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Children of Uganda's "Tour of Light" comes to Miami

02/01/2012

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Children of Uganda with Miami's Sarah Meaney (wearing a blue bandana).

The award-winning Children of Uganda, a dance and music group of twenty Ugandans ages 10-18 orphaned by HIV/AIDS and conflict, will perform “Tour of Light: A Musical Safari Through East Africa” at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 9, in Gates-Abegglen Theatre in Miami University’s Center for Performing Arts.

Hailed as “first rate” and “inspiring” by the New York Times, the group will showcase stories of East Africa through dancing, drumming, songs and folktales.

This 15th anniversary national dance tour is led by one of the first children the organization assisted after the AIDS pandemic devastated Uganda 16 years ago.

The national tour aims to raise funds for the hundreds of orphans and vulnerable children currently under the care of the non-profit organization Children of Uganda (COU), which supports several orphanages in Uganda.
It also aims to promote global awareness of the AIDS crisis and advocate for the nearly three million Ugandan children orphaned by HIV/AIDS, while sharing Uganda’s culture and history with Americans.

The Children of Uganda’s performance at Miami is coordinated by Sarah Meaney, first-year adviser for Miami’s Global Connections Living Learning Community (LLC). Meaney traveled to Uganda in 2010 and met many of the children who will be performing in the “Tour of Light.”

Miami is the only college campus that the members of Children of Uganda will experience on their tour (which includes New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and Atlanta).

AIDS is a leading cause of death in Uganda, killing more than 200 people a day, devastating the 25-40-year-old segment of the population and leaving behind more than 2.4 million orphans since the epidemic’s onset, according to COU.

Children of Uganda has performed at the White House, the Grammy Awards MusiCares benefit honoring Bono in 2003 and the World Bank, among many other venues.

A Boston Globe review states: “Given sorrow, they have made beauty. With nothing more than sticks and drums and their own bare feet, they have made art.”

Tickets, $7 Miami students and $10 general, are available at the Miami box office in Shriver Center, 529-3200 or www.tickets.muohio.edu.

The event is sponsored by Miami’s Global Connections Living Learning Community (LLC) and the Diversity Affairs Council.

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