KIM WILCOX | senior staff writer
photo | SHANNON OTT
Kuyusa Children's Choir peforms at Wednesday morning Chapel and at an evening concert in Munson Chapel Oct. 5.


The members of the Kuyasa Children's Choir from South Africa bring a message of love through their song and dance.

Intermission was over and the children of the Kuyasa Children’s Choir began a series of worship songs. There mouths brought forth beautiful harmonies and their bodies moved with passionate choreography but it was the smiles on their faces that revealed the joy in their hearts.

No matter where you are from, there is nothing different about the light that radiates from a child who loves God. And on Wednesday night the inner sanctum of Munson Chapel rang with the voices of children, resounded with the clapping of hands, and shone with the light of smiles.

“We are marching in the light of God, we are marching in the light of God,” the children sang from the stage.

The Kuyasa Children’s Choir is from the Kayamandi township near the city of Stellenboasch in South Africa. The choir’s 20 children range in age from 10 to 18.

However, this choir can be much bigger when the group is not traveling. Cindy Nixon, the Tour Administrator for the choir, is responsible for the children and jokes that she is basically like a mom on tour. Nixon said the choir is open to all children in Kayamandi, not only orphans and not just 20 students.

The students on tour had to meet four qualifications in order to be considered for the opportunity. Nixon said they must have the ability to sing and dance, have a good attitude, be passing all their classes and attend all rehearsals.

“They are ambassadors for other children,” Nixon said.

The choir was started by director MBongeni Mtshali, who saw a need to encourage children to uses the skills they have.

Mtshali said many children in Kayamandi have struggles in their homes. He hopes to take their focus away from those struggles and keep them off the streets, while teaching them to appreciate what they can do.

“At home they don’t have rules and [the choir is about] teaching them to make their own rules,” Mtshali said.

Horizon International, the sponsor of Kuyasa Children’s Choir, was founded by Robert Pearson after a trip to Capetown made the HIV/AIDS epidemic a reality. He went to the city and met a man who was unfaithful to his wife, had contracted AIDS and was dying. When Pearson met him, the man was lying on his deathbed and his three children, all under the age of five, were soon to be left orphaned with no way to find means of living after he died.

Two days later, terrorists attacked the Twin Towers in America and Pearson began to think about the orphans in South Africa whose parents would never be able to teach them what is right and wrong.

“If we don’t reach this generation of kids in Africa, some one like Al Queda will,” Pearson said.

Kayamandi workers started a choir and Horizon International partnered with them to produce a shinning star in the dark night.

The children travel around the world bearing sad tidings about the widespread devastation of HIV/AIDS and the orphans affected by it. But they also bring great joy through song and dance and the story of life in a township where 40 percent of the population is under 20 years of age.

Caroline Memela, 14, Luyanda Ngele, 15, and Pretty Gasa, 14, stood on stage after the performance and chattered about how much they love to sing and dance. They talked about their love of hanging out with their friends in the choir even when they aren’t in rehearsal.

They then turned to each other and began to rattle on in Xhosa, their native language, as teenage girls from any culture do, despite the gravity of the cultural situation they are advocating.

“You must never give up,” the Kuyasa Children’s Choir sang. “Never, never, never, give up.”