LIFESTYLES
WEEKEND, FEBRUARY 7-8, 2015
Singers in the His Little Feet Orphan Choir run across a field in Colorado, where the organization is based.
Photo courtesy of His Little Feet
little feet,
BIG SMILES
Orphans sing out despite pain in lives
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
The children in the His Little Feet Inter-
national Children’s Choir have every right to
have a sour view of the world.
Some of the orphaned singers come from
war zones. Parents have died, gotten sick or
simply lack the money needed to care for their
offspring. Some were abandoned.
Yet, they smile.
“These kids have so much to complain
about, yet there is so much joy inside them,”
said Mike Hahn, who co-founded the choir in
2009 with his wife, Christa.
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la County in the next week.
The sheer number of orphans in the world
bothered the couple, some 143 million at the
time. The Hahns saw numerous orphans during
travels to Nepal, Ethiopia, Uganda, the Philip-
pines, Honduras, Mexico, Haiti and India.
One thing he saw in Haiti still haunts Mike.
A young Haitian father, who had struggled to
care for his baby daughter after losing his wife,
couldn’t feed her on earnings of about one U.S.
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phanage where the Hahns were working. She
was sick and severely dehydrated. Missionaries
at the orphanage quickly took the baby from his
arms and hurried to revive her. It was too late.
“I saw the father get the news that she was
gone,” Hahn said. “I’ve never seen anyone cry
or mourn like that.”
The memory of the 340 children living at
another orphanage in India, however, makes
him smile. The children queued up into two
lines and greeted the Hahns. Some held up
signs of welcome. Then, wearing joyful smiles,
they sang.
“They sang their little hearts out,” Hahn
said. “It seemed like the happiest place on
earth.”
The Hahns decided to start a traveling choir
comprised of orphans to tour the U.S. The
mission was to create a Christian organization
“to help, love and train vulnerable orphan chil-
dren” and to put the plight of orphans front and
center. The group also collaborates with groups
such as Compassion International, America
World Adoption and Visiting Orphans to aid
orphaned and disadvantaged children around
the world.
“According to UNICEF, there are now
153 million orphans in the world,” Hahn said.
“That number is just staggering.”
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from Haiti. This year, the 16 singers hail from
Ethiopia and India, with one Haitian. The sing-
ers range in age from 6 to 13.
The children usually don’t know much
English when they arrive. At His Little Feet’s
headquarters in Windsor, Colorado, the singers
study the language and learn performing arts.
They also study academics and life skills. Cris-
ta directs the choir with the assistance of trans-
lators. Often, Mike said, she uses charades-like
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The children aren’t selected because of their
musical ability. There are no American Idol-es-
Photo courtesy of His Little Feet
Singers in the His Little Feet Orphan Choir came this year from India, Ethiopia and
Haiti and range in age from six to 13.
Photo courtesy of His Little Feet
Singers in the His Little Feet Orphan Choir incorporate percussion in-
struments into their performances.
Photo courtesy of His Little Feet
Singers from the His Little Feet Orphan Choir rehearse for their tour.
que tryouts. His Little Feet staff work
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like to sing, can easily adapt to change
and are excited to travel.
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mances, they are a little nervous, but it
doesn’t really show,” Hahn said. “They
sing out.”
The children often play instruments
from their country during performanc-
es. Concerts include songs in English
and the singers’ native tongues, a “gos-
pel-centric message” and “powerful
testimonies from the children’s life ex-
periences.” Choir members stay with
local families during their tour.
Hahn said seeing and meeting older
orphans helps people change their idea
of adoption.
“A lot of the time, people want to
adopt babies, not kids in the 6-13 age
range,” Hahn said. “These are the kids
who are forgotten.”
Horizons are broadened during the
10 months in the U.S.
Ten-year-old Kima of India emailed
that “I get to sing for Jesus, study in En-
glish, see big mountains and touch the
ocean waves.” Ethiopian singer Helen,
12, cherishes the opportunity to “sing
with my friends from other countries
and traveling on the bus to many new
places.”
The choir travels to 25 states, per-
forming concerts in such places as New
York, Kentucky, Nebraska and North
Dakota.
At concerts, Hahn often gets inqui-
ries about adopting the choir mem-
bers. The singers are unavailable for
adoption while in the United States per
agreement with the children’s home
countries.
The children arrive in Colorado in
November and return home in August.
Hahn said it is hard to watch the chil-
dren say farewell to each other after so
many months of bonding.
“It’s brutal,” Hahn said. “There’s not
a dry eye.”
The choir will perform this Sunday
at 9 and 10:45 a.m. at New Hope Com-
munity Church in Hermiston and 6 p.m.
at Hermiston High School. The choir
will appear Feb. 11 in Pendleton at 7
p.m. at the Living Word Christian Cen-
ter, and twice on Feb. 15, in Ione (10
a.m. at the Ione Community School)
and 6 p.m. in Heppner (St. Patrick’s
Catholic Church Fellowship Hall).
———
Contact Kathy Aney at kaney@eas-
toregonian.com or call 541-966-0810.
1C