African Children’s Choir Spreads Awareness, Shows Beauty in Trials

The African Children’s Choir will perform at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 30, in the DMC Chapel.

The 80-minute performance features a choir composed of children from single or non-parental households in Africa.

In this program, children are able to travel the world to spread awareness of the conditions of their respective countries while still maintaining their education.

The choir, who performed earlier this year for the queen of England, has visited Cedarville before, and Greg Dyson, the director of intercultural leadership at Cedarville, said it is a blessing to have them again.

Director of Intercultural Leadership Greg Dyon said the African Children’s Choir offers people an everyday look at Africa (photo: Malia Rickards).

“I believe that Cedarville is a right place to do this because we have a passion and a desire to be connected to all people,” Dyson said.

The children serve as an important example of how to handle life in the midst of trials.

“I want students to know that they, too, can be resilient during times of trials, that our trials don’t make us who we are, the Lord our God makes us who we are,” Dyson said “Trials give us the opportunity to express tangibly who we are.”

The children sing traditional gospel songs as well as African choruses. This presents both familiarity and an opportunity to encounter another culture.

“I think it is very powerful that the African Children’s Choir wants to help give everyday people an everyday day look of Africa,” Dyson said. “It’s more than just the poverty (or) wealth or the loss or lack of something, but the beauty that can be found in music and in people.”

Dyson said the children come from a different spiritual place as well as a physical one.

“All of those children have lost one or both parents either to war or to disease,” Dyson said. “They come from a place of challenge, of trial.”

Carrie Lyman, a chaperone traveling with the African Children’s Choir, said she remembers her family hosting two children from the choir when she was younger. Now she volunteers to accompany the children to their host homes and anywhere else they may need to go.

“They are just fun to watch,” Lyman said when asked why students should attend the performance. “I want students to take away how great it is to experience something different.”

There is no cost to attend the performance, but Dyson said there will be a love offering taken at the event, which will go directly to helping the children in the choir and their future college expenses.

Dyson said faculty and staff interested in supporting the effort to bring the choir to Cedarville should make a contribution to the Cedarville Fund, with the memo “African Choir.” Dyson said the funds will go directly to covering the cost of the choir’s visit to Cedarville. Please contact him at gdyson@cedarville.edu if you have any questions.

Donations and CD purchases can also be made on the choir’s website, africanchildrenschoir.com.

Ellie Dukes is a freshman nursing major and an arts and entertainment writer for Cedars. She likes to express her artistic abilities through cosmetology and writing. You can spot her anywhere there is a desire for God or there is a Chipotle.