Episode 5: Scott Lambie - "Ripple Effect" - my time with the African Children's Choir

Good deeds, however simple, can have a "ripple effect" on others and can blossom into something big. Scott Lambie shares the story behind African Children's Choir that started with a simple act of kindness, to the founding of an organization that helped over 52000 children in Africa.

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Transcript

[Music] you know it started it just started off with this simple idea of like let's get these kids to a safe place into a home but it turned into this ripple effect that you really wouldn't be able to quantify because so many people were inspired by the children welcome to hello world where we we discovered the good that is all around us in this episode we will talk to Scott lamby the former director of development for African Children's Choir with a mission of transforming the lives of these African children the African Children's Choir aims to reach out to the world through music that transcends cultural boundaries get ready to be inspired by the wonderful story of African Children's Choir

[Music] 

welcome to the Hollywood podcast and you know today we're going to talk a little bit about the African Children's Choir uh that you were a former director of development for yes yeah so before we dive into that though I I just try to remember because that's one of the first Ministries that you approached me on and we talked a little bit about that um I'm just trying to kind of go back and remember the event in which that we got connected about that particular Ministry do you remember that kind of go back and tell us a little bit about yourself how you got involved um with ACC and um and what happened after that yeah sure I can go back in time on that one we were we were part of the same church yeah in Austin Texas and that's how we originally got did you know my wife and I were relatively new Believers at the time we met you in Virginia and we were kind of working through what does all of this mean like what is this Faith Journey mean and what does it look like to follow Jesus and right we didn't know we were we were just discovering things and along the way and even at the beginning of that Journey it was always kind of like this um this call always felt like it was told to children to help children in poverty and didn't know what that was supposed to look like I was working at Tech in Tech at the time my wife Sarah was working in Tech at the time we were we were successful in in our careers uh but our faith started turning that upside down and we we really felt um a call towards the the impoverished child and at that time when I was going through that journey I was thinking about things like I want to get into music and I want to see the world but I also want to help children and how how does how do all of those Concepts to come together and through a series of discoveries and people and events swirling around God led us to the African Children's Choir and our church the well went on a mission trip to Kenya and I went with the with the crew did not want to go to Africa and spent 10 days there uh seven of those days working with the African Children's Choir uh in the slums doing a VBS and I just fell in love with the kids they were they were living in this extreme poverty but had tremendous joy and I couldn't reconcile any of that and the organization needed someone to go to Uganda and ramp up some business administration efforts and start a start an organization and get some systems in place and we're building schools at the time and so very long story very short we decided to leave our careers in Tech sell off our things and move to Uganda to serve the African Children's Choir and that was in 2009 2009 so I'd like to dive a little bit deeper behind your thought process and decision process to leave what you have sort of being a journeyed career Journey that you were on before and thought that you would stay on and how did you decide to make a really big change so you mentioned that when you went on went with the well church and working with the African children you were not able to reconcile something in your head and that prompted you to really want to consider this ministry can you kind of dive a little deeper about the struggle as you said or that conflict that that caused you to really rethink the track that you are Beyond on your life yeah and it kind of dials back to I think this um this narrative that we're sold that money is going to make you happy and when you're when you're coming out of college when I came out of college I really thought okay I'll just go out and earn as much money as I possibly can and get all the things that um you see on the the dream Boards of life um the houses the cars the boats and and save up a bunch of money and become financially free and you know we were getting close to that we were getting there and like close enough to to have 20 foot away we had all the things we we ever dreamed of having and something didn't feel right something felt empty okay um and there it was it was a lack of purpose really uh looking back on all of it and a lack of a spiritual guide or any sort of spiritual guidance in our life so mainly um mainly dialing into what you could call basically greed and you know we all do it we all get sucked into it we all we all get consumed by it but it's like um our our culture really celebrates what um what requires on the on the on the underlying effort is some level of greed to become successful and have what what looks like a successful life and that all felt empty and we started just just pursuing a spiritual journey which ended up leading us to Jesus but having a hard time reconciling these kids in joy in poverty was part of that because you know in one way you you've been chasing this thing your your whole adult life and it's and it's come up empty for you and in a very short amount of time you're on the other side of the world in one of the most extremely impoverished places right and these these people are have more joy than you do and so what what what that what that it's so hard to reconcile that but looking back on it you realize that life isn't all about money life isn't all about self-preservation life isn't all about comfort and control and plotting out your own um your own path and when you start following Jesus you realize that our lives aren't really not our own and all of The Selfish Endeavors that that we pursue um really don't take us anywhere but like through a life of generosity and a life of giving and a life of healing and reaching the Widow and the orphan and the impoverished and and helping other people that's what we learned from Christianity and and started to put into practice and we saw different returns coming back to us then you know your capital gains return you get this spiritual return and a feeling of love and and gratitude and um and appreciation fulfillment and purpose and meaning and something that you can kind of look back on and instead of the garage full of cars um you know a lot a lot of lives that have been changed and and just because you've been able to set something aside that would be for yourself and give it to others it's it's the most fulfilling experience and you know that was in 2009 that we we set off on that and fast forward to now and it's like so glad we did that yeah continue glad that we were LED in that direction yeah so we've been following you guys on your journey and to various places and um I know you has you know spent quite a bit of time um with the African Children's Choir and took them on different tours right so those are really exciting and whenever you're in town you're able to reach out to us and say hey come over to this church and check out these kids and when we saw them the energy was just going through the roof so I know you were very instrumental in their tour in the U.S um but before we get into the tour so maybe we step back a little bit if you can tell us how how does African Children's Choir started and what is their mission sure um well the African Children's Choir started in 1984 and the Founder's name is Ray Barnett he was an adventurous very adventurous man he's still alive still um on the board of directors and um he he was in Uganda doing some research because there there was a civil war going on everybody remembers the name idiomim uh but around that time the country was going through some serious turmoil and he went there because he heard people were were starving to death and doing some research in the central part of Uganda he picked up a boy who needed a ride and the boy sang and he saw this potential for these children and to raise awareness for the atrocities going on at you and Uganda at the time you decided Well let's bring a a choir of these children out and show the Western World the potential that these kids have and raise aware awareness around the needs that are back at home and so that started off in 1984 and continued on the first African Children's Choir came out it was a massive success nobody had ever done anything like that before and you're literally going into a church and seeing these children that have come all the way from the other side of the world who you'd expect to be star you know back in those days all you saw on television was starvation and you know just a very sad scene but then this presentation of the child singing and dancing and high energy uh blew people's minds and they start people started sponsoring the kids to go to school homes were built programs were established and throughout the years uh the the organization continued to grow and it grows like a family so you know the the kids that were there in 1984 on tour with choir one are still around and they're like aunties and uncles to the kids that are in choir 52 which is in training right now and so there's this massive family feel and culture of taking care of each other and the the primary goal of of the organization is to help the most vulnerable children in Africa so they can help Africa tomorrow and it really played out really panned out it's worked and you know what started with a very simple home for kids has uh evolved into International standard education for these kids as the as the Dynamics of Uganda and East Africa change the meat the needs and the and the quality of education programs have evolved along with that so uh 52 plus thousand children have been educated through the organization in 2000 yeah oh that's a that's a large number that's wonderful yeah you know I love the story that you mentioned how the Genesis of it that founder was simply listening to a child singing and voila this kind of division came about how often that we missed little little things and there's power even behind a little you know the singing and create this whole Vision how this whole thing um rolled which is amazing so to even like the purpose of the of this podcast and like showing the good you know yeah um one could look at the situation in Uganda that was going on at the time which was effectively a genocide in playing hopelessness in it you know but you can find like Ray found this one glimmer of he found this glimmer of Joy this glimmer of hobo and magnified that and and magnifying the good in the world uh turned into something that I think even he couldn't have possibly imagined has helped you know so many people just by holding up the good and not focusing on the tragedy but like we can do something yeah we can change this world and it just takes um a little courage a couple of Steps of Faith and then holding up what's good and maybe something amazing comes out of that so yeah and even even so looking at your own story right that you went on a trip and you noticed happiness is not dependent on money I actually had I reckon you know I definitely resonate with your experience I had a chance also visit Mexico it's amazing I went across U.S Mexico border into Mexico uh there are no street lights the road no paved Road there are many impoverished communities I just remember playing with the kids and they were kicking around a flat soccer ball like completely deflated but they're kicking around and just having the happiest time and I I figured you know if if they can find so much joy in a deflated soccer ball you know clearly it's not the soccer ball it's just the joy of playing with others is enjoying the outdoor the sunshine the camaraderie with other children so you know in the same way that we we should find joy in many different things that are already available to us and it's not money um so that's um that's wonderful and you know can you give us some sort of an anecdotal story about uh you know some of the exciting things on the tour I know um there's some famous people were took part in uh and met with the African Children's Choir right did it even perform with them could you give us some some uh sort of Backstage story on what's happening there well there's a lot of those stories out there I mean the kids were took took the Western World by storm and uh you know they they were called upon to uh participate in um you know Live Aid and they they were on stage with so many different celebrities representing their country throughout the years like um Bono from YouTube yeah uh Mariah Carey uh they've met the Queen of England a couple of times they sang actually at at the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations in England uh uh a few years ago and that was viewed by 70 million people around the world so yeah the celebrity sightings have been a lot uh throughout the years with it with the children um yeah there's there's there's a lot of stories out there um you know I I always I when I was kind of going through my journey I was thinking about getting into music and seeing the world and and helping children and I never would have imagined that God led me to this particular Mission because I ended up seeing the world uh with the kids and you know in their music and being with them on tour and then ultimately all of that for their benefit and helping them out of extreme poverty um you know there's there's a there's a lot of uh big platform stories but I think I think the behind the scenes stories that are really that really bring up the African Children's Choir and bring out the African Children's Choir that nobody really hears about is like staying with host families and while the kids are on tour like they don't stand fancy hotels they don't you know there's um the tour really relies on host families and two or three kids in a chaperone will go stay at your home and for three days or two days or however long they're in that area there's no screens um there's like [Music] um there's family time and when the when the choir comes to stay with a family um the families are super generous they put their whole life on pause and they switch off the TV and they switch off their phones and they play games with the kids and they feed the kids and get the kids where they need to be yeah and that experience for the the children getting to see what life is like in in a western style home is very impactful for them but for the host family who's generously uh carving out that time to take care of the kids their life is completely changed as well because they're seeing this opportunity to give of themselves right there in their home and it and and there's just this love that comes out of it so you you'd imagine um that standing next to Bono would be this amazing experience but the kids don't know what's going on like yeah they don't know who he is but these families are really like where the a lot of the magic takes place and a lot of love takes place on those tours yeah I think they're staying with the host family what changed the host family as well um their impacting others um so this is great so so African Children's Choir really is a vehicle to really allow the kids expose the kids to the world and to realize they're a world out there that I really love them as well and and um so but if we take it back at home how does first of all how does how do these children get connected with African Children's Choir and second back at home how does African Children's Choir help these kids apart from the tour yeah um so the organization has a number of Outreach programs in the slums and in the local communities um so kind of taking the whole organization full circle um the the kids that were once in the choir uh there's such a history there that they've gone to Primary School secondary school and University and Beyond and the University students give back by going out and participating in these outreaches which um they reach these children who live in the slum areas they do music and games and discipleship okay and and feed them meals and during through those relationships needs are identified um and they they can they can find a kid who's really in a in a desperate need and so they're through all of those outreaches kids are identified and then there's somewhat of a uh audition process that takes place okay where there's some testing for aptitude for the kids a lot of them haven't been to school so you know knowledge isn't necessarily a test but ability to learn skills things like that and then acquire is selected after that choir is selected uh the children go through a training process to get ready for tour okay and then they go out on the tour which is you know what we're talking about where they're exposed to different different experiences different people different cultures yeah all of that in and then go back to Uganda where there's a very high quality primary school it's a boarding school where all of the children get their primary education and then once they finish with their Primary School there's a high school on a separate campus uh called the Empower international academy and it's an international curriculum it's a Cambridge curriculum very high standard um of Education and Care there okay um and that that school was just opened four years ago so there's four classes of kids in that school but after they graduate from there they go on to University of the organization takes care of their tuition and they um they go on to pursue pursue their careers so right as doctors lawyers civil engineers you name it there's they run the gamut they're in the community giving back wow so it's it's uh even back home it's quite an Endeavor um infrastructure to support these children so how's ACC funded how does the resource itself to be able to give out so much uh well the tours raise a lot of of awareness and funds I'll say well the kids have been on tour offerings are taken up um during the performances and people also uh sponsor the children and so through those sponsorships okay sponsors typically follow those kids um for the majority of their Scholastic career and help financially so the their tuition school books wow um food um and and many of their other needs medical clothing a lot of that's taken care of yeah through the sponsorship program wow so I'm sure being involved and seeing all these things happening

must be impactful and change people's worldview or perspective how how what sort of lesson would you glean from your experience with African Children's Choir how are you personally impacted by it your journey um there's there's so many different ways I could answer that question Larry um pick your favorite one I I think I think uh for me and my experience I lived over in Uganda for for seven years okay and my office where I showed up every morning was for a long time for a part of the time it was where the kids went to school yeah you know as we were building different campuses and for a while it was where the cop the the children did their choir training so if you could imagine showing up to work every morning and having like a gaggle of little children run to your car to give you a hug before you start work um you can't really recover from there's no job you can go to after that yeah um but but you're you become part of this family uh through through the through the process and you know you take on each other's burdens and you carry each other through and um you end up seeing a tremendous amount of joy in that community of like having hundreds and you know thousands of people that you're you're completely connected to that you share this common bond with that you share this common culture with this common experience when the choir people are together they talk about tour uh highlights and stories and everybody can relate like everyone has this one thing that they did together that is very unlike most things that people would ever get an opportunity to do together and that's like going out on tour and being part of that team and watching people out there in the Western World light up with joy and gain so much from it there's it's a real hard question for me to answer but um you look back on it and you're like man I was part of something that was so much bigger than me and I'm still part of it and I'll never not be a part of it that is that is great Insight I think we I actually believe you know all of us deep down inside we all want to be part of something bigger than ourselves yeah so to be able to find that and it's very fulfilling right that's great um so how do you think the long-term impact ACC has on the children that it helped

um there's there's some so many ways to answer that question too I mean you're looking at an organization that came into a country that was an absolute devastation and um there there there's the the children the children themselves that have the opportunity to go out on tour there's the kids that were also sponsored through the efforts of the African Children's Choir that never got to go on tour there's the awareness that that those tours brought to this the devastation in that country at that time and then there's the people that were inspired by that who came over and like participated in the rebuilding of that country because they saw the African Children's Choir so I would meet people who were there on Mission in Uganda and it would say oh you're with the African Children's Choir The reason I'm here is because I saw the African Children's Choir when I was a child okay and you would hear that story over and over again so there was this ripple effect um you know it started it just started off with this simple idea of like let's get these kids to a safe place into a home yeah but it turned into this ripple effect that you really wouldn't be able to quantify because so many people were inspired by the children um to go over and make a difference themselves so that's great yeah so the impact is is it's widespreading and in fact you impact people that you didn't know you'd impacted right there's a lot of a lot of unintentional benefactor of people who observed all the good thing that is happening with African children Squire so um so when did you leave African Children's Choir and what are you doing now so I I left Uganda in 2016. okay and continued to work with the African Children's Choir from here in the United States right but in 2020 during covet um well I have to back up we we ended up adopting three African children who now live here in the U.S with us and um one of my daughters one of my African daughters she's now in her 20s she would she was abused as a child she was sexually abused as a child and went through a long journey of healing and continues to go through that Journey okay but she during lockdown started talking about using her story of abuse to help other children back in in Uganda okay and so um that um ended up snowballing into this new vision of helping children in Uganda who are suffering from sexual abuse okay an organization called rescue one more okay uh in 21 and now now this is also a ripple effect of the African Children's bar this organization that we've started that is out there helping uh children in Uganda who are suffering from sexual abuse wow that's uh that's quite a change um well but but just for our viewers um and you said we will have a follow-on episode of our rescue one more and uh so that's a um you know it's a tough subject to cover but you know doing good is not just about you know being happy or feel good sometimes you have to confront the difficult situation or sins and issues in this world and stand up for the week uh and I think you know rescue one more that is this big story and uh in the mission so we'll definitely want to hear more about that um what would be the the main thing that you will want the listener our older viewer to take away well I think um for for the viewer personally that is out there wondering okay well I'm here listening to this story and it sounds it sounds like a little way more than I could ever do um or you know like it can be a bit overwhelming to to think okay I'm Gonna Leave My Career to go do something um and you don't have to do something you don't have to like you can bring uh good into this world right where you are with what's in your hands and what's available to you and so um you know don't think that you have to go out there and sell all of your things and move to the other side of the planet to bring to manifest something good in this world like just whatever's in your hands that you can share um with somebody else who's in need or even your wisdom and knowledge is something that you wouldn't necessarily think somebody else could benefit from but there's so much that you as an individual have to offer take inventory of that and and give that away just find that radical generosity inside of you and see what comes out of that bring some bring something good out there for also somebody who's watching this um you could really dream you know like there's a dream out there that has always been on your heart like mine I knew mine since I was a little child but was always afraid to go out that dream that's there that's with you right now yeah that's something that like you can really make a reality and uh just have to step into it and have some faith and take tiny steps towards it and if you're finding yourself in a dark situation I found myself in a dark situation that I had um buried myself in in the pursuit of greed you might find yourself in a dark situation for whatever other reason uh the best way to come out of that is to start helping someone else and once you start to help that other person um or those other people it'll bring light to you and bring healing to you there's this awesome like this this verse uh this story that has really been on me for the last couple of years uh is when Jesus is Jesus is talking to his disciples he says if you want to be my disciple in some versions he says if you want to be complete yeah you have to deny yourself all right and pick up your cross and follow me and it's like what what is there there for you that you that that is so selfish to to you that you you could deny like I need to deny this thing and what is the burden that like God is laid at your feet uh everyone carries some burden for someone else or they've been through a tragedy or they've been through a struggle yeah and and they know the way out um you can use that that cross that you've had to pick up and carry to bring something to other people so that's um yeah thank you for that wisdom and and um many times we bury that good thoughts or the things that we feel called to and with this sort of mad it's not realistic or I can't and I'm willing to to step out and hearing what you're saying is really um motivating in um give our audience and myself you know serious thought you know consider that and so for audience want to you know take part to help us the African Children's Choir how would they go about doing that best way to do it is to go to African Children's choir.com and there's opportunities to host host a concert to be a host family to get financially to sponsor a child and one of the most impactful experiences that you might have with what you have in your hands right now is to sponsor one of these children and exchange letters with these kids and encourage them from from where you are right now that makes a lot of sense okay well that information will be included in the in the video and uh well Scott that it's really good to talk to you I know we're going to talk to him soon and Sarah and Vanessa we're gonna you know maybe cover the rescue one more and like to hear more about that Ministry and the impact that is making but I just really want to thank you for your service it's being uh really a pleasure to track you and Sarah and your family and and what you're doing it's amazing it's a testament of your faith you know people were really felt inspired by so thank you for for sharing today with that we're just going to say goodbye and uh we'll come back to you again soon and that brings us to the end of another exciting episode of hello world please support our podcast by hitting the Subscribe button also don't forget to smash that like your likes will help our podcast reach more awesome people like you lastly tap that notification Bell to receive instant alert whenever we drop in a new episode we can't wait to see you again on our next episode until then keep on being a positive force in this world