The Ugandan Orphans Choir received shoes from Soles4Souls recently. We wanted to share their story with you, and so we asked Dawn, the Choir Ministry Assistant, to tell us about the organization and their experience with Soles4Souls. Check out the story and photos below!!

The first Ugandan Orphans Choir group came to the US in 2006 to perform at Childcare Worldwide’s 25^th Anniversary Celebration. Singing, dancing and drumming are important parts of Ugandan culture, and this first group came to bring a taste of Africa to the 25^th anniversary event. While here, they also performed at a few churches and were a smash hit so we decided to bring them back for a longer tour.  The children are selected based on good grades, musical ability (singing, dancing & drumming), health and good attitudes.

The main purpose of the choir is to raise awareness in the USA about children around the world in need of sponsorship. The children in the choir are already part of our child sponsorship program and their goal is to help give that opportunity to thousands of other children. The choir performs at churches, schools, community venues and sometimes even sporting events. There are ten children in the choir; five boys and five girls. These children are between the ages of 8 and 14. They are from our Children’s Villages on the Ssese Islands located on Uganda’s Lake Victoria. All of the kids are orphans who were given a new start through our sponsorship program.

Childcare Worldwide currently works in 9 developing countries helping to transform the lives of children through child sponsorship and education which lead to employment.  They have worked in Uganda since 1980 when they saw the tremendous need there due to the AIDS epidemic.  They were assigned to an area called the Ssese Islands which is located on Lake Victoria and built children’s villages in 2004 & 2007 which are called Sandi’s Village and Ebenezer Village – Approximately 300 children live in these two villages  including the children of the Ugandan Orphans Choir

Silvana Clark first introduced Childcare Worldwide to Soles4Souls several years ago.  We were so impressed we called back to see if they would be willing to bless us again.  When the children of the choir are at home they wear their “good” shoes to school and go barefoot a lot of the time not because they need to but because they want to.  Therefore, they did not have street shoes when they arrived, only their school/performance shoes.

The choir usually performs at three churches during the week and one “cultural event” which is a non-church performance.  They stay in host homes provided by the churches they perform at.  A typical day would consist of going to school in a room provided by the church with their teacher, Agnes,  from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm four days per week.  In Uganda it is very, very important to have good grades as the exams are quite difficult.  I believe they take their education more seriously than in the states.  Every seven weeks the choir and chaperones take a break week where there are no performances or school.  It is basically down time for the adults and fun time for the choir children.  During their “off time” the sky is the limit and they have a lot of memorable experiences while in the USA.

The best thing about working with the choir is their infectious joy.  It’s hard to understand how these children can be so joyful despite their previous circumstances.  They are such a pleasure to be around and are so very loving.  Every time I see them in a group I can count on getting ten big hugs followed by, “Hello Aunt”.  They bless my heart and the hearts of countless others who have the opportunity to meet them.

To learn more about the Ugandan Orphans Choir and the ministry of Childcare Worldwide, please visit our website at www.childcareworldwide.org/choir .