Choir Trip Teaches Unity

Story written by Tim Sailor ‘09
For Christus Chorus members, memories and lessons learned on our 16-day trip to Ghana will last a lifetime. Traveling throughout the cities of Accra, Cape Coast, Kumasi and a few small villages, we experienced an intense and unique blend of worship, travel, singing, service, and sight-seeing.

We departed on May 11. After fourteen hours in the air, we landed and were greeted by a large red, green and yellow sign that said, “AKWAABA,” meaning welcome. We were welcomed throughout Ghana with smiles and clapping. Children would run up to the bus, pointing to us and shouting. The greetings and love poured throughout the country, particularly in the churches where we worshiped and performed.

Our first concert was at St. John’s Lutheran School in Accra where we performed with four other choirs. As with all concert and church services we attended, the concert concluded with offering. It was quite different from the “hurry-up-and-pass-the-plate” form many of our state-side churches subscribe to. There, everyone dances up to the basket and drops their hand—whether they have something to give or not.

“The idea is that we dance before our Lord giving our whole bodies in worship,” said Greta Schulz, sophomore choir member. “It would sometimes last 45 minutes, but it never felt that way…it was an amazing feeling of pure joy that just made you want to get up and move.”

We did and saw a variety of things. One morning we had breakfast next to crocodiles and the next afternoon we were swinging 150 feet in the air amidst a rainforest canopy. Christus members Natalie Cochrane and Kelli Jensen claimed to have seen a small monkey. We were able to spend time with CSP choir alumnus and tour coordinator, James Corey ’05, and his wife, Audrey Addaquay-Corey, who grew up in Ghana and served as our tour nurse.

Throughout the tour, our patience was tried, but the choir remained vigilant. In Africa, events rarely start on time. Eating in restaurants can take a couple hours and church services last at least three hours. Dr. David Mennicke, choir director and music department chair, indoctrinated a “go with the flow” mind-set.

We returned from Africa’s gold coast on May 27—complete with sunburns, bug bites, djembes (hand drums), perhaps some indigestion, and countless photos and memories. Among our most important mementos was the realization that no matter the cultural differences, there is an overwhelming unity we have as saved children of God.