LAKE JACKSON
Listen to the song of God and experience a new culture tonight at the First United Methodist Church.
The African Children’s Choir tours the country throughout the year singing heartfelt African music and traditional hymns. They collect donations at their performances to raise money to help African children get an education.
“It combines traditional hymns with African cultural sounds and stunning visual story of God’s faithfulness,” First United Methodist secretary Kelly Colosimo said. “They were here several years ago, and we had such a great time that we invited them to come back, and it was actually supposed to happen and then was canceled twice due to COVID. A lot of people have seen them before and get excited when they find out that they’re coming to a local place to see them again.”
The choir was founded to raise awareness about the many children who lack access to education in Africa, and through their performances, they show those watching what can be done and what potential the children have. The group coming to Lake Jackson consists of 19 children aged 11 to 15 from Uganda.
“We raise money and awareness of the need for education across Africa, and we do that by bringing choirs out,” choir manager Tina Sipp said. “They perform and tell their story and represent thousands of children just like them back home.
“Their mission, if you will, is to represent the beauty, dignity and potential of the African child and the fact that so many of them, even though they’re extremely gifted and bright, they really have not had the option of getting an education and actualizing their potential.”
The concert is free, however donations are accepted. Other ways to contribute will be presented at the concert to benefit the children and the program. African crafts will be available for purchase as well.
“We raise money to support as many children as we can each year in educational programs that we have. That’s the nature of the tour, to raise money, not just for the children that are on the stage, but for hundreds of other children back home, who otherwise would not be able to receive an education,” Sipp said. “In the history of our organization, we have worked in seven different African countries and currently we’ve finished some of those programs and we are now represented, I believe, in four or five different African countries.”
Every year, the concert is a little different, so even return listeners can enjoy them, with costume changes, dancing and visual presentations thrown into the mix.
“This particular program is called ‘Just As I Am,’ and what we’ve done is we’ve taken familiar hymns that most people might recognize and put them to African rhythms. We hired a Ugandan artist who is quite phenomenal,” Sipp said.
The concert begins at 7 p.m. at the church, 404 Azalea St., and the public is welcome to enjoy the music and the children.
“It really does kind of cross all barriers — doesn’t really matter what denomination, what ethnicity, what gender, what age, it’s the children are just so unassuming,” Sipp said. “I don’t think we have a lot of opportunities to make a profound impact on somebody’s life and I feel like this is an opportunity for them to do that.”
