‘Just as I Am’: African Children’s Choir performs in N. Battleford April 17-18

“We’re just so delighted, when we started calling churches…the dates just filled up so quickly and we’re just so grateful and we’re just looking forward to being back with our Canadian friends,” she said.

The choir is comprised of 18 children from Uganda between the ages of nine to 11 and their program titled ‘Just as I Am” will be made up of favourite hymns put to African rhythms.

“It’s kind of a collision of those worlds and there’s an African dance, there’s a can dance, there’s a drum piece where everyone’s involved,” said Sipp.

“It’s very bright, vibrant, colourful, energetic and inspirational.”

According to their website, the program, which is celebrating its 40th year, is part of the Music for Life, an international program that works to provide education, leadership along with religious education for thousands of children in Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda.

As part of the upcoming performance, there will also be a video playing on a screen behind the children telling the story of a little girl who helps another child.

“It’s just a story of ‘If we all do a little, we can do a lot and so, (organizers) had this vision of the whole program and these particular hymns fit the storyline,” Sipp said.

As a child, Jim Luzze was a member of the 16th choir. Before joining, he came from a poor family in Uganda, where his mother was a homemaker and his father struggled to make ends meet.

“Education was just but a dream so, I was in and out of school,” he said, noting because of the tuition, it was too expensive.

Luzze’s life changed, however, after his father heard that Music for Life was auditioning children for the famed choir.

“I tried out and soon after, I got through by God’s grace and was called in to start training,” he said.

“We travelled and we were on the road for about two years.”

Upon returning, he settled down in school through sponsorship of the organization and eventually went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in social sciences.

“After I graduated and started working, I always wanted to find a way to say thank you to the organization for giving me a fighting chance in life and I was wondering how best to do that,” said Luzze.

He found that way through becoming a chaperone for the new generation of performers.

“Music is an integral part of our culture,” he said.

“Coming from Africa, everybody soon enough learns knows how to drum, how to dance and singing – definitely.”

As for the choir itself, not everyone who benefits from the organization is a choir member. The program is more than music. It is the vehicle through which funds are raised and provides tuition for children so they may attend school.

Nellys, whose last name, is withheld by the organization, explained the school lessons and training run concurrently and students spend their mornings in class before moving into rehearsals in the afternoon.

Her training in the program took seven months.

“My favourite subject is actually English and my favourite song is ‘This Little Light of Mine,’” she said.

According to Luzze, while they do come from poverty-stricken countries, there is hope and joy to be found in the music.

“When I joined the choir, that brought healing upon my life, that brought some sense of comfort, some sense of peace,” he said.

The chaperone explained that some of the children come from situations of neglect or domestic violence, but when they begin to sing, there’s release.

“You find some great joy in that and you’re able to forget for a while the different challenges that come with what you’re facing.”

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julia.lovettsquires@pattisonmedia.com

On BlueSky: juleslovett.bsky.social

by Julia Lovett-Squires

‘Just as I Am’: African Children’s Choir performs in N. Battleford April 17-18

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