It’ll be a story about Uganda, told by orphans mostly through music and dance, about a country that’s been ravaged by war, poverty and disease. And here’s the kicker: It won’t be depressing at all. Just the opposite.
“What you see is an inspiration,” says Alexis Hefley, a Texas native who started Uganda Children’s Charity Foundation in 1995. “People think that a group comprised of orphans will be depressing, but it’s not. [The kids] are part of the solution. They’re writing a different future for themselves.”
Is it hyperbole to say this night of music could be life-changing? Maybe not. It’s a phrase that Hefley has heard before. More than one patron has told her, after a show, “You changed my world.”
And that’s a two-way street. Spirit of Uganda could be the classic win-win. Not only are those who see the touring show — it plays 21 cities in the United States during its 3 1/2-month tour — getting an update on life in Uganda, they’re getting a spiritual boost from a bunch of youngsters showing that it’s possible to face life’s toughest challenges with hope and resilience.
And of course the kids win, too. Peter Kasule, artistic director of Spirit of Uganda, says he sees profound changes in the kids every time they do a U.S. tour. Their eyes are opened to a new world of possibilities.
“Before they arrive, [the kids] talk a lot about being musicians or social workers,” says Kasule, because that’s what they see. “But in America, they meet lawyers and surgeons, and their career [goals] begin to change the more they talk [with people]. It’s an educational tour for everyone.”
But on March 28 and 29, it’ll be about the music. Spirit of Uganda is 22 children, ranging in age from 8 to 18, singing, dancing and playing instruments that give audiences a primer on their culture and history. Although none of the children are HIV-positive, they’ve all been touched by the disease, many of them orphaned by it.
The concert is about 90 percent traditional African music, with some contemporary music spliced in, and even a few songs composed by the children themselves. After all, this is about “giving the children a voice,” says Kasule.
Hefley sees Spirit of Uganda as the public face of Uganda Children’s Charity Foundation, and her own story is pretty inspirational. After 10 years in banking, she found herself waking up in the morning asking herself, “Is this all there is?” She even appealed directly to God: I’ll go anywhere you send me, no matter the consequences.
After meeting Tony Hall, a congressman who was devoted to the issue of world hunger, Hefley found herself taking her first trip to Uganda in 1993.
“I was so naive,” she says of that first trip. “I’m sure I was in a state of shock.” She was overwhelmed by the need for assistance in the AIDS and orphan crisis.
She met Sister Rose, a Ugandan nun who ran the Daughters of Charity Orphanage and encouraged the children to continue their country’s singing and dancing traditions. Hefley incorporated children and music into the work she was doing in Africa, eventually leading to the formation of Spirit of Uganda.
“It shows what’s possible when you invest in a young child,” she says. “It shows the transformative power of the arts.”
Hefley has seen changes during her 13 years of involvement, thanks in part to aid from the U.S. She says access to drugs has had a huge, life-saving impact, even if there’s much more to do.
Outreach from America is particularly impressive, she says, because many Americans have no connection with Africa.
“It gives hope to the children,” she says. “In many cases, their own families are unable to help, but they receive help from complete strangers.”
And thanks to Spirit of Uganda, they may feel a little less like strangers after the concert.
“Africa is perceived as being so far away,” says Hefley. “We bring it up close and personal. We bring a success story out of Africa.”
