Choir brings world to community

SANDPOINT — Diego Mendoza and Lucio Ahuate couldn’t have imagined what was in store for them when they first joined the Matsiko World Orphans Choir.

After a lifetime of working farms in some of the poorest regions of Peru, the two boys found themselves on an airplane with a year of travel around the United States ahead of them. Ten months later, they and their fellow choir members arrived in Sandpoint for several performances in schools, churches and parks. After driving into town Monday, the choir, which consists of kids ages 7 through 14 from Peru, India and Liberia, set to work with their entertaining mix of singing, dancing and crowd-friendly banter.

For Diego, 14, the experience has been a blur of new faces and locations. However, the kindness of the people he’s met along the way have helped him feel at home. And every day brings another fascinating sight or experience his way.

“It’s so beautiful here, but at the same, it’s very cold,” Diego said.

On Thursday, Diego, Lucio and their friends visited Kootenai Elementary School, giving the students a show while educating them about the differences between America and their home countries.

In one number, for instance, choir members illustrated the comfort of life in America compared to many impoverished regions of the world. Amenities like showers and washing machines that many take for granted are luxuries in their home countries, they told the students.   

It’s all in a day’s work for Matsiko World Orphans Choir members, who use their talent and charisma to advocate for worldwide youth education.

“In America, we have to try and keep kids in our schools,” choir chaperone Sam Windham told Kootenai Elementary students. “In other countries, they have to keep kids out.”

As a subsidiary of the nonprofit International Children’s Network, the choir raises awareness and recruits sponsors to help impoverished children earn themselves a better life. For example, Lucio, 13, hopes to become an engineer. Diego, meanwhile, plans to earn a law degree.

“Sponsorship is very important for us,” Lucio said.

“It helps us break the cycle of poverty,” added Diego

Popular songs like “From a Distance,” popularized by Bette Midler, and “I Got a Name” by Jim Croce deliver their message in an accessible format. When combined with the kids’ energetic dancing and audience-winning interludes for handshakes or hugs, it’s an effective outreach that’s taken them to some amazing places, Windham said.

Over the past 10 months, the group has toured from coast to coast, performing for everyone from school kids to the St. Louis Cardinals. Along the way, the choir members have taken a little time off for activities like a day at Six Flags Theme Park or visits to aquariums and zoos. Lucio said California has been his favorite stop on the trip so far, while Diego still has a soft spot for Seattle, where choir members first began their trip. To keep the tour’s costs down, families host the kids in each city they visit.  

Despite all the fun, Diego and Lucio said they both miss their homes occasionally. They still have a couple months before they complete their tour Nov. 18 and head back home. However, they said their year in America has been a life-changing experience. And with the help of some sponsors, it’s an experience that should help turn the dreams of generations past into reality.

“My grandfather has told me, ‘I have hope for you. I want you to have a better life,’” Diego said.

 Upcoming shows by the Matsiko World Orphans Choir include Saint George’s School at 8:30 a.m. and The Bridge at 2:30 p.m. today, Farmers Market in Farmin Park from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday and Sandpoint Christian Center at 10 a.m. Sunday.