Watoto Children's Choir - Coastal Church- January 2012

My first ever blogpost was about the Watoto Children's Choir from Uganda. I am really blessed to attend an exciting Church which hosts a lot of amazing events. Watoto visit Coastal Church every year or so and it's always a new group of children all with a terrible history but a promising future. I honestly get very teary-eyed listening to these children speak about what they've been through. Watching them sing and dance always makes me homesick for Africa; although the children are Ugandan, not Malawian, there are so many similarities especially in the singing and dancing and the huge smiles on the children's faces.

The most emotional part of the evening was when a lady who attends the Church met her sponsored daughter on the day of her 40th birthday. There wasn't a dry eye in the entire Church.

I got a picture taken with two of the little girls. So cute!

I took a video of the kids singing one of my favourite African gospel songs. It's called Hakuna Mungu which means "There is no God like you".

I can't even begin to do justice to Watoto with my words; here's the website.

http://www.watoto.com/

Malawi and Mozambique Independence Day - Poco Inn- July 1,2011

And a happy Canada Day too! Malawi gained her independence on July 6,1964 while Mozambique gained hers on June 25, 1975. Since we don't have too many Malawians or Mozambicans in Vancouver, and also since we're neighbours geographically, we decided to host a joint independence day celebration, our first one ever. It was held at the Poco Inn in Port Coquitlam.I haven't dressed up in quite some time so it was nice to do that and do my little cousin's make-up for them.

The hall was decorated really nicely, Malawian and Mozambican flags everywhere.

It was great to meet new people and also to re-connect with old family friends I hadn't seen in a while.

There was a buffet there. I was kind of disappointed that the only African food there was ugali/nsima/sadza/fufu (depending on where you're from!) but the food was pretty good.

After a few presentations and slideshows we were entertained to a couple of raps from Jesse and some African dance from Tajah.

I've known Jesse since he was a kid. He was always so shy and now look at him! I'm definitely not a fan of hip-hop or rap in general but Jesse has talent!

All in all, it was a great night! I love my culture and love my people. God bless Africa!