The Sawuti Children’s Choir is continuing their Canadian tour despite losing thousands of dollars and equipment when their tour vehicle was robbed in downtown Vancouver. (Courtesy Photo)
A visiting children’s choir that had over $10,000 (about 37 million shillings) in donations, raised to pay for education back in Kampala, is “heartbroken but not discouraged” after it was robbed in downtown Vancouver in Canada while on tour.
According to official sources, The Sawuti African Children’s Choir was raising money to send underprivileged Ugandan children to school, including its own eight performers between the ages of 8 and 15, when their vehicle was broken into Saturday just before 1:00 p.m. (PT) near West Pender Street and Abbott Street.
Doug Sadler, president of Seven Wells Ministries Canada which sponsors the choir tour, told The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) that “two laptops, an iPad and approximately $8,000 in cash are gone after someone smashed a window, grabbed two bags inside the vehicle, and took off.”
The Choir also had $5,000 in cheques, sources say.
“Collection receipts for three performances were also in the briefcase, making the exact amount of cash stolen unknown,” CBC reported.
Vancouver police are investigating the theft and no arrests have been made.
“We are actively trying to locate the stolen property,” Cpl. Jason Doucette said on Sunday.
The money stolen from a touring youth choir’s van was enough to pay for 14 children’s education for one year back in Uganda, Choir chaperone Chris Sparks said.
“We’ve been completely bowled over by the generosity and hope of the Canadian people everywhere we’ve been since starting in Winnipeg (in January),” Chris told Vancouver Sun Newspaper. “We get to Vancouver and this happens.
The choir’s background music was on one of the stolen laptops, but someone in Uganda awoke at 3 a.m. (EAT) and sent music to Vancouver, where it was downloaded five minutes before Saturday evening’s performance for the Ahava life Centre.
“Thank you all for your prayers as we recover from an incident in Vancouver BC where someone broke into our vehicle. We lost a couple of computers and a large amount of cash and cheques from recent concerts,” the choir said in a statement on their official website.
“We are heartbroken but not discouraged. We are continuing our journey through Canada, ministering to cities and communities,” they added.
