African Children’s Choir performs at Grace Bible Church
By Molly Ann Howell
Managing Editor
The sound of music filled the Grace Bible Church in Gallup Jan. 24 when the African Children’s Choir made a stop during their tour.
THE HISTORY OF THE AFRICAN CHILDREN’S CHOIR
Forty-one years ago, Ray Barnett was on a humanitarian trip to war-torn Uganda when he gave a small boy a ride from his decimated home to the safety of another village.
During the journey, the child did what he knew how to do best – he sang. That simple song of dignity and hope became the catalyst for a program that has changed the lives of thousands of children and reshaped the future of the African continent.
That young boy inspired Barrett to found the African Children’s Choir in 1984. Barnett served as the director and visionary for Music for Life, the non-profit organization working to develop the Choir program while raising funds to help thousands of destitute children receive an education and hope through other relief and development programs.
Under Barrett’s leadership, the Choir has gained international recognition and has raised the funds and sponsorship needed to educate over 53,000 children in 38 years.
The African Children’s Choir program promotes the dignity and unlimited ability of the African child around the world, being a voice for the millions of suffering children who cannot speak for themselves. The program provides for the children’s well-being and quality education, utilizing the transformative power of music.
Before being selected to join the Choir, children, generally aged between 8 and 11, attend Music for Life camps. These camps are fun and stimulating environments that provide a break from the daily hardships the young children face at home.
FIGURING OUT THE HELP
Once the children are selected, Choir Teams will spend a few days visiting the children’s homes to determine their needs and suitability for tour life. They then have the difficult task of selecting the group of children who will form the next African Children’s Choir.
Children selected to tour will spend approximately five months at the Choir Training Academy in Kampala, Uganda. Here the children learn the songs and dances, attend school, play and attend Sunday School at a local church.
When they’re ready, a choir group goes on tour across the U.S. for five months. They visit four stops a week for five months, for a total of 80 total stops. The current tour group has 17 children in it: nine little girls and eight little boys.
Tina Sipp is the Music for Life’s Choir Director. She organizes the logistics of each tour. While she’s not with the children every step of the way during the tour, she does get to interact and hang out with them at the beginning and end of the tours.
“I love getting to see them transform over those few months,” she said. “It’s so fun to see how much they grow not just physically, but spiritually, emotionally, and educationally.”
In between those brief visits she’ll also Facetime with them during the tour.
Sipp said that the children truly are special.
“They’re a different kind of child than what we have here in the West,” she said. “They’re very resilient, hopeful, and joyful. They’re very appreciative and respectful. The way that they’re raised in Africa is dramatically different. They don’t have very much materially, so they don’t have expectations; they’re not attached to stuff to make them happy.”
Sipps said the tour hadn’t stopped in New Mexico for quite some time, partially because of COVID-19.
The choir has spent most of January in New Mexico. They started out in Portales Jan. 3, then moved on to Roswell, Ruidoso, Alamogordo, Tularosa, Rio Rancho, Albuquerque, and Grants. They traveled to Farmington, Bloomfield, and Rehoboth after their time in Gallup.
For more information about the African Children Choir and to purchase their CDs, visit africanchildrenschoir.com
