Precious Souls

Amidst all the face-stuffing and patriotism of Independence Day, I had the amazing opportunity to witness the Imani Milele Children's Choir. I spoke a little bit about what the organization does here, but as a brief reminder, all the kids in the choir are either orphans or from extremely impoverished homes. Imani takes these kids in and provides them with an education, access to the arts, and most importantly, the gospel.

The age of the children in the choir ranges from 8-20 years of age. The gospel is never forced upon these children, but it is presented openly. Though not all the children in this organization become Christians, many lives have been drastically changed by the saving grace of Jesus Christ. I had the opportunity to get to know a few of them.

This is Samuel. Samuel is 17-years-old and comes from a Christian background. When Samuel was young, however, his dad left his mom, leaving his mom unable to pay for Samuel's education. Samuel's Uncle agreed to help for a while, but he couldn't do that for forever. Imani stepped in and provided a full education for Samuel. Samuel is now in the 8th grade. He loves school.

This is Shariff. Shariff is 13-years-old and comes from a Muslim background. He is an orphan, who's sickly grandmother took him in as a young boy, but she cannot provide much of what he needs. Shariff was taken in by Imani as a boy. This enables Shariff to attend school for most of the year, but he goes home and stays with his grandmother on school breaks. Shariff became a Christian about a year ago and he seems to have such joy and love of life!

I also met Abraham and Lydia.
Lydia turned 17 on Sunday. Apparently in Uganda, when it's your birthday, you get a bucket of water dumped on you. Not only was it Lydia's birthday, but it was also our pastor's son's birthday (I think he's 20?) so all the Ugandan kids chased Lydia and Matt around outside and dumped water on them. It was hilarious. They ended the chaos with "happy birthday" and lots of pictures of the sopping wet spectacles.

I didn't learn much about Abraham, but I am pretty sure he is the cutest thing ever!

They also had a little shop set up with handmade jewelry, carvings, home accessories, They were very reasonably priced and all the money went towards continuing their tour to get the word out about the ministry.

I was so impressed by the joy these kids have. They are so happy and excited about life. Honestly, if you saw Americans in the same situation as these kids, they'd probably be walking around sulking, lashing out, and rebelling. But not these kids. These kids are so thankful- so glad that Imani provided an education. They want school. And many of them are so grateful that Jesus saved their souls. We could all learn a few things from these kids!

This ministry seems pretty solid and I love what they are doing. Their choir is incredibly talented and entertaining. There were so many awesome testimonies for Jesus and these kids seem to have such a beautiful hope for a life that once seemed impossible to them. If you are interested in checking out the ministry further, buying a CD, or even sponsoring a child, check out their website here and their Facebook page here.

July 4th and Imani Children

I normally spend July 4th with my parents, brother, grandparents, uncle, his wife, and my cousins. We all sit around my grandparent's big dining room table, stuffing our faces with ribs, BBQ chicken, and corn on the cob (yu-flippin'-um!). After dinner, Grandaddy would always shoot off fireworks for all of us. It's something he always did for the family.

Last year, I wasn't able to make it down to the coast, and I'm not able to this year either. And though I miss my family gatherings down there tremendously, I am glad I get to be in the mountains for the 4th this time, because our church is doing something that I am very excited about.

This Saturday, July 4th, Providence Church is putting on an Independence Day celebration at the Maggie Valley Campground. There will be games and food, which is always awesome, but the most exciting part is that we will be welcoming the Imani Milele Children's Choir to sing for us after dinner.

Imani Children's Choir is a part of the whole Imani ministry. The Imani Milele Ministry is a non-profit organization that takes in orphans from Uganda. I looked up a more comprehensive view of their mission on their website, and this is what it said:

"We provide assistance to orphaned and vulnerable children as well as the communities from which they come from, affected by the challenges resulting from extreme poverty, illiteracy and poor sanitation.We work with the communities to develop sustainable solutions to the lives of the people, while providing the children with life-transforming opportunities through education, medical assistance, food, clothing among others."

The Facebook page for the group was also very informative:

"Imani is a Swahili word for Believe.Imani Children's Choir is a choir of Imani Milele Children Inc. whose purpose is to promote, educate and bring awareness to the plight of orphaned and at-risk children in Uganda, through their art of Music and Dance."

I love what I have seen of African culture. I have always been inexplicably drawn to it. So when I found out this children's choir was coming to us, I became incredibly excited!

After the group sings, there will also be fireworks. The next day, the children's choir will also be performing at our church, and the leader of the traveling choir will be delivering the sermon.

If you live in Western North Carolina, please considering coming to one or both of these events. It is not just for our church. It is designed for the entire community, here and in surrounding areas. We want to welcome these children with open arms and as many smiling faces as we can find!

Saturday, July 4th:
The picnic  starts at 2pm. Food will be served at 4pm.
The Children's Choir starts at 6pm, and the fireworks will be at 9pm.

Sunday, July 5th:
Church starts at 10:45am, and there is lunch following the service.

Come and be our guests at these events. We would love to have you there, and you know that you love free food and awesome singing!