Mwangaza Child Hides in Anthill from Rebels

My name is Esther Ajibo.  I am a Mukso.  One day my grandmother was with me at night.  She heard people saying that the rebels are coming.  I think I was six (but now I am 13).  My grandmother started thinking, then she went in the bush; the bush was near our house.  Then she saw an anthill.  She decided to put me that anthill.  So when the rebels came they sat on that anthill.  They started talking, talking, and talking.  I started saying in my heart, that when are these people going?  But they sat on it and one of them said, "Let us check on this anthill, maybe there is a child."  My heart started pumping, and then one of them said, "No, we have to check over there".  But one came and check in there but I was on the left and he checked on the right.

I thank God because he didn't see me so I encourage you that God has a good plan for you.  God had a good plan for me.  Now I am in America telling people how good He is.  GOD HAS A GOOD PLAN FOR YOU!

What an amazing young lady Esther is!  We look forward to seeing her future unfold!  Africa Renewal Ministries has developed an intentional follow-up program for these children that have traveled in order to provide a smooth re-entry into Ugandan life.  We have made them unique. We have opened their eyes, unleashed their potential and given them a stronger passion for a different life and to impact the world. 

Friends, we need your help to keep our long-term follow-up strategy a success, in addition to what is already being done to help and support these children (by their sponsors). There are additional costs that will go into their over-all well-being, education, leadership training, counseling, and the continual development of their music.

Our goal is to raise $25,000 by June 20. We have received almost 20% to date. Time is of the essence.  While this amount may seem overwhelming, we have faith that if each family could raise or make a gift of $100, it would be a huge step toward achieving this goal.   We wait with excited anticipation to see how the Lord will provide!

Thank you SO MUCH for investing in the lives of children like Esther!! 

Online gift-giving is secure and easy

  Simply Click HERE and give to the Mwangaza Fund

Why Mwangaza Speaks For Children Affected By Poverty (Part 2)

This particular blog has been hard to write. I have sat up for over two hours wondering what to exactly write. My heart is torn between a lot of things. One of these is the reality of where Mwangaza Children’s Choir comes from, the people who sent us here and the children we speak for – not just in Uganda but in Africa as a whole.


And so, even though I am sure I wrote so much about children in poverty in my last post, I really feel I need to write some more on this issue. (Yet, I ask myself, haven’t people heard enough about Africa? Maybe, maybe not! )

Anyway, the awful truth is that in many places, children are the faces of poverty in Africa.

Although people of all ages suffer from extreme poverty and hunger, children suffer the most in Africa especially in the Sub-Saharan Africa, such as Uganda. In other words, poverty carries the faces of innocent little children in these parts of the world.

The problem gets even worse as you move from the big cities and towns to the poor villages where many of the children registered or sponsored by Africa Renewal Ministries come from. The majority of this poor population is made up of poor subsistence farm just to feed themselves and their families. However, about one in every five of these people live in a country affected by warfare. War destroys families and farms leaving most people with nothing at all but extreme poverty and starvation. Famine follows wars in most cases in Africa.  poverty in Africa facts.

In conflict-torn countries, the capacity of rural people to make a livelihood has been dramatically curtailed by warfare, and per capita food production has plummeted.  facts: war and famine in Africa

Because of war, diseases, extreme poverty and famine, most children are left alone in this cruel world with no parents, no grandparents, no siblings, and no blood relatives at all to take care of them. Most children have lost their parents to the deadly HIV/AIDS. Others have lost their parents to war and their grandparents, to extreme poverty. facts: poverty and hunger in Africa

In Africa, there are the rural poor and the urban poor most of which stay in slums. I grew up in slums. But I am not alone.

About 50% of the African population lives in slums. From the outskirts of Johannesburg in South Africa to the interior of Kibera (Africa’s largest and worst slum) in Kenya, life is a living hell for most African slum residents. Uganda has Kisenyi, Makerere Kivulu, Kawempe and Katoogo as some of dreadful slums.

Some of the children advocated for by Mwangaza Children’s Choir or those that are currently sponsored by Africa Renewal Ministries come from such slums. Actually some of the children travelling with the Mwangaza children’s choir live in these very slums.

Slum houses in Africa are mostly self-built mud houses roofed with rusty corrugated sheets and wooden boards. Slum houses have little or no planning at all. Poor basic sanitation and poor basic services. There are open dumps and open sewage. 

Most slums have no electricity and no pipe borne water. Fires are very common in African slums. There no good hospitals and no good schools.  Most children in many African slums do not go to school and most get no medical attention when needed.

In some slums, there are just few chemist shops around most of which sell cheap and expired drugs. Majority of the children in several African slums have lost either one or both parents. Because of the high illiteracy rate, HIV/AIDS kills in record numbers in African slums mostly women and children.

African slums are mostly lawless areas with low security or no protection at all and violence is very common very common in most African slums.


-Henry 

A Blog Post by Henry Muguluma!

Our first concert was on January 21 at Goler Memorial AME Zion Church in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, a beautiful and amazing African-American church in America with a pastor who is from Liberia, Rev. Dr. Seth Lartey. It was so amazing to so see how our new friends connected with Mwangaza, and even Africa.   For some, it was a celebration of God through song, music and dancing.  For some, it was just the children being themselves before the concert even began.  Dr. Lartey’s daughter helped served the meal prior to the concert and her mother, Mrs. Lartey, told the congregation that her daughter was amazed at how well disciplined the children were, and that she wanted to go to Africa!

It was a beautiful experience to see God bless us in so many ways with such a tremendous beginning  with the US Tour and we feel His presence with us.  God is at work.  Pictures soon to follow!!!

From Henry Muguluma

Assistant Tour Director

Next Generation Leadership Program Coordinator, ARM

WE WANT TO SEE YOU!!!

Do you live in NC, SC, TN, GA, or KY?  This year's choir is FABULOUS and we would LOVE to come minister to your church through song, dance, and the redemptive story of Christ!!

Please email Michelle Speas, National Partnership Director, Michelle@mwangazachoir.org for more info or to book a date!!

Endorsements & Recognition

"Joy radiates from the faces of the Mwangaza Children’s Choir like early dew on an open field. These boys and girls captivated the hearts our church and took them to the presence of God."
                                                - Max Lucado, Oak Hills Church


"The Choir’s performance was the highlight of our recent board meeting. I pray that the Lord would continue to use Africa Renewal Ministries to bring hope and lasting help to the people of East Africa…Many thanks for sharing your amazing ministry with us."
                    – James D. Daly, President Focus on the Family



Mwangaza Children’s Choir has also performed live at the Dove Awards and for President George H. W. Bush and the Governor of Texas. The choir has recorded with Michael W. Smith, Nicole C. Mullen and Chris Tomlin.

Mwangaza is the Swahili word for
 “shining light.”

Mwangaza (pronounced m-wahn-GAH-zah) Children’s Choir is dedicated to sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ through song, dance and testimony. To help bridge cultural and language barriers, the majority of each Mwangaza concert is performed in English.

The choir’s members – some of whom are orphans – come from diverse and often life-threatening pasts, but God has brought healing to their lives and has given them real hope for the future. As a result, they have blossomed in terms of their musical talent, personal character,maturity and spiritual life.