DURHAM -- What do you get when you mix 35 local kids with the world-renowned African Children's Choir for a weeklong music camp?
A clash of cultures? A babel of languages? A mishmash of dance moves and singing styles?
Actually, loads of fun, to hear the Americans tell it.
"I don't know much about Africa, and it's fun to learn about it," said Sophie Evans, 11, of Durham, who took part in the camp this week at King's Park International Church.
The camp was conceived as a way of teaching American children some of the songs and dances that have endeared the African Children's Choir to audiences worldwide. The idea was to allow for a cross-cultural exchange and to raise money for the celebrated touring choir, which has found a home away from home in Chatham County.
Since 2007, King's Park International has provided the choir with a house where its members can rest between performances. Now it is finding all kinds of ways to deepen the ties between the singers and the community.
On Wednesday, Triangle campers ages 6 to 12 spent the morning painting African flags, building African "Djembe" drums from plastic soda cups and shimmying to an African courtship dance. And then, there was the "can dance," in which campers banged empty soup cans together in a choreographed display of energy and noise.
This was the highlight of the morning, and a chorus of "yeahs" erupted as the group was divided in two, with half on each side of the room. On cue the two groups ran toward each other clanging their cans above their heads and below their legs.
Primed to perform
It fell to choir director Annette Nabbale, a choir graduate who now works for the Uganda-based nonprofit, to coach the campers into a unified troupe and teach them three dances they performed for parents and church members Friday evening.
"Let's try it again from the top," Nabbale said after pairing more experienced dancers with less experienced ones. "I'll give you a sign and let you know what's coming next."
Off to the side, Lorna Spence smiled. The director of admissions at the Trinity School of Durham and Chapel Hill, Spence took the week off from work when she heard about the camp. She and her husband had wanted to sponsor a child from abroad for some time. But they weren't satisfied merely exchanging letters and snapshots with an orphaned child in a developing country. They wanted a relationship, especially because their daughter, Emma, 8, was old enough to have friendships.
Then Spence saw the African Children's Choir perform at Duke and was "moved to tears." The couple ended up sponsoring one of the girls in the choir for $75 a month and enrolling Emma in the weeklong camp.
"The personal connection is more than I ever could have hoped for," Spence said.
The contagious joy of the 23-member choir is hard to escape. Many of these 8- to 12-year-olds are orphans. Yet in their focus, enthusiasm and willingness to lend each performance everything they've got, they witness to a shared hope for humanity.
Winsome troupers
"You fall in love with the kids in a second," said Mary Mills, a sixth-grade history teacher at St. David's, a private Episcopal school in Raleigh. "It's hard not to get involved." She volunteered as one of the adult counselors after seeing the choir perform.
Eleven-year-old Jakob Cabrera of Durham not only learned some words in Swahili - "O Sifuni Mungu" means "praise God," - the tall redhead also learned how to impress a potential bride with his dancing. In the "Runyege" dance, a crowd claps its hands and a drummer beats a drum while two men take turns impressing a woman with their dance skills.
Jakob said the experience was fun, because you get to learn the language and learn about their culture and stuff."
Elizabeth Stewart, a member of King's Park, came up with the idea for the camp as a way to raise money for the house where the choir stays. It costs the church $700 a week just to feed the group.
Their interaction with the community was the best outcome she could hope for. Everywhere the youngsters perform, they seem to attract one or two new people willing to volunteer time or talent to help make their U.S. stay more pleasant.
Choirs stay for less than a year. When they return to Uganda, the children resume their schooling, their education funded through college by money raised during their American performances. A new choir will take their place next month.
"They are a gift to the Triangle region," said Stewart of Raleigh. "I have done community work for 27 years, and I've never done anything as rewarding as working with these orphans. There's no agenda here. We do it for the love of the children."
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Video
African Children's Choir Camp (02:30)
Camp counselor Moriah Scott, 14, of Durham gets a dance lesson from members of the African Children's Choir during a summer camp at the King's Park International Church. Video by staff photojournalist Chuck Liddy.
Photo Gallery
African Children's Choir Camp | 07.30.10 (0 images)
See photos campers learning song and dance from choir members.
The African Children's Choir was founded in the early 1980s by Raymond Barnett, a Canadian Anglican priest who wanted to showcase the promise of Africa's youth by bringing them to the West. He hoped the choir's performances would raise money for schools back in Africa.
Since 1984, more than 30 different choirs have come and gone, each one touring nine months on average. Each choir has 21 to 23 children, ages 8 to 12.
The choirs are based in Kampala, Uganda. Children across Africa audition, though preference is given to the neediest children, many of them orphans. Those lucky enough to get in are guaranteed free tuition, room and board through college.
Find more information at africanchildrenschoir.com/
The African Children's Choir will give two public performances in September.
At 7 p.m. Sept. 10, the choir performs at Trinity School, 4011 Pickett Road in Durham.
At 6 p.m. Sept. 10, and at the 9 and 11 a.m. services Sept. 12, the choir performs at Grace Church of Chapel Hill, 200 Sage Road. For information, call 968-4120.
