Two little girls from Uganda on stage at Gibsons Christian Life Assembly on Thursday night, Feb. 2, captured the audience's attention as they told how hard life had been before they came to live at Watoto.
The two young singers and dancers are on tour across Canada as part of the Watoto Children's Choir to raise funds and awareness of their new home in Africa, the Watoto care program.
All the children who live in Watoto have been orphaned or abandoned. The stories are sad: their parents were the victims of HIV/AIDS, war and poverty. But the stories are also uplifting because the emphasis of Watoto is on finding a larger family, a new village in which the children will become contributing members of a family unit. They will now work for an education, and that is critical. Even the 10 year olds on stage understood the importance of training Africans to use their potential and become much-needed leaders of their country.
The organization began in 1994 with just eight children - they now have 2,400, including a branch that cares for babies under the age of two.
Tour leader Sam Kimera told Coast Reporter that the word "watoto" means children in Swahili and that their primary goal is to share the love of Jesus. It is also to raise awareness of the plight of many in Uganda and other parts of Africa. Watoto has plans to replicate the model in south Sudan, a part of the world that Kimera admits is scary.
"That's where there's a need," he said calmly.
The children's show was high energy, involving vibrant singing from youngsters and adults, dancing and drumming. The songs had rhythmic or haunting melodies and they spoke of joy or gratitude for the principles that Watoto lives by: "Rescue, Raise and Rebuild." It's easy to see how the lyrics would have a great appeal to kids who have been abandoned: "I'm not forgotten. God knows my name," they sang.
There have been 53 different choirs assembled from Watoto residents and this is the fourth week that this particular one has been on the road in their specially marked bus. Children must audition for their role when they are between the ages of six and 13.
During the show, a brief film introduced Canadian founders Gary and Marilyn Skinner and described the living arrangements in the many Watoto homes including the farm where children grow food and keep chickens. It also described another Watoto program, Living Hope, that restores dignity to the vulnerable: HIV-positive single women, teenage mothers and those who have returned from abduction. Many of the fair trade items available for sale at the show - fabric purses, stuffed animals and leather goods - were made by women in the program.
For more, see www.watoto.com.
