Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Gandhi Choir Update...

**New to the Gypsy Ministry Blog? Glen and Clista Adkins serve at the Gandhi High School for Roma (Gypsy) students in Pecs, Hungary. Clista is an English tutor while Glen serves as the choir director. This is the most recent news about the student choir.
During the last two weeks of school, the Gandhi choir was delighted to be invited to perform three times, twice outside the school and once at the Gandhi Christmas program. The choir members loved performing their “new” selections for a gathering of Roma children at a neighborhood community center on a Tuesday afternoon. The following afternoon, the Gandhi kids were amazed at the warm reception they received from an entirely NON-Roma group of older Hungarians at the community center. The crowd seemed to be genuinely impressed by the music they heard, by the talent in the group, and by the fact that an 18-year-old Roma student was translating for Glen (English to Hungarian). As they were leaving the performance, the Gandhi students marveled over the fact that the enthusiastic audience was completely non-Roma. They kept saying, “There were no Gypsies there! They liked us!” What a Christmas gift those folks gave to the Gandhi students!

The next week, the choir sang for a standing-room-only crowd at Gandhi’s annual Christmas program. The solos were beautiful; the new songs were wonderful; and the finale of “Feliz Navidad”—complete with Santa Hats—was a hit! The student body and the faculty cheered and cheered. At the close of the concert, Glen gave every choir participant a Santa Hat that we bought and brought from America last summer.

Most recently the choir has begun their preparations for their spring-break tour of Roma villages in southern Hungary. After the Christmas concert, several new students asked to join the choir, so Glen is beginning 2010 feeling very encouraged. The choir is having its best year yet. This reminds us that God is working!

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