Mozambique choir spreads music, good will on U.S. trip
6/23/2003 News media contact: Tim Tanton · (615) 742-5470 · Nashville, Tenn.
NOTE: Photographs are available with this story.
A UMNS Feature
By Fred Koenig*
Members
of Kuzwanana choir from Mozambique sing during the Missouri Annual
Conference session in Columbia. From left are Eva Ester Inguane, Katia
Jessica Jose Machel, Nila Cartina de Conceicao Lila Macuacua and Stella
Dulce Jose Machel. This is the first time a choir from the United
Methodist Church in Mozambique has toured internationally. A UMNS photo
by Fred Koenig. Photo number 03-219, Accompanies UMNS #333, 6/23/03
No Long Caption Available for this Story
Members
of Kuzwanana choir from Mozambique sing during the Missouri Annual
Conference session in Columbia. From left are Katia Jessica Jose Machel,
Eva Ester Inguane and Stella Dulce Jose Machel. This is the first time a
choir from the United Methodist Church in Mozambique has toured
internationally. A UMNS photo by Fred Koenig. Photo number 03-218,
Accompanies UMNS #333, 6/23/03
No Long Caption Available for this Story
It's the life of a rock band. They take the stage,
pour out their hearts through their music, greet the fans, and then head
back to the tour bus with the promoters to do the same thing in another
town, on another day, day after day.
But this group is
different. First, its venues aren't stadiums but United Methodist
churches. Second, when the group members greet their fans, they are not
speaking a common language. But the biggest difference is that the
relationship they have with their fans is symbolic of a much larger bond
that goes beyond their music.
The name of the six-person choir
from Mozambique is Kuzwanana. It is from the African language Xitswa,
and means "understanding" or "being together." Upon arriving in Missouri
on May 16, the choir began touring the state. The group usually had a
performance every day, and some days two or three. This is the first
time a choir from the United Methodist Church in Mozambique has toured
internationally.
On day 15 of the tour, Nilza Cartina da Conceicao Lila Macuacua was feeling a bit weary.
"We
knew what our schedule would be like before coming on the trip, but
because of the travel and the different environment, we're getting
tired," Macuacua said, speaking through Ezequiel Marcos Nhantumbo, a
representative of the Mozambique Initiative, who was translating for
her.
That day, the choir was doing its second and third
performances for the Missouri Annual Conference session in Columbia, and
was going afterward to Nelson Memorial United Methodist Church in
Boonville for another performance.
Sometimes the choir members
even sang at their recreational stops. When they went to the Gateway
Arch in St. Louis, they did an impromptu song while in the top. Other
recreational stops included taking a cave tour, visiting the Precious
Moments Chapel in Carthage, Mo., a Bass Pro Shop and playing mini-golf.
But not all of their sightseeing was light fare. They also visited
tornado-ravaged areas in Southwest Missouri.
"It reminded me
very much of parts of our country after the civil war," Nhantumbo said.
"The people there are in a similar situation. I know our whole
Mozambique Annual Conference is praying for these people who were hit by
the tornadoes."
Even with the hectic schedule, the choir members enjoyed themselves.
"The
people of Missouri have been very receptive," Macuacua said. "We've
been kept in a very warm environment. They try to make us feel at home."
Dealing with the communication barrier was the hardest part of the trip for Macuacua.
"I have a willingness to talk to other people, outside of our group, but I can't communicate easily," she said.
Jo
Wright, from Manchester United Methodist Church, drove a van for the
group for about half of its tour. She said some of the higher-tech items
along the way, such as automatic faucets in restrooms and automatic
doors at stores, were new to the group. The visitors were also
overwhelmed by the opulence in which most people in the United States
live.
During the trip, some of the choir members saw people they
had met before. Last summer, about 90 people from Missouri United
Methodist churches went to Mozambique to participate in a consultation
for the initiative. Alex and Lindsay Smith, two youth from Liberty,
participated in that trip as part of the Bishop Ambassadorial Youth
Choir. They were glad to see the choir come to their home church.
"Their concert at our church went really well. The people who were there all seemed to enjoy it very much," Alex Smith said.
Because
so many people asked for a recording of the music during the tour, the
choir spent a couple of the last days of its trip making a compact disc
at Manchester United Methodist Church in St. Louis. The group gave a
final concert June 3 at Zion United Methodist Church in the Gateway City
and returned to Mozambique June 5.
The United Methodist
churches of Missouri have a special relationship with their counterparts
in Mozambique. The former Missouri East Conference has had a
relationship with the African country going back to the time of Bishop
W.T. Handy, in the late 1980s. Bishop Ann B. Sherer became directly
involved with Mozambique during the 1990s. She made the country an area
initiative, seeking covenant churches for every church and district in
Mozambique. United Methodists in Missouri currently have 412 covenant
relationships with Mozambique.
Since then, the churches of
Missouri have extended support to Mozambique in many ways, including
providing financial assistance to local churches and districts and
following natural disasters and famine, and conducting a major
well-drilling program, which has provided more than a dozen villages in
Mozambique with safe drinking water.
# # #
*Koenig is editor of the Missouri Conference Review, the newspaper of the United Methodist Church's Missouri Area.
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