Uganda children's Choir

2009-11-11T17:07:00.000-08:00

When you hear someone saying 'music changes lives' you begin to wonder whether its the same cliche over used to push a 'wanabes' career in this fame hungry generation. While you are still in your own world trying to figure out which direction the story is going pause for a minute and prepare some klennex tissue if you know you cried when at the end of Titanic the movie. This is the story of a children's choir which travels all over the world entertaining audiences with afro beats fused with pop, gospel, Jazz and soul. Their audiences don't know what has hit them until they experience the energetic performance of these kids with big smiles, tooth paste companies would be proud to put in their commercials. This is not any choir or children's church choir. It is a choir with a mission, to give hope, love, clothes, food, shelter, medical care and education.

Mwamba is made up of 6 to 14 year olds who come from different backgrounds, former street children, orphans, single parent families all with different stories to tell but only one brings a smile to their faces and their eyes light up and thats the journey of being part of a noble cause through something they enjoy, music.

Mwamba children's choir originates from one of the rough surburbs of Kampala the capital city of Uganda, a country reknown for one of the worst African dictators Idi Amin endless wars and HIV/Aids have been the cause of 80% of children's lives. In 2002 I am Children's Family a comunity based charity for disadvantaged children started a music project Mwamba to help raise sponsors to support the more than 300 disadvantaged children from the streets of kampala and surrounding areas, with tuition fees, medication and accommodation.

The plan

The choir has grown from humble beginnings of first performing in local schools and churches to recording 2 studio albums followed by full blown European and USA tours. This has enabled the project to raise enough funds to buy 6 acres of land (an equivalent of six football fields) where construction is underway. Mwamba children's choir has not rested since their first tour, in september 2009 they emberked on a 3 months tour of the east coast of United States to raise more sponsors and funders of the children's centre (in picture above).

Photos from the 2008 European Tour
Music is such a powerful tool if used in a positive way, someone's can have a future they never hoped for, because when you hear individual stories from these children you begin to wonder whether there should be a law passed that every song or album released should donate a percentage to children charities all over the world. Children are the future of the world but always suffer the consequences of politicians' or adults' bad decisions which lead to war, starvation, diseases and death but when you see a project which restores hope like the children's choir you at least get a glimmer of hope that someone out there cares for children's lives.

As the choir finalises their tour and meet their targets some one's life will be changed for ever. A poor child who did not have hope of living let alone having an education to make a better citizen of the country and world at large. Perharps this kind of project should be adopted by most of the children charities in the world and not wait on over commercialized events like Band Aid used by most artists involved, as a springboard to their careers, which am sure saved children's lives in ethiopia but only happened as a one off event which does not help an ongoing problem whoever much was donated.

Music Changes Lives

Uganda children's Choir