|
Watoto Children's Choir sways them in the aisle |
|
Written by Administrator
|
|
Thursday, 08 November 2007 |
or the hundreds of “Range
People” who attended the recent Watoto Children’s Choir concert at the
Maleny High School’s activity centre certainly had their hearts firstly
broken by the stories of the children’s past life then out back
together again as the children sang about their life of hope.
During the night the whole audience was swaying and clapping. The Watoto Children’s Choir from Uganda often has that effect, even on the most strait-laced of people. "This choir started travelling in 1994 and this choir basically
represents what’s happening back home in Uganda," explains Eddie
Mwesigye, one of the adults travelling with the group. "Here in Australia we’ve seen people’s minds open, and they get to learn what is happening."
.
The children in the choir all had happier smiles on their faces than I have seen on our own children and they appeared to be sincere in their feelings. All they wanted for themselves were similar to our children, love, well-being, a feeling of security and being needed. The children in the choir can mke only one concert tour so that others get a turn.
When one thinks of how lucky the youth of Australia are and then compare life here with that of these Ugandan children it is difficult to understand how happy these Ugandan children are.
When they explained their futures they wanted to be the same as our kids, working in the fields of medicine, teaching, airline pilots and even a bus driver. So you see they are not really too different to our kids.
Unfortunately these children are in a minority in Uganda.
Uganda has endured brutal dictators, the scourge of civil war and the deadly AIDS epidemic. An estimated 2 million children in Uganda have been orphaned by these calamities, 880,000* of them as a result of AIDS alone.
Watoto cares for about 1600 young children. This is only a “drop in the bucket” in numbers so what happens to the other 2 million orphans. Many of them are kidnapped and used as child soldiers in the civil war that still engulfs Uganda.
Is there anything we can do from home to help make the lives of these young people a little less desprate?
Each Watoto village has schooling facilities, medical facilities and of course accommodation. This all costs money.
You can play a vital part in the building of these buildings by visiting Uganda and helping with the construction or you can make a regular donation to the Watoto Foundation to help pay for their construction.
Photo above: Think about this child as being used as a child soldier. It happens every day in Uganda to tens of thousands of them.
|
|
Last Updated ( Thursday, 08 November 2007 )
|
Range News 2005 - ON 
