African Children's Choir performs in Whitefish

Two worlds will meet tonight in Whitefish across a bridge built of music.

The African Children’s Choir, which is noted for exuberant concerts filled with singing, drumming and dancing, will perform at Christ Lutheran Church in Whitefish.

Seventeen children, ages 7 through 9, will perform a variety of musical selections in Swahili and English such as “This Little Light of Mine” and “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands.”

The concert is hosted by Whitefish Church of the Nazarene and was put together by Whitefish resident Michelle Reimer, with the help of her niece Kari Penrod, a former Whitefish resident who was a previous tour leader with the organization.

The choir’s performances raise funds to help African children who come from impoverished families to attend primary and secondary school.

Through the concerts, the organization finds people to sponsor children’s education like Reimer and her husband, who sponsor a 9-year-old child they met after watching a concert in North Dakota.

“As a family we really fell in love with them [the Children’s Choir]. Most have lost one or two parents to famine and disease,” Reimer said. “My dream is to have the church packed [for the concert] because there will be more chances for the children to be sponsored.”

Through the African Children’s Choir, children attend music camps and are selected through auditions to train for several months at an academy in Uganda, where they learn the music and dances they perform at concerts. The children then go on tour for a year. Afterward, they return to Uganda and enter boarding school.

Reimer’s family is hosting three of the boys and the choir’s pastor, Robert Luninze, for three nights during their stay in Whitefish.

“They are the most joyful children you’d ever have a chance to meet,” she said.

While the children enjoy American food and learn American mannerisms, it is important to the organization to keep the children as close to their Ugandan culture as possible, said current tour leader Sarah Jordan.

“We’re doing the best you possibly can to keep the culture of these children intact while they’re here in the States because they are going back to Uganda, and they will spend the rest of their time in Uganda,” Jordan said.

While touring, the children receive schooling three days a week, with concerts and rehearsals usually four days a week.

The choir also emphasizes spirituality as part of the children’s training. Luninze serves as the children’s pastor. Now 26, Luninze was in the choir when he was 8 years old. He went on to attend a university and attain a business degree before he decided to return to the African Children’s Choir organization, where he has worked for the past five years.

“I came back because I really felt I wanted to give back. I wanted to train these children the way I was trained to make them realize they can achieve their dream,” Luninze said.

“It’s amazing to look at them and say they have a bright future, they will make it. I really have high expectations.”

Indeed, he said he hopes that the children will attend university and be the generation to inspire change in Africa in positive ways.

Without the choir, he said, university would not have been a possibility for him. Luninze remembers pinching himself when he first stepped foot in the United States. This is his first time back in the U.S. since being a member of the choir.

“I come from a very poor town and I could not see my mother be able to raise the funds for me to go through school. Children’s Choir was the turning point in my life,” Luninze said.

Christ Lutheran Church is located at 5150 River Lakes Parkway in Whitefish. The concert starts at 7 p.m.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.