African Children's Choir tour coming to Findlay

FINDLAY — The African Children's Choir will make a stop in Findlay next week as part of its current 100-city U.S. tour. The group — which consists of 17 kids ages 7-10 from vulnerable backgrounds across Africa — will perform the "Just as I Am" tour at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 29 at Living Hope Church, 2515 Heatherwood Drive. The African Children's Choir is part of Music for Life, an international Christian organization that provides thousands of impoverished children throughout Africa with education, discipleship and leadership skills. Choir manager Tina Sipp said the children are chosen based on need. "The poorest families who don't have a chance to educate their children will see their child chosen to sing in the choir," she said. Following the tour, choir members are educated and boarded at the school. Their education is paid for through college. "So any child in the choir will receive a college degree. That's a huge help to each family," said Sipp. "And by removing one child from the family that doesn't need to be fed and educated, that gives more resources to that family to educate the ones that are left." The program was started by Canadian Ray Barnett after he made a humanitarian trip to Uganda during the country's Civil War. "He once gave a child a ride to a nearby village after his home was destroyed and his parents were killed in the war and yet sang praise songs the whole journey," said Sipp. "Ray was just captivated by the resiliency and joy, in spite of these harsh circumstances in this child," she added. "And he said, if the west could just see the beauty, the dignity and the potential of Africa's children, they'd want to help." Barnett founded the African Children's Choir in 1984 and served as the director and visionary for Music for Life, the non-profit organization working to develop the choir program while raising funds to help thousands of destitute children receive an education and hope through other relief and development programs. "In fact, they've now been helping for 41 years," said Sipp. She said the organizationr is thankful for all of the churches that have hosted and helped support the choir's mission, the media for getting the word out and the host families and sponsors. "We have had an army of people behind us all these years to help educate as many children as possible because if you can just get one person in a family educated, it can really start a ripple effect of lifting that whole family up," she said. Choir members spend six months learning songs and choreography for their performances. The children work on their education the rest of the year. "So we can teach them any of the singing, dancing, drumming that they need to know. Our staff does all of that musical training when they are selected," Sipp said. "These are children that would not be able to go to school, even at a government school because of the cost of a uniform and paper." Their parents are probably not educated and are just working very minimal jobs to try and get food for the day, she said. "So if we can break that cycle for one family at a time, those ripples will eventually overlap. We're trying to break that cycle of poverty through education for as many families as we can," she said. They children train at the organization's academy which is on the same compound as the elementary school. After the tour, they return to the same compound for boarding school, said Sipp. The choir's work also supports numerous schools and training centers, educational sponsorships, counseling camps, seminars, relief efforts and other programs. Since the beginning, the program has aided over 59,000 children, said Sipp. And they become family, she said. "So there's a longevity. It's not like they age out of the choir. It's not like we lose track of them. They're with us for really the rest of their lives," said Sipp. In this year's choir, there are four African chaperones who are traveling with the group. They were members of the choir when they were children, she said. "So they're giving back to this generation having gone through the program themselves and getting their college degree. And really they're being very selfless in terms, they could be home trying to find work, but they are out on the road caring for this next group of children, and it's a beautiful circular giving back," said Sipp. "They've been blessed and they do in fact go on to bless other people." This is Sipp's 22nd year with the group. She started as a volunteer chaperone with choir #24 in 2003. Today's she's helping with choir #54. "What's kind of fun is the children from that choir are now my co-workers," she laughed. Historically they travel all over the world but the current tour is just in the United States. "But we travel primarily in Canada, the UK and the US. Over the years we've had invitations to Asia, parts of Africa, Europe, Australia. We've been to a number of countries," she said. "I think the tour gives them an idea of what they could be, not just professionally, but personally in their character." The children are great to work with, she said. "These children, if they're eating, and this is just how basic it gets, they're happy because they're alive, they're eating, they're safe and they're children. They love to have fun," said Sipp. Every day is also a new adventure. "And they just get up ready to embrace the day. I think that's their biggest contribution to me is just enjoy the day that you have because you don't have to worry about eating yesterday, that's over. And tomorrow's not a guarantee. So they wring the joy out of the day. They live in the present," she said. No tickets are required for the concert, but donations are appreciated to continue the choir's work. There will also be a product table with handcrafted items, T-shirts and music available to purchase. A sponsorship table provides attendees with an opportunity to sponsor either children in this choir or their friends back home. "Whether its $5 or $500, it doesn't matter," said Sipp. "You're actually investing in the life of a real person and changing dramatically the direction of that life."