A flavour of African culture came to The Redland Hall at Redmaids’ High School as the Singing Children of Kenya showcased their talents in a vibrant and colourful concert.
The 20 boys and girls, aged between 9 and 17 years, visited Redmaids’ as part of their celebration tour and all were pupils from the Jolaurabi school just outside Mombasa. The school is the brainchild of a British couple who, following a holiday to Kenya and seeing first-hand the poverty and hunger, established the charity, Educate the Kids, in 2001. Now, around 970 children are educated through the school and nursery, many of them orphans, and 45 local teachers and support staff are also employed. Previous singing tours (this year was the 10th), sponsorship programmes and fundraising help to keep the school running – it now boasts science and computer labs, sports fields and agriculture facilities.
For one night only, Redmaids’ was a blaze of colourful costumes, drum rhythms, joyful songs and wide smiles. Singing a mix of traditional and popular songs, accompanied by some very accomplished moves, the children’s delight and infectious energy had the entire audience beaming from the very first note.
After the interval, Tanya Marriott from Solelution shoe shop in Portishead gave a talk describing how her team support the school through annual shoe donations, which they take out to Kenya to fit.
Redmaids’ Head of Year 7, Alice Hinks, was in charge of organising the event. She explained: “The choir spent one day with us and sang for us in assembly as well as spending the day in workshops across the junior and senior school. Our collaborative workshops included a fabulous watercolour activity in art which was supported by our sixth form students, samba drumming in music and netball in PE! Our girls really enjoyed getting to know the choir and are already asking when they can see them again. The bonds made were so wonderful to see and the students connected immediately.