Choir educates members, delights audiences
The African Children’s Choir returns to Spokane this weekend, bringing its mix of Christian music, ethnic songs, drumming and dances – and smiling children.
“It’s very lively, very energetic,” said choir manager Tina Sipp, who grew up in Spokane.
“It’s pretty hard to go and not fall in love with them,” she said. “It’s incredible that at 8 years old they’re knocking it out like that.”
But there’s a bigger purpose behind the concerts: educating thousands of children from Uganda and five other African countries.
“Education is really the greatest perceived need, second only to food,” Sipp said.
“We’re trying to break them out of that cycle, give them enough education to work and provide a living for themselves,” she said.
In three decades, Music for Life, African Children’s Choir’s parent organization, has educated more than 50,000 children. The traveling choirs raise money to fund schools in Africa.
The choir features 18 children, ages 7 to 10. This group is a few weeks into a 10-month tour, during which they’ll travel the country, perform three or four days a week, and keep up on their studies. As choir members, they’re guaranteed to have their education all the way through a post-secondary program.
Some of the chaperones are former choir members themselves, Sipp said. Former choir members also help train the children, create their costumes and choreograph their routines.
Sipp has worked with African Children’s Choir for 13 years, first traveling with the choirs. Now as choir manager, she’s in charge of all of the logistics for the choir on the road, “all the way down to seeing that the children have socks,” she said.
Sipp said Spokane has always been a welcoming place for the choirs. In fact, while here, all the children will be seen by a dentist who’s donating his time.
But, “we have lots of time for them to have fun,” she said.
Kimberly Lusk