A choir of Ugandan orphans from an organisation that uses Christianity to fight terrorism in Africa sang to 350 Christians on Saturday.

Newham Recorder: The choir told Manor Park Christians how Jesus had helped through Uganda's crises Picture: Naveen BooshiThe choir told Manor Park Christians how Jesus had helped through Uganda's crises Picture: Naveen Booshi (Image: Archant)

The Watoto Children’s Choir is made up of children without parents and is overseen by widows who have lost their children.

The choir is a project coordinated by Watoto Child Care Ministries, which runs orphanages in Uganda to help children who have lost parents to Aids.

When the organisation isn’t engaging in activism against the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a Christian cult led by Joseph Kony which uses child soldiers to kill its enemies, it spreads songs of love across the globe through the choir.

On Saturday, the choir brought its Oh What Love tour to Manor Park Christian Centre.

The centre’s pastor David Foster, who left Oklahoma 26 years ago to begin his ministry in London, said the choir’s show filled the centre.

“The response was incredible,” he said. “It was packed and the balcony was packed as well.

“The children gave testaments about how Jesus had changed their lives. It’s evident from their testimonies how the crises in Uganda have impacted their lives but they still live in hope.

“That’s what’s behind the success of their ministry, they give a message about what Christ has done in their lives and also about the people Christ has moved to care for them.”

He said the organisation fights the extremism of Joseph Kony, who has sent more than 10,000 boys and girls into combat since 1990, by maintaining a support network in northern Uganda for his victims.

He believes the choir and wider ministries are the true voice of Christianity in Uganda, and that Joseph Kony, who famously told his soldiers to paint crosses on their chests to protect them from bullets, are un-Christian.

“They’re terrorists, they have nothing to do with Christianity – they’re just calling themselves the LRA,” he said. “The ministries send a group up there to counter them and to be a positive influence.

“They focus on raising future African leaders who will help make a change.”