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The acclaimed Watoto Children’s Choir from Uganda will be performing in concert at the Osoyoos Baptist Church on Thursday, Feb. 12 at 7 p.m. The choir has been around since 1994 and seen more than 3,000 Ugandan orphans join since its inception.
Watoto choir has seen more than 3,000 Ugandan orphans perform around the world
A children’s choir that has helped shape the lives of thousands of Ugandan orphans over the past 20 years will be performing sweet music for Osoyoos residents next weekend.
The Watoto Children’s Choir started a Canadian tour in early January and will perform 175 shows before the tour wraps up in early July.
The choir will be performing at the Osoyoos Baptist Church on Wednesday, Feb. 11 at 7 p.m.
Watoto is the word for “children” in Swahili, the native language in Uganda, where the Watoto Children’s Choir was formed back in 1994, said Canadian tour co-ordinator Michael Gunn.
There are six to eight different versions of the Watoto Children’s Choir performing around the world at any given time.
The one coming to Osoyoos as part of the current Canadian tour consists of 18 children between the ages of six and 12 and an adult entourage of 10 adults, that includes musicians and chaperones, said Gunn.
Canadian couple Gary and Marilyn Skinner founded the Watoto Children’s Choir back in 1994.
Following four years of pastoral ministry in Canada, the Skinners moved to Zambia as missionaries in 1979. In 1982, Gary moved his young family to Kampala, the war-torn capital of Uganda, to plant an English-speaking church in the heart of the city.
Gary Skinner says, “God’s heart for the marginalized is not just to see individuals rescued, but rather to see them thrive as their lives are transformed. The stories of the children are real and represent thousands who are experiencing this transformation.”
The ministry has also been extended to reach out to vulnerable women as well as the war-affected community in Northern Uganda including the many child soldiers who were forced to become weapons of war.
Since 1994 the Watoto Children’s Choir has travelled all around the world as advocates for the children of Africa.
The Osoyoos concert, like all others, is free of charge, but those in attendance will be asked to sponsor an orphan in Uganda, which costs roughly $38 per month, said Gunn.
“There is a presentation as part of the concert that provides information and seeks interest from those who would be interested in sponsoring a child or children from Uganda,” he said.
The children who join the choir get to travel the world and get away from the poverty, war and disease that has been such a big part of most of their lives, he said.
“It’s incredible what this choir has done for these orphaned children,” he said. “They get to travel the world and the other choir members become their new family.”
The full tour schedule can be viewed online at http://www.watoto.com/the-choir/see-the-choir.
“After losing my parents I felt alone, with no one to love me. Now I know that God is my father. He loves and cares for me. As I travel on the choir, I am going to show people that God loves them too,” says six-year-old Jackie Nakku.
Each of the children in the choir has suffered the loss of one or both of their parents, but they have been rescued and now live in a Watoto village.
The children in the choir receive physical care, medical intervention including HIV/AIDS treatment, education – formal and vocational, counseling and emotional well being as well as moral and spiritual discipleship, said Gunn, who will soon be moving to India.
Watoto Villages have also been established over the past several years. The homes for children and mothers are constructed in the form of small, vibrant communities referred to as villages.
Each village contains a nursery school, kindergarten, primary school, high school, water project, medical clinic and a multi-purpose hall for use as a church and community centre.
Currently, Watoto has three children’s villages – one in Gulu, northern Uganda and two in Kampala, Uganda, looking after almost 3,000 children.
KEITH LACEY
Osoyoos Times
