The Watoto Children's Choir is a group of African children choirs based in

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,680,000 and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division, and Ruba ...

, Uganda, at

Watoto Church Watoto Church, formerly Kampala Pentecostal Church (KPC) is an English-speaking cell-based East African community church headquartered in Kampala, Uganda. Watoto means "the children" in Swahili. Background The church was founded in 1984 in Kampal ...

and which tours internationally. Each is composed of about eighteen to twenty-two children from

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

. Their tours raise money as well as awareness for the Watoto orphanages in

. “Watoto” means "Children" in

Swahili Swahili may refer to: * Swahili language, a Bantu language official in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda and widely spoken in the African Great Lakes * Swahili people, an ethnic group in East Africa * Swahili culture Swahili culture is the culture of ...

. The choir is made up of children who have lost one or both parents, often as a result of

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

. Watoto operate six choirs which tour Asia, Australia, Europe and North and South America. The choirs travel with a team of adult chaperones who look after the children and also manage the day-to-day logistics of the tour on the road. The choir has toured Asia, Australia, Brazil, Canada and China. Performance of the

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

at the Hong Kong Christian College in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. Their ‘Concerts of Hope’ are a blend of African rhythms, contemporary gospel music, creative dance and story-telling. They have released several albums including “Mambo Number 5”, “Beautiful Africa” and “What Is Love”. Their latest album "Wherever You Will Go” features live music played throughout the concerts on most of the tours. The Watoto Children's Choirs have performed with award-winning artists including

Chris Tomlin Christopher Dwayne Tomlin (born May 4, 1972) is an American contemporary Christian music singer, songwriter, and worship leader from Grand Saline, Texas, United States, who has sold over 7 million records. He is a member of Passion Conferences an ...

, Israel Houghton and Martin Smith. They have also been invited to the UK Houses of Parliament, the Canadian and Australian Parliaments as well as the White House. As of May 2020, Watoto, the umbrella organisation, is under investigation by Uganda's Internal Security Organisation for alleged breaches of the country's child labour laws, taking children out of the country illegally and placing them at risk. Over 80 children reportedly remain stranded overseas in the US, Malaysia, New Zealand, and Brazil after Uganda closed its borders on 23 March.

References

External links

* Choirs of children Ugandan musical groups Christianity in Uganda {{Africa-band-stub