Sylvia's Children supports the Mbiriizi Advanced Primary School in Uganda which has 1,024 students (and support for another 120 in secondary school), of which 25% are orphans as a result of the AIDS crisis in Uganda.
Now in our 13th year of support we have built a well, a boys’ dorm, classrooms with furniture, a library with books, a kitchen, a chicken farm, a sewing facility, seven acres of land with corn, a 6,000 sq. ft. medical clinic and hospital.
Playing with a dog is not something most people in Uganda would risk doing.
"Pets are a new thing to them," Mercy Nalukenge said. "Dogs are usually mean in Uganda."
But on Saturday, a group of Ugandan children flocked around a puppy eager to pet its wagging tail or have it chase them.
"Most of the things they are seeing are totally new," Nalukenge said.
Nalukenge is one of several adults accompanying the Watoto Children's Choir from Kampala, Uganda, on a six-month tour of the United States, Canada and Britain.
The choir gave rib lovers at Choo Choo's Bar B Que stand -- located outside the T&T Shell gas station on Palmer Boulevard -- a taste of their songs and dances on Saturday.
The songs combine African rhythms and contemporary gospel.
It is the second year the choir has made a stop at the popular barbecue stand.
"I think they are awesome," said Danielle Keefer, 21. "I saw them on 'Oprah' and on 'American Idol.'"
Watoto is a church-based organization that cares for orphans and widows in Uganda.
Many of the 1,700 Watoto children have been abandoned or their parents have died in war or of AIDS.
There are more than 2 million orphans in Uganda and Watoto's goal is to serve at least 10,000 of them.
The choir, the members of which range from ages 7 to 13, will spend this month in Florida, including local shows at New College and the Church of Hope.
The traveling choir is meant to give the children a broader sense of the world and different cultures. Two of their favorite new foods are sandwiches and salads. The group has also been struck by how everything is bigger here.
"It's different here," said Lazarus Wana, 12. "Really different."
