VHC Community Choir

It’s official; I have become a “vital” member of Kachikau’s community. This last week my clinic staff talked me into joining the Village Health Committee choir. Originally I was told that we would be singing one song and that it would be ever so painless. So reluctantly I agreed to join and began going to practices. Mind you, the competition was this past Saturday and so I had approximately 4 days to learn a song we wrote that is completely in Setswana. This is completely do-able. However, when we started having practices each night it became clear to me that we would be singing 2 songs. I am always up for a challenge, so I graciously continued practicing, trying my best not to sound horrible. On Tuesday we chose parts. For the life of me I was not going to sing Soprano or Alto because both parts are in the front row where everyone wanted to put me, that way I could be seen. I however decided that Tenor would be best because I would be hidden by everyone else and if I made a mistake or forgot the words no one would notice. This posed a tiny problem; I have never sang tenor before in my life, so I really had no clue what I was doing.

Anyways, so come Thursday I find out at practice that we have to sing a song as we enter the stage. At this point I was ready to quit all together because I was having significant trouble learning the first 2 songs and then everyone wanted to add another song to my plate. The problem with this entering song is that it also included dancing. And I am not talking swaying from side to side or a few hand motions, I am talking intricate steps and shaking of my behind. This was something I was not comfortable with at all because everyone here will tell you that white people can’t dance. I have proved to my clinic staff that I can dance “African” just like they can, but doing it in front of a crowd of people, on stage is a whole other story.

So moving on to Friday, it was our last practice before the competition and I was feeling not so great about 2 of the 3 songs. When I got to practice (which always started about an hour after it was scheduled to start) I found out that we would also be singing a leaving the stage song. Suffice to say I was beyond upset about all of the additions to the one original song I agreed to sing. This meant that I had less than 24 hours to learn a new song (completely in Setswana mind you) along with more dancing. I was furious. But I decided that I would go through with it because I knew that if I quit, people would really be disappointed and I was not willing to disappoint my community. So I did my best to learn everything before the next morning.

The actual competition was beyond entertaining. I was dressed in my choir uniform (which I have to say looked very nice on me) and I met everyone at the clinic. It took a while to get everything started, but eventually it was time for the choirs to sing. At this point I was still not sure what I was singing exactly, I didn’t really know the dance steps, and I felt like I was going to puke because I knew all eyes were going to be on me. There were probably around 200 people in attendance. Kachikau was second to perform. Amazingly I did quite well. I sang all 4 songs, and danced my dances (to the amazement of the crowd) and it wasn’t too long before it was over and I was beyond grateful for the reprieve.
I don’t exactly know how, but my choir got 3rd place and 1500 pula. I was elated because it meant that I didn’t screw up. Lol. Plus it made everyone from my community extremely happy that I joined the choir.

All in all, I am just glad it’s over. The VHC Choir has already started talking about practicing for next year and I know they want me to participate. I told them the only way I would join is if we practice for more than a week, because I need at least that much time to learn the songs. Below are some of the pictures from the day... Somewhere someone took video, so i am trying to get a hold of it. I will post it if i do.


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