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City Hall was filled with the sound of children singing, followed by talking and laughing, as two groups of African children greeted each other: one group visiting from Uganda and the other living in New Haven.
The Sifa Africa Children’s Choir, a chorus of Ugandan children currently on a fundraising concert tour of the U.S., visited City Hall on Tuesday to sing for the mayor and his staff. Also in the audience were a dozen young children from the East Rock Magnet School’s New Arrivals Center. The East Rock students were all recent arrivals from Somalia, Ethopia, Guinea, Congo, and other countries in Africa.
The Sifa Choir (Sifa means “praise” in Swahili) arrived in the U.S. three weeks ago to begin their six month tour. The 20 children, aged six to 17 years old, are all orphans currently living in Kigali, the capital of Uganda. The choir is part of an organization called Glory Children’s City International, which is raising money to build an orphanage in Masaka, Uganda. The choir members are all in school, and as they travel in the U.S., they will be singing during the evenings and studying during the day. They are traveling with three teachers, including Paul Kizito, the choir director.
At 1:30, the East Rock students were sitting on two benches in the upstairs atrium outside the mayor’s office, waiting for the Ugandan choir to arrive. Stella Kougnigan (pictured, left), from Togo, sat with her friends, Wengal Kifle (pictured, center), from Ethiopia, and Domany Koivogui, from Guinea (pictured, right). “I can speak eight languages!” said Domany, who arrived in New Haven only a year ago. She began to list all the languages she speaks, but she could only remember six of them. Domany wasn’t sure if she would speak any of the same languages as the Ugandans.
After 20 minutes of waiting, East Rock’s ESOL teacher Mary Lou DiPaola, was finding it harder and harder to confine her antsy students to their seats. Suddenly the choir arrived. The East Rock students stood to greet them as they came streaming up the steps in bright orange shirts and black pants and skirts. The choir immediately formed three rows beneath the large clock. They exuberantly danced and sang songs (many with Christian themes) in English, Luganda, and Swahili. In between songs they were greeted by Mayor John DeStefano and given New Haven pins by city spokesperson Jessica Mayorga.
After the performance, the two groups of children gathered in a tight knot at the top of the stairs to meet and talk. Sifa choir member Christine Kisakye (tallest pictured below), 15, shared her thoughts with a reporter. Asked what she liked about singing, Christine replied, “It makes me feel happy, I forget about all terrible things. And I love to make other people happy.” So far her favorite place in the U.S. has been Virginia, because she met a lot of new friends. But she added that people are friendly everywhere the choir goes.
After ten minutes of socializing, the Ugandans had to leave. According to their schedule, they were headed to Hartford to sing for Governor Rell.
After the choir had left, Stella Kougnigan said, “I loved the little boy in the front,” referring to 6 year old Ema Lukwago, the youngest in the choir. She was impressed that he could remember all the dances. Asked what they all thought of the concert, the East Rock students all started to shout at once: “It was amazing!” “It was great!”
