Raceland — The Hope for Africa Children’s Choir — 22 children between the ages of 5 and 13 from Uganda — will be spending the Labor Day Weekend in Greenup and Boyd counties with concerts scheduled for the bandstand in Central Park, the Raceland Arts Center and Grace United Methodist Church in Raceland.

This will mark the second consecutive year the choir will be performing in this community, but none of the children who performed at the arts center a year ago are touring the United States in 2009, said Bob Sweeney, pastor of Grace United Methodist.

The weekend activities will begin Friday with the choir members having lunch with students in the Raceland-Worthington School District followed by a concert for Raceland-Worthington students at 2 p.m. at the arts center.

The visit to the school will be a time for children from this community to interact with children from East Africa and exchange ideas about their cultures, said Sweeney.

At 5 p.m. Saturday, there will be a concert with free hot dogs and beverages and children’s activities at the Pop Lewis Bandstand in the park. This is a cooperative project of the choir, the Ashland District of the United Methodist Church and the Rethink Church Project, said Sweeney, a first-year pastor at the Raceland church.

In addition to the free food, Sweeney said there will be Spaceball, inflatables and other activities for both children and adults. Several local church choirs also will sing before the children’s choir, he said.

The choir will perform during the 10:45 a.m. worship service at the Raceland church off U.S. 23 at Caroline Road. Mead Memorial United Methodist in Russell is co-sponsoring the concert and will join in the service with Grace. A potluck dinner will follow the service.

The weekend of music will conclude with the public concert at 6 p.m. Sunday at the arts center that will also feature choirs from area churches.

The arts center seats about 900, and Sweeney said, “I hope we pack it out and fill it to the rafters.”

There is no charge for any of the events, but Sweeney said a love offering will be taken at each of the concerts.

This is a fundraiser for the choir, as well as a way to increase awareness of needs of the children of East Africa, which has been devastated by civil wars, natural disasters and epidemics of AIDS and malaria, Sweeney said.

“They will be encouraging individuals to not just give a one-time gift but to become sponsors for these children and to develop ongoing relationships with them,” added Sweeney, who heard the choir when it performed at the annual meeting of the Kentucky Conference of the United Methodist Church.

“Once you hear and meet these kids, you can’t help but fall in love with them. They really touch you.”

The choir features Christian music from Africa as well as dance and drums. “It’s very entertaining,” Sweeney said.

All of the children in the choir are either orphans or children of single parents. They have been touring America since April.

Sweney said area churches — particularly United Methodist churches — are invited to hear and meet the choir and learn more about the church’s mission work. The Orphans and Vulnerable Children’s Ministry of the United Methodist Church was created to address the challenges of the East Africa United Methodist conference in dealing with orphans and single-parent children. The money raised by the choir helps fund schools and centers for orphans and vulnerable children.

Following a weekend in Greenup and Boyd counties, the choir will travel to Louisa for a concert on Tuesday and then head to Pikeville.

JOHN CANNON can be reached at jcannon@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2649.