Pearl of Africa Children’s Choir visits Teesside High School

Friday 27 September 2019 | By Samantha Hockney

Teesside High School was filled with the wonderful sound and energy of the Pearl of Africa Children’s Choir on Tuesday 24 September.

The choir was visiting the UK from Uganda as part of their fundraising efforts. Led by Molly and Paul Wasswa, who run the Molly and Paul Child Care Foundation, the choir supports and provides resources for seven schools in some of the most disadvantaged areas of Africa.

The choir opened the day with an energetic assembly, sharing their incredible noise and passion with students from Year 1 to Year 13.

Our pupils then joined in with a number of drumming, dance and vocal workshops as they prepared for a sell-out concert that evening, where the Pearl of Africa Choir would be introduced to parents and our wider school community.

At break time, students were given the chance to support the choir by attaching spare change to paper drums pinned around the hall – and support the choir they did! The choir’s craft and music stalls were also overflowing with gifts and goodies for students to take home a memento of this lovely occasion.

On the afternoon, we were delighted to be joined by pupils from Junction Farm Primary School, who mastered the catchy Jambo song and dance moves in no time at all.

The evening was a coming together of the day’s work and the Pearl of Africa choir wowed the crowd with their enthusiasm and charm. We hope to have contributed generously to the charity’s fundraising with our retiring collection.

It was an inspiring day which will live in the memory of many in our school community for a long, long time.

You can hear more about the Pearl of Africa Children’s Choir visit at our upcoming Open Day on Saturday 28 September, 9.30am-12.30pm.