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!