Recently, Ambassadors of Christ Choir went on a trip to Zambia after receiving an invitation from Springs of Love Ministries and its partners to participate in a five-day mission trip.
Much as the trip was organised as charity to help families in need, it was another step in cementing the already flourishing bond between the Rwanda-based choir and their Zambian family of fans.
This friendship has been going from strength to strength since the Choir’s first mission trip to the Republic of Zambia in 2013.
By then, the choir-whose songs had attracted many people on the African continent and abroad-went to Zambia on the invitation of a certain church in the country.
Three years later (2016), the Choir was again invited to minister in Zambia.
During this recent trip, which happened on August 5 to 9, the Choir was able to conduct successful live concerts in four provinces of the country, particularly at Copperbelt University, Levy Mwanawasa, Heroes Stadium, and Choma Independence Stadium.
Rene Songa, Custodian, Music Director, and Production Coordinator of the Choir, shared with Gospel Time the experience of their recent mission trip to this landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central, Southern, and East Africa.
Songa expressed the team’s gratitude for achieving the main goal of the trip, which was to help families in need by raising funds through offerings and entrance fees.
“Our trip aimed to spread the good news of Christ and raise funds to help those in need in Zambia. We are pleased that everything has been successfully achieved,” he noted.
Languages of Zambia
Songa said that this year’s trip was very special compared to previous years. Whereas they normally performed in one city utmost, this time they were able to tour four cities.
In addition, the choir performed five songs written in the two languages spoken by most Zambians, namely Chitonga and Chibemba. In general, there are about 40 languages in Zambia.
Tonga ( Chitonga)- also known as Zambezi, is a primary language spoken by the Tonga people (Batonga) who live mainly in the Southern province, Lusaka province, and western province of Zambia, while Bemba (Chibemba) is spoken by about 3.8 million people, mainly in the northeast of Zambia.
“In 2013, when we first went to Zambia, we didn’t have any songs in the Zambian language. On the second trip, we had two songs: Impeta and Ibatebuli. Specifically, this year, the number of songs in both languages has increased to five. We thank God for enabling us to accomplish His work,” he pointed out.
Songa described this year’s journey as unique for even there was ease in transportation, seeing that RwandAir now has direct flights to Lusaka.
“Our recent trip was very special. On previous trips, we had to fly through other countries with Kenya Airways and Ethiopian Airlines, as there were no direct flights from Kigali to Lusaka. The journey was long, but with RwandAir’s direct flight to Lusaka, it only took two hours. Thanks to RwandAir and the government of Rwanda for easing the movement of people,” he added.
Rwanda’s High Commissioner to Zambia, Amandin Rugira, met with the Choir members and thanked them for being good ambassadors for the country.
