The African Children's Choir will return to Jefferson City next week, offering a free performance for all.
Now in its 50th touring choir, the African Children's Choir will perform at 7 p.m. Tuesday at First United Methodist Church at 201 Monroe St. Since 1984, this choir, under the umbrella of Music for Life, has worked with some of the most vulnerable children in Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and South Africa, educating more than 52,000 children and helping improve the lives of thousands more through relief and development programs.
Throughout the choir's history, it has performed before presidents, heads of state and celebrities.
Choir Manager Tina Sipp said the current choir is made up of 16 children, ages 8-11, from all over Uganda.
"These children are all from extreme poverty," Sipp said. "Their families do not have the means to send them even to a government school because even a government school you need to buy uniforms, books, papers, pencils. The work of the choir is all about raising money to help as many children as we can get an education."
Sipp said the children will be in Jefferson City for only one night, with members of the First United Methodist Church opening up their homes to host them.
The concert itself is free, but Sipp said they do take offerings. The choir essentially helps act as a fundraising arm for the Music for Life organization, she said, allowing people to see a sample of the children helped and hear their stories. What she'd like to see, Sipp said, is for all the seats to be filled Tuesday evening with an audience for the choir.
"We hope people will be moved to invest with us and the lives of these children," she said. "The children that you see on the stage really just represent about 1,000 other children back (in Africa) that are receiving an education because of the money raised on the tour. So it's not just those children that you see on stage that are being helped, it's hundreds more."
Those in the choir, she said, also get valuable experience on the tour. Sipp said she's able to see the changes in each child from touring another country and performing in front of a variety of audiences. Plus, she said, it gives them an opportunity to vastly improve their English, which goes a long way considering the educational system in Uganda is in English.
"It gives them a chance to dream," Sipp said. "It actually widens the potential that is in them that would otherwise really go untapped, and that would be a tragedy. I mean this is Africa's greatest resource."
Sipp said many children need a sponsor, something she said is difficult for a Western mind to fully understand given that education is a given for most Western children.
"We have a big vision in mind and are being intentional to try to raise young men and women of great character and great faith for the future of Africa," Sipp said.
Sipp said anyone who comes out to attend Tuesday's event will be sure to fall for the children and leave the event more inspired than when they arrived.
"People are completely, totally enamored and magnetized by these children, they would give them the world on a footstool if they could," Sipp said. "It's so much more than a concert. It's so much more than entertainment. It's inspiring, it's moving, it's challenging. You have to think about your own life. There's something beautiful that happens the night of our concert in the heart of people."
For more information on the African Children's Choir, visit africanchildrenschoir.com.