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By LeRae Haynes 

The Watoto Choir from Uganda Africa performed to a full house last night at the Cariboo Bethel Church.  Approximately 22 young singers, dancers, drummers and storytellers took the stage to celebrate the changes in their lives, and in the lives of thousands of other AIDS orphans. 

 'Watoto' or 'children' in Swahili, is an organization with three villages throughout Uganda, where orphans are placed in family homes, given medical care and education. 

'Watoto Babies' takes orphaned and abandoned infants, some premature and almost always seriously ill, and cares for them in homes until they are old enough to either reunite with existing relatives, or live in one of the Watoto villages. 

The children on stage tonight sang songs of redemption, salvation, rescue and celebration. 'I Am Not Forgotten', I Am Not Alone' 'Who Will Sing My Lullaby' were some of the songs that combined poignant history with joyous transformation. The children told their stories, some through individual narration and some through group skits with music. The overall story was of very young children orphaned and forced to forage and beg for food, and eventually being taken in by Watoto and given a home and a future. 

One boy spoke of the significance of drumming in the Uganda culture. "In the past, drumming was used to send information to other villages, and now is the same. But drumming today is also used to to make us feel happy," he said. "We can't drum without dancing---everyone dances in Africa!"

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