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.