A
concert tour is nothing without concerts, and today marked the choir's first
official South African performance. It
was a benefit concert for an organization called St. Peter's Care. They are one of many organizations trying
tackle the immense problem of orphaned children in the country. In the afternoon, the girls spent some time
learning about the organisation from Edgar Voigts. He began by asking them to close their eyes
and imagine their lives without a mother, without a father, without an extended
family, without siblings - a world without roots. Then he asked them what was missing in that
picture. One of the choristers responded
with the word "love". And of course she
was right.
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St.
Peter's Care takes a creative approach to helping children who have been
orphaned as a result of the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
And they do it one family at a time - literally. The organization finds women who are willing
to become 'mother' to several orphaned children. They believe this is a more
loving and nurturing relationship than the ones children would have in an
orphanage - an environment filled with people who clock in and clock out on a
schedule. They expect these women to
fully commit to the children the way a mother would - available 24/7. Then they
create real family units. Thomaskirche
supports several families and some of them were at the concert.
It
was fascinating to observe the audience.
It was apparent everybody had come out to enjoy a show, but it was
delightful to observe the moment when each audience member was overtaken by the
power of the girls' singing. For some of
the young people in the audience, that happened when they heard the first Zulu
words coming out of the girls' mouths!
They almost did a double take when that happened, but from that moment on
they were definitely hooked.
There
was a young woman sitting next to me who was a delightful concert
companion. Priscilla is 19 years old,
and she's an immensely creative person.
She has sung in choirs, and played drums in a band. She writes her own
songs and poetry, knows about graphic design, and works as a set decorator in
the film industry. But more than that,
she's an extremely articulate and intelligent young woman who is a joy to talk
with.
Priscilla is a person who reminds you of the importance of living in the
world with an attitude of hope and promise. She grew up in an orphanage, but she
does not let that fact stop her from
pursuing her dreams. She almost didn't
come to the concert but made a last minute decision to attend - am I ever glad
she did!
At
the end of the concert, the choir broke into Shosholosa - and almost all of the
young people in the audience came forward and joined in. It was amazing - a wonderful reminder of the
lesson learned at the Apartheid Museum earlier in the day - music as a way of
connecting people together no matter their background, music as a way of
expressing joy in a powerful way, and definitely music as a way of making new
friends.
After
the concert an impromptu party took place in the church hall. Some of the teenage boys at the concert were
amazing dancers and they broke into a spontaneous performance that had the
choristers cheering and swooning like the teenage girls did for the Beatles in
the 1960s. They were pumped! And it was the perfect ending to a day of
emotional highs and lows.
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(Benoît Ferradini/CBC)
