Choir Magazine 2008

www.africanchildrenschoir.com

Helping Africa’s w.a f rica nc hi l drens ch o ir. c most vulnerable www. a fri c a nc hi l dre nsc hoi r.co m children today, so they can help Africa tomorrow

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Word Founder’sWord Founder’s

hope to audiences around Choir—24 years of bringing n’s ldre Chi ican Afr the of iver sary This year mar ks the 24th ann ing children. tlight on Africa’s most promis spo the ing shin the world while gone they would have otherwise vided with a quality education pro g bein are n d, dre foo chil 0 of help in the form Thanks to you, more than 7,00 ir communities are receiving the in ers oth of nds usa tho ilies and without. Meanwhile, their fam . ling nse cou medical care, and in is the key to long-term change kly recognized that education quic ir, Cho n’s ldre Chi now are ican new Africa. Many Music for Life, home of the Afr are now working to create a irs have come full circle and Cho first ctly with our from n n ldre Africa. Chi rs etc. Several eve work dire rs, social workers and enginee che tea s, tor doc s: nitie mu com leaders in their y understand. dren whose situations they trul Music for Life, sharing with chil and Civil war, genocide, poverty, we still have a long way to go. and 4, 198 in ir ic Cho dem first e our the HIV/AIDS pan We’ve come a long way sinc orphans. Diseases, especially into n dre chil of nds usa tho of ed tens be pulled from corruption have needlessly turn these atrocities; but they can n should never have to face ldre Chi . help of d nee in re continue to leave mo solution for a better Africa. these ashes to become the poverty. Many have y battle against star vation and dail a ght fou e onc who n many t on childre The Choir shines the spotligh hope. They are the voices for s, yet they sing with so much ase dise er oth or S AID to s lost one or both parent ica. children like them back in Afr today, so they can help ca’s most vulnerable children Afri g lpin “He : sion mis our of importance future of an The Choir underscores the children, we can change the to provide hope for Africa’s er eth tog rk wo to ing tinu Africa tomorrow”. By con a time. entire continent, one child at For the children,

esident

Ray Barnett - Founder/Pr

ildrenschoir.com nchildrenschoir.com | www.africanch | fax 604 575 4511 | email info@africa 4500 575 Africa h 604 tel | Sout and 4R3 UK V3A da, BC Cana ley , PO Box 3100, Lang with offices in the USA of the Music for Life™ organization, The African Children’s Choir™ is part

Helping Africa’s most vulnerable children today, so they can help Africa tomorrow

3 Introduction

Contents

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4 Choir Selection 5 - 6 How We Started 7 What We Do 8 The First Choir 9 Breaking The Poverty Cycle 10 Changing Children, Changing Africa 11 The Choir - Africa’s Ambassadors 12 The African Children’s Choir Primary School 13 How You Can Help 14 Support The Work Of The Choir

OurEditorialTeam Executive Editors: Ray Barnett & Suzanne Nelson Editors: Max Clements, Dawna Hodgins, Rebecca Macpherson, Maggie Owino & Michael Prins Photography: Sarah Boonstra, Craig Peters, Michael Prins, Jamie Rainey & Kristin Schattschneider Design and Art Direction: Maggie Owino

ContactUs United States PO Box 29690 Bellingham WA 98228 -1690 t 877 532 8651 f 800 394 4647 Canada PO Box 3100 Langley BC V3A 4R3 t 877 532 8651 f 800 394 4647 United Kingdom PO Box 130 Sutton Surrey SMI ITN t 084 5073 0470 f 028 9266 6601 South Africa PO Box 365 Komatipoort 1340 t 021 689 3680 e [email protected] w www.africanchildrenschoir.com Gifts are tax deductible as allowed by law. Music for Life is a registered charitable organization in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and South Africa. In the United Kingdom, Music for Life is a company limited by guarantee and not a share capital.

Helping Africa’s most vulnerable children today, so they can help Africa tomorrow

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WelcomeTo Welcome WelcomeToOurConcert ToOur OurConcert Concert “We are the African Children’s Choir.” “We are all between seven and eleven years old and we come

Through funds generated by the Choir tour, Child sponsorship, and Donors, Music

from Africa. We come from very poor villages and many of us are

for Life is able to run schools and programs

orphans. Our families find it hard to care for us. Children in our

that educate thousands of children in

villages often do not learn to read or write because their families

Uganda, Sudan, and South Africa and

cannot afford to send them to school.”

provide school tuition fees for even more in

“But thanks to your love and generosity, and the work of the African Children's Choir our lives will be different! After our tour we will go home to learn, grow and make it better there. Please help us make life better for all our brothers and sisters in Africa.”

Rwanda, Ghana, Nigeria, and Kenya.

Your ongoing support will help Africa one child at a time.

Helping Africa’s most vulnerable children today, so they can help Africa tomorrow

ChoirSelection The African Children’s Choir is made up of some of the neediest and most vulnerable children in their countries. Many have lost one or both parents to poverty or disease. The African Children’s Choir helps these children break away from the everyday cycle of poverty and hopelessness. Before being selected to join the Choir, children attend Music for Life camps. These camps are a fun and stimulating environment for the children that provide a break from the daily hardships they face at home. Games, crafts, music and devotions are some of the activities the children look forward to at Music for Life camps.

Once the children have been selected, staff will spend a few days visiting the children’s homes to determine the child’s needs and suitability for tour life. Staff then have the difficult task of selecting the group of children who will form the next African Children’s Choir.

ChoirTraining Children selected to tour will spend approximately five months at the Choir Training Academy. Here, the children learn the songs and dances, attend school, play and attend Sunday School at a local church. It is at the Choir Training Academy where the real life-changing work of the African Children's Choir can be seen. The children’s personalities and talents emerge like never before as they settle into their new routine with the knowledge that they are loved and cared for.

These are the children you see on stage today!

Helping Africa’s most vulnerable children today, so they can help Africa tomorrow

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HowWe W Started We r rted “In Northern rrthern Uganda, the German Red Cross rross estimates that over 150,000

orphans are rre starving to death...”

In 1984, Irish-born minister Ray Barnett was on his way to a speaking

Orphaned, homeless children were everywhere, rummaging through garbage

engagement in Vancouver, Canada, when the words of a radio newsflash

cans and begging in an effort to stay alive. Ray was desperate to do something

caught Ray¹s attention: “In Northern Uganda, the German Red Cross

to save as many young lives as he could.

estimates that over 150,000 orphans are starving to death”.

One day, while traveling some of the dusty roads of rural Uganda, Ray was

Ray was stunned and resolved to return to Uganda immediately. His human

asked to give a ride to a young boy from his village into the city. The little boy

rights work with Friends in the West* had taken Ray to Uganda prior to the

sang during the entire two-hour trip; that’s when the idea of a children’s Choir

civil war, when he had learned about a group of Christians being brutally

was planted in Ray’s heart. “I thought if we could take a group of these

tortured and randomly slaughtered because of their religious convictions.

beautiful children to the West, that would surely raise awareness and funds to

Despite the dangers, Ray had met with these ‘underground’ Christians and

help them and their country.”

heard their stories of torture, “disappearances”, murder, and of Idi Amin’s

Ray acted quickly, forming a team of volunteers who approached churches throughout Uganda to select and train 30 orphaned children for a choir. Later that year, after obtaining government permission and passports to allow the children to travel - a very difficult process in a war torn country - the first African Children¹s Choir was off to tour North America. The African Children’s Choir has been touring ever since. Today, there have been over 35 groups of some of Africa’s most hopeful and inspiring children, who have carried the name “The African Children’s Choir”.

Amid a civil war that orphaned hundreds of Ray Barnett - Founder

oppressive army-state regime. Ray reluctantly left Uganda at that time, unable

thousands of children and left Uganda—once

to do much, but never forgot about his friends.

hailed the Pearl of Africa—in ruins, the first

When Ray returned to Uganda, he found a country in ruins. “The real horror

African Children’s Choir was born.

for me came when I was taken out to where government forces held refugees for what they termed ‘processing’,” Ray recalls softly, “It looked like Auschwitz; people were emaciated and I learned that at night they were being dragged out at random and just disappeared.” Children were suffering the most.

*Friends in the West was founded by Ray in 1972, when he started his humanitarian work in the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, Middle East, and parts of Africa. Its aim was to raise awareness and free persecuted Christians from imprisonment and other hardships. Friends in the West formed the foundation – the network of people and opportunities - upon which the African Children’s Choir was built.

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TheFirstChoir Since its inception, the African Children’s Choir has worked to bridge cultural gaps and spread hope and joy while shining the spotlight on the desperate plight of children in Africa. Money raised through donations supports numerous schools that have been established in Uganda and in other African countries over the past quarter of a century. Donations also support emergency relief efforts to ensure destitute children and their families receive the food, clothing, medical assistance and counseling they need to survive and flourish. Each year, new Choirs composed of especially needy children from countries throughout Africa are selected. Choir children from the previous tours return to their homelands to attend primary and secondary schools sponsored by The first African Children’s Choir arrived in Vancouver, Canada, in the fall of 1984 and immediately stole the hearts of everyone they met. The Choir successfully communicated the desperate situation of the children back home and by the end of the year, had raised enough money to open the Makerere Children’s Home in Uganda. This enabled them to continue their education and ensure they would be well cared for. Originally, Ray had envisioned the Choir tour as a one-time endeavor, but the Choir’s instant popularity, combined with the ongoing needs in Uganda, convinced him and a devoted group of supporters and churches to do it again. Soon, another thirty children were selected for a new Choir, thus beginning a second year of traveling and performances. Since then, there has not been a day without an African Children’s Choir on the road, promoting the plight and

Music for Life Institute. After completing secondary schooling, many of these young adults continue onto college and university programs, where they train to become doctors, engineers, teachers, social workers or other professional leaders in Africa. Others receive vocational and technical training, developing the skills they need to lead productive, fulfilling lives. Twenty-four years later, the African Children’s Choir has changed the lives of thousands of African children. It has also contributed to many rebuilding efforts through the establishment of numerous schools throughout East and South Africa.

hope of Africa.

Many of the children from the first Choirs have finished their education and

“I was used to finishing one project and then going on to the next,” says Ray,

are now working with the African Children’s Choir and other relief

“but this project never ended; the more we did, the more needed to be done.”

organizations throughout Africa, bringing Ray’s vision full circle.

Helping Africa’s most vulnerable children today, so they can help Africa tomorrow

WhatWeDo

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Since 1984, the African Children’s Choir message has reached millions of people across North America and Europe and as far afield as Singapore, Australia, Malasia and Taiwan.

Nigeria

Ghana

Sudan

To date the work of the Choir has extended from its beginnings in Uganda to Rwanda, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Southern Sudan and most recently Nkomazi in the northern border region of South Africa. It targets children whose lives can be changed by the chance to get nourishment for their bodies and the quality of education that brings

Rwanda

Kenya

freedom from poverty and hopelessness.

The African Children’s Choir has been

instrumental in financing tuition for thousands of children who would otherwise have no access to an education.

South Africa

Education is key to long term change and advancement in Africa.

Uganda Uganda is a special place for the African Children’s Choir. It was in Uganda where Ray Barnett first envisioned the African Children’s Choir. The first

district of Kampala. These children have been selected from communities across Uganda to become the next touring Choir. They will spend approximately five months here, learning English, catching up on school and preparing for life on the road. If you lived next door, you would certainly know every African Children’s Choir song by heart!

Choirs toured from Uganda. It is where most of the Choirs are trained, and

Following tour, many Choir children are enrolled at the one-of-a-kind Music

where many Choir children are raised up as Africa’s next generation of

for Life Primary School. Also located in the Makerere district, this four-story

leaders. It has hosted many different relief and development projects over the

boarding school addresses the special needs of former choir children during

past 25 years, and is home to hundreds of children who are supported

their Primary education (Levels One to Seven). In addition to the traditional

through the sponsorship programs.

Ugandan curriculum, the students receive extra training in music, computer

Some of the African Children’s Choir’s strongest outreach programs are in Uganda. Over 500 children are provided a daily education at five major primary schools located in communities in or near Kampala. These are some of Uganda’s most desperate communities where the school programs serve as a life-line to Uganda’s most needy and vulnerable. As in North America, students in different areas experience different needs; depending on the school, students may be given necessities like a meal and school uniform in addition to learning opportunities. All students sponsored through Music for Life are supported through their secondary education. To date, approximately 550 sponsored students attend secondary schools in their communities, with approximately 60 students further attending trade-schools, colleges or universities in Uganda. Many formerly sponsored children now serving their communities as teachers, doctors, business people, and more.

studies and Swahili. Students are cared for by loving staff and receive the physical, emotional and spiritual support needed to reach their God-given potential. Approximately 120 students are currently boarding at the school, while another 30 students in Primary Level One to Three are being housed at a satellite facility in Makindye. Professional development for teaching staff is also an ongoing priority at these schools. Former Choir children graduate each year onto some of the nation’s best secondary schools, but new students are constantly being enrolled as Choirs return home from tour. Due to the success of these programs, and the growth of the Choir program, a new school facility is currently under construction to accommodate the ever growing number of students. (See page 12 for more details) Each year teams of volunteers from around the world visit the schools to

Many of the Choirs are from Uganda. There is almost always a new group of

provide enrichment camps to the students and surrounding community,

children in training at the Makindye Training Center, located in the Makerere

building on the Choir¹s long-term commitment to these neighborhoods.

Helping Africa’s most vulnerable children today, so they can help Africa tomorrow

Sudan

The Choir’s work in Sudan began in 1993 while the country was still in the midst of a brutal civil war, and stories of the ‘Lost Boys of Sudan’ had reached the West. The Choir initially stepped in with emergency food and medical supplies. Those efforts have since grown. Today, the African Children’s Choir, in partnership with several other Non Governmental Organizations, is helping to rebuild the entire educational infrastructure of Southern Sudan. Sponsorship programs help support approximately 20 primary schools and two secondary schools in the Kajo Keji county, currently educating over 3500 children. In addition to raising finances for school buildings and staff, the Choir has worked to raise funds for school books, equipment, uniforms, and in-service training for staff. The Choir also helps operate a Teacher’s Training College and Skills Training Institute - one of the first and few of its kind in the area. Several hundred students are currently enrolled, with several hundred having graduated since 2002. These young adults are being equipped with the ability to start up new primary schools. The college also offers creative professional development for teachers who come from schools across the region.

South Africa

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The African Children’s Choir focuses its work on the Nkomazi region of Mpumalanga, a north-eastern area devastated by unemployment, drought, and HIV/AIDS. The Choir is working to raise awareness and bring care and education to the many orphan-led families and afflicted children needing help in this region. The Choir’s work has adapted to various needs over the past decade, and has since blossomed into a vibrant collection of educational programs and partnerships with local schools. Music for Life Centers are now hubs for child development. Based on the success of Choir program, eight Centers are currently in operation. Music and dance, tutoring, life-skills training, and food are offered to over 400 children weekly. Visiting Music for Life Teams help field staff with community outreach programs, such as children’s camps, sports and games, and family visitation. The field staff sees firsthand the uplifting effects this work accomplishes.

“Our philosophy is to provide the boys and girls ”

In March of 2008, the Choir opened the doors to the Music for Life Junior Academy in Komatipoort. The boarding school trains and prepares upcoming African Children’s Choirs from the region. The school also offers a stimulating environment and educational support to children who have toured with the Choir.

Other projects include the support in Africa the best education for a better future of a mobile medical clinic, which provides medical care and health education to the local communities in the county. Local elders are also offered intermittent leadership training in the form of The first group of children from Nkomazi to join the African Children’s Choir toured Pastors’ conferences and clinics on post traumatic stress, conflict resolution, and more. Europe in 2005. A second Choir from the region started tour in May of 2008. Relief shipments and short-term teams continue to be sent from the West each year.

Rwanda The African Children's Choir currently provides sponsorship for over 50 Rwandan Choir children, now working on their secondary and post- secondary schooling. The African Children's Choir has also forged a special relationship with the Gisimba Memorial Center, an orphanage in Rwanda’s capital city of Kigali. The Choir helps fund the center, providing assistance with operating costs, meals, clothing, school supplies, and medical care.

Kenya, Ghana & Nigeria Kenya - Second to Uganda, Kenya has sent the highest number of children on tour. Since the Choir does not operate a school in Kenya, upon their return, the office staff ensure that the children are enrolled in schools that promote academic excellence and comprehensive life skills education. They act as a parent - they make sure each child attends school, keeps their grades up, and has the necessary supplies. Ghana - The African Children's Choir works together with Living Stone Christian School to ensure that 200 children living in the small coastal village of Esiama have access to an education. Prior to joining the Choir pogram, these children had been forced to drop out of school because their parents could no longer afford to take care of their needs.

Each year, volunteers from around the world conduct enrichment camps for the children at the orphanage and in the surrounding communities. These camps are a time for the children to forget their circumstances and just have fun.

Nigeria - The Choir has partnered with King’s Kids Primary School to give hundreds of children in the program living in extremely poor and rural conditions, the opportunity to obtain an education.

Since the 1994 genocide that forever changed the country, the African Children's Choir has also helped support the children and staff with counseling for post-traumatic stress disorder, provided food and supply shipments, and funded a number of community development projects

In addition to covering the education costs for children in the Choir program in these 6 countries, the Choir also ensures that they have food, clothing and medical care. This helps them both physically and academically. Camps and seminars are also held regularly to help them develop strong interpersonal and leadership skills.

Helping Africa’s most vulnerable children today, so they can help Africa tomorrow

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BreakingthePovertyCycle

Education is the key to positive change for Africa. Hoping to break the cycle of poverty, families make great sacrifices to send their children to school. However, most schools in Africa are poorly equipped, quite often with a student-to-teacher ratio of 100 to1.

In the classroom - Uganda

Crowded classrooms, lack of desks and chairs is common in many schools in Africa

The children who form the African Children's Choir come from some of the most needy families in their countries. The Choir is committed to helping these children physically, spiritually, emotionally and academically, giving each child an opportunity to reach their God-given potential. Taking computer classes in Nigeria

While touring with the Choir, the children are exposed to a world of new possibilities. Chaperones, host families and caring professionals share their wide variety of experiences with the children, exposing them to many new ideas and encouraging them to dream.

At Music for Life Primary School - Uganda, class sizes are kept small. A team of dedicated teachers offers a traditional core curriculum, as well as classes in Computer Studies, Art, Music and Swahili. A stimulating extra-curricular program also helps develop students’ athletic and performance skills. For instance, the school is home to several soccer teams, and hosts Choir concerts during the school year for students’ families and the local community. This approach has proven successful each year as the children’s examination results are among the highest in the country. Selection into the African Children's Choir means a long-term commitment and investment as the children are supported through their secondary and post-secondary education. Scholarships, school visits, camps and counseling are just some examples of the support given. The African chaperones currently traveling with the Choirs are only a few of the many post-secondary graduates who were once part of the African Children's Choir.

In the Classroom - South Africa

After returning to Africa, the African Children's Choir provides care and education that builds on the unique international exposure the children experienced abroad. The children receive a quality education, leadership training and spiritual ministry at Music for Life Primary School in Kampala, or at other well-equipped schools in their respective countries.

African Children’s Choir Post-Secondary graduates in Kenya

Helping Africa’s most vulnerable children today, so they can help Africa tomorrow

ChangingChildren

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ChangingAfrica

These are just a few examples of transformed lives, made possible by the continuing care, education and development of returning Choir children. This support is assured through the proceeds of Choir tours and the generosity of sponsors and donors.

African Children’s Choir - 1994

WhereAreTheyNow?

David Odoki Degree in Mass Communication

Irene Nakintu Degree in Law

Jenifer Namara Degree in Information Technology

Alphonsia Mukagatera Degree in Business Admnistration & Management

Dorothy Nakintu Certificate in Secretarial Studies

Joseph Kagondo Diploma in Commercial Industrial Art & Design

Maria Gorreti Katete Diploma in Procurement & Supply Management

Charles Basomba Degree in Information Technology

Helping Africa’s most vulnerable children today, so they can help Africa tomorrow

11 The Choir children are ambassadors for all the children in Africa

who have become orphaned by the AIDS pandemic,

Each year the African Children’s Choir performs around the world showing the beauty, dignity and potential of each African child, while shining a spotlight on the desperate plight of the orphaned and abandoned in Africa. Over the years the Choir has joined with other international humanitarian projects and raised their voice at such events as Toronto’s OneXOne gala, the Clinton Global Initiative at Carnegie Hall in New York, Nelson Mandela’s 46664 Concert in South Africa and London’s Live 8. The Choir often enjoys special performances with star recording artists; some include Chantal Kreviazuk, Josh Groban, Wyclef Jean, Mariah Carey and Sir Paul McCartney. The Choir has recorded with Michael W. Smith, Jars of Clay, the Gaither Vocal Band and can be heard on the movie soundtracks of “Blood Diamond” and “Running The Sahara”. World-class symphonies and performers have also collaborated with the Choir, taking part in events with the Brisbane Youth Orchestra, The Indianapolis Symphony with Sandi Patty, and the Detroit Symphony to name only a few. The Choir has even been privileged to sing for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey during the Commonwealth Day celebrations.

Much to the excitement of the children, also in

attendance were President Yoweri Museveni and First Lady Janet Museveni of Uganda. It is through these high profile events and the subsequent media coverage that the hope, promise and joy in these children impact and inspire the lives of many world-wide. Each of these efforts is geared towards helping millions in Africa.

African Children’s Choir Primary School – Entebbe, Uganda

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Quality education is rare in Uganda. Achieving a high school education can break the cycle of poverty for many children and their families. However, competition for admittance into high schools is tremendous; students must have very high marks and pay huge fees to attend. Such barriers ostracize thousands of worthy and potential students. The African Children’s Choir has seen success in its model for education, student scholarships, and Choir programs; so much so that the current school in Uganda is overflowing. Originally built to house 90 children, Music for Life Primary School now has approximately 150 students enrolled. Classroom space is tight, the dining hall is over-crowded and the playground is a small parking lot. Students in the lower grades have had to be moved to a satellite campus approximately 20 minutes from the main campus.

It’s time for a new, enhanced facility. A 1.1 million USD capital campaign is currently underway to build a new African Children's Choir Primary School. Music for Life has purchased 14 acres on the shores of Lake Victoria, near the city of Entebbe. The new school will be built specifically to cater to the children’s unique needs; the recipe for a quality education calls for more than textbooks and desks. Highlights of the new school include: Classrooms and Dormitories – to accommodate up to 400 children Staff and Guest Housing – ensuring they are readily available for the

children

Choir Training Center – dedicated to the training of new Choirs Assembly Hall & Amphitheater – meeting places for the student body,

and a hub for community events

Nursery School – offering early childhood education to the local

community

Football (Soccer) Pitch – encouraging physical education, and home to

the school teams

Garden – enhancing science lessons and providing some of the school’s

food needs

Landscaping – designed with open spaces for play and other areas for

quiet reflection or study

The construction of the school facilities will be in three phases. Construction of Phase One has begun. Phase One:

Classrooms, Student Dormitories, Dining Hall, and Administration Buildings

Phase Two:

Staff and Guest Housing, and Choir Training Center

Phase Three: Additional Classrooms, Nursery School, Assembly Hall, Amphitheater, and a Football Pitch The new school facility carries the potential to radically alter the future of hundreds of children each year. The children are able to live their lives full of hope, love and the knowledge that they can make a difference: in their homes, their communities, their countries, and around the world.

This campaign needs your help. The African Children’s Choir Primary School architectural drawings

To inquire about donating towards this school building please contact us at 1-877-532-8651 or [email protected]

HowYouCanHelp

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1. Be a Child Sponsor Sponsorship is a long-term opportunity to make a difference in the life of an African child. During the children’s school year (February to November) you will recieve letters, written by your sponsored child specifically for you, their sponsor. Choose a boy or girl, a specific age or a specific country. Sponsorship is a wonderful opportunity to develop a long-term relationship with a needy child. • Choir Member Sponsorship: You’ve seen these precious children on stage and fallen in love with them. This is an excellent opportunity for you to support a child through the completion of their post-secondary education. Sponsorship for these children is $200 per month. • Child Sponsorship: The African Children's Choir cares for thousands of children who have not been selected to be part of a touring Choir. The commitment to sponsoring one of these children is $35 per month.

2. Be a Volunteer There are a number of ways you can jump into working with the African Children’s Choir. The most prominent opportunities include: • Choir Chaperone: Touring with the choir for at least a year, facilitating various tour roles and mentoring the children in their development • Music for Life Teams to Africa: Short-term trips to either South Africa, Uganda, Rwanda, Southern Sudan, or Kenya throughout the year. • Internships: Either through one of Music for Life’s offices, or on tour with special musical productions often featured by the Choir.

3. Be a Special Partner • African Children’s Choir Primary School: This will replace the current Music for Life Primary School which the student body has outgrown. The new facilities will accommodate up to 400 students and will include a Choir training center, amphitheatre, soccer pitch and Choir offices. • Music for Life Centers: The Music for Life Centers provide after-school programs and community outreach to vulnerable children in Kenya, Uganda and South Africa. Your donations help with food, medical care, life skills training and so much more.

4. Be a “Friend of the Choir” As a Friend of the Choir, you are part of the Choir’s extended family, making it possible for Choir tours to continue opening hearts for Africa at every community they visit. As a Friend of the Choir, you pledge a monthly gift - in the amount of your choice - to Music for Life. This ongoing contribution assists with Choir selection and

For more information on sponsoring a child, volunteering with the African

training in Africa, and with travel costs, medical needs and other expenses the

Children’s Choir or giving to any of our current projects please contact us at:

Choir members incur while on tour and upon their return home to Africa.

t 1-877-532-8651 e [email protected] or visit our website

Helping Africa’s most vulnerable children today, so they can help Africa tomorrow

I would like to support the work of the Choir For a tax reciept, please ensure that you provide your mailing address Last Name: ________________ First Name: _______________________ Mailing Address: _____________________________________________

I was a member of the 10th and 13th Choirs. Being selected for the Choir was the best thing that ever happened to me because I was given hope - hope to be the best I can be. I look back with much gratitude in my heart; without Music for Life,

City: ___________ State/Province:______ Zip/Postal Code: ____________ Telephone: (____)_________ Email: ______________________________ Please add my email address to the African Children’s Choir newsletter “Between Friends” mailing list, ensuring my information will only be used by your organization

my Sponsors, and God, I wouldn’t be where I am today. Please accept my gift of:

Sponsorship enabled me to get an education I never thought

$35

$50

$100

Other $ ___________________________

possible. Education is the most valuable gift I have ever received

Payment Method:

- it enabled me to be independent and now I can help those

(Please make Checks/Cheques payable to “Music for Life Institute”)

who need it like I once did.

Name of Card Holder: _________________________________________

Cash

Credit Card

Check/Cheque

Signature:___________________________________________________ Card Number:

_ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _ Expiry Date _ _ /_ _

I am interested in:

Sponsoring a child. Send me more information. Giving to the new African Children’s Choir Primary School. Send me more information. Becoming a Friend of the Choir. Send me more information. Volunteering. Send me more information. Other (Please specify): ______________________________________

Please fill out and mail to: United States PO Box 29690 Bellingham WA 98228 -1690

I graduated as a teacher, and have taken time off to teach and chaperone the 30th African Children’s Choir.

Canada PO Box 3100 Langley BC V3A 4R3

CMAG - 06/08 African Children's Choir™ ® is part of Music for Life, a registered charitable organization in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and South Africa. Tax receipts for gifts and contributions are issued each financial year.

“

”

notable quotes

Helping Africa’s most vulnerable

children today, so they can help Africa tomorrow

All the quotes are excerpts from letter’s the Choir children wrote to their sponsors Printed in Canada