African Children's Choir

Sunday night we had the immense please of attending the African Children's Choir at Elim Tabernacle. We met up with some fellow adoptive families for supper at Fuddrucker's before hand - oh no we forgot to take photos!

Cheryl, Clay, Jordyn, Rachelle, Adrian, Dan and Shannon ,Gerard and Yvonne (Yvan's parents)and us all chowed on some excellent burgers!

We wanted to be sure we got to the church early so we could get excellent seats. We were pretty much the first people there with a few exceptions. We managed to get the first 3 rows for seating. We saved the front row for Rhonda and Kristin and their momma's. If you look closely you will see Rhonda and Kristin's heads in my photos - hee hee!

(You can see more photos over at Rhonda and Shannon's blogs too)

The choir was amazing and those kids were loving every moment. They had so much energy it was hard not to be dancing in your seats with them.

The Gang

The boys on the drums

Rhonda and Kristin take in the action

Dancing, singing, celebrating!

A Prayer

Steve dancing with choir member - she wants to be an astronaut when she grows up!

The Choir with their Director (seated)

During a portion of the show the children introduced themselves and told us how old they were and where they were from. They also told us what they wanted to be when they grew up. The responses were varied from teachers, to pilots, to engineers and accountants, to business owners and dancers. There was even a little guy who wanted to be a president and sweet little girl who wanted to be an astronaut.

Many of these children come from extreme poverty and have lost one or both of their parents. They have been given the gift of life and opportunity thru the choir. It occurred to me as these children were telling us their brief story, that there are millions of children who won't have these opportunities. There are children who will end up living on the street, unable to attend school, be without a home, are unable to feed themselves or worse will end up dying alone not having anyone to love them. It broke my heart! No child should be alone, no child should ever have to fend for themselves, and not have the love and guidance of a parent. I know in a perfect world this wouldn't happen but we don't live in a perfect world.

It is up to each and every one of us to ensure the children of the world are taken care of...they are our future....we can in the words of Bono "End Poverty in our Lifetime".

We can make a difference, I can make a difference, you can make a difference!!! I challenge everyone I know - to find your way to make a difference!