and one female who had grown up with the African Children’s Choir. These two, now adults, travel with the choir children and mentor them. The children’s performances melt the hearts of their audience through their sweet smiles, angelic voices and feel-good African tunes. Their performance throughout the concert has the power to bring inspiration to every one of their listeners as these incredibly musically gifted children radiate with hope.
Through their song and dance, the children in the choir represent all of the children within the continent and demonstrate the potential of African children to one day become strong leaders and advocates for a better future in their land. Towards the end of the show, the children were finally introduced to their audience and each child told us what they wanted to be when they grow up. After hearing aspirations of being bank managers, pilots, doctors and nurses, the crowd’s reactions after each child spoke was nothing but claps and cheers as the hope and positivity these children had made us believe that anything is possible.
In between songs, the children spoke to their audience and explained the meanings behind the African song and dance they would perform, and many of these songs told stories of peace, hope and learning to be positive even at the end of a rough day. Because of these explanations their performances were truly touching.
Set up to the side of the stage was a market-like stall which sold CD’s, t-shirts, hand-made jewellery, arts and crafts and other assorted gifts. A handful of volunteers manned the stall from the beginning to the end of the event, speaking with the crowd and encouraging them to support the cause. At the end of the show, the children also encouraged the crowd to check out this stall in order to support the African Children’s Choir, as they joked with the audience, “Please don’t go home without us! Make sure you buy CD’s, t-shirts and gifts for everyone!”

The African Children’s Choir are ambassadors for the millions of vulnerable and suffering children back home in Africa and have become a fundamental organisation helping children not only in Uganda, but also all over Africa. Their spread also reached Rwanda, Kenya, South Sudan, South Africa, Ghana and Nigeria. Once the choir members have completed a concert tour, the children will return to their homelands with the tools necessary for bettering their future. The funds that are raised throughout their tours not only go towards the education of each of the touring choir children, but also to the on-going efforts to improve the lives, education and overall futures of thousands of other children through their fundraising organisation called Music for Life. 
The main goal of the African Children’s Choir is to raise awareness of orphaned children in Africa and to raise funds for continued development and support of the African Children’s Choir Programmes and schools. Over the last 30 years, the choir’s fundraising efforts have helped 52,000 African children receive better education opportunities and the opportunity to raise themselves out of poverty.
The children’s performances were uplifting and humbling and this event was an incredible opportunity to experience their strength and good spirit as well as the amazing people involved with the organisation who volunteer and work hard to build these children a better and brighter future.
Text and images by Monika Damcevska