Friday, November 16, 2012

Sing With Great Joy





Silvia, a Romany believer, began working with the children in her village. Because Silvia is also a singer, she organized the children into a choir. Part of the pastor's strategy for Romany work is to focus on children, "the future." After the children's choir had practiced enough, he arranged for them to sing at a near-by non-Gypsy church. The idea was to build the children's confidence, to maintain their interest in the choir, and to break down walls of prejudice by having gadje (non-Gypsies) see Romany playing a positive role. It proved to be an all-round success. A few weeks later, the choir director at the gadje church was urging those children to sing like the Romany, "with a big heart and great joy."