by Dana Hoare-Travaglini
BGMC Chorus members play with Kliptown youth.
SOWETO, June 15, 2018—Today we traveled to Soweto to visit Kliptown and met some of the beneficiaries of our first concert at Soweto Theatre tonight. Kliptown is a section of Soweto for the poor—homes are DIY, no electricity, running water or sanitation. I kept looking for Sally Struthers or Wilfred Brimley, but that’s our role today. Our concert will benefit Kliptown Youth Program, which provides 2 meals/day, clothing and education for the children of Kliptown. The children welcomed us to their program complex, singing, reaching out for “high fives” or to shake hands. We returned their songs with a few of our own, then broke into smaller groups to talk with a member of Mzansi Gay Choir about their experience being gay in South Africa. “Key”, our contact, told his story being gay in an environment with very structured gender roles. Many of us felt his story echoed our own. All too soon, we headed back to the buses to go to lunch, a delicious buffet of local food. After lunch, on our way to rehearsal at tonight’s venue, we stopped at the memorial to the Soweto Uprising, where 23 students were killed on June 16, 1976 while peacefully marching to protest the government. The violence made the world sit up and take notice and marked the beginning of the end of apartheid. Tonight was also our first formal concert in South Africa, which was met with was met with great enthusiasm, and all proceeds benefit the Kliptown Youth Program.
UPDATE: We raised nearly $3,000 for Kliptown Youth Program, which will fund the launch of a program for LGBTI youth.