Children from all over the world have come together this week for the In Harmony fifth annual International Children's Music Festival. Choirs from Japan, Kenya and Salt Lake City gathered for the 63rd anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

Takashi Hiraoka, who served as mayor of Hiroshima from 1991-1999, spoke to a packed auditorium in the Salt Lake City Library before the choirs sang. He addressed the crowd in Japanese, reading a speech that was translated into English by a Japanese teacher from Murray High School, and also projected for the audience to read. He spoke about the devastating affects the bomb is still having on his community and advocated peace and a future free of nuclear weapons.

All of the participants in the evening were given a tiny paper Origami peace crane as a gift for participating in the evening.

Yvonne Craig from Scotland said the children from Kenya are having "the times of their lives." Craig's mother, Maureen McIntyre, started the Samson Chivatsi African Children's Appeal charity in 1998, which has helped build two schools and an orphanage in Kenya. The schools started a choir three years ago, and they have been on tour to the United Kingdom in 2006 and 2007.

This is the first year the choir has come to the United States, and all of the children said they were excited to be in the program. All proceeds from program sales and sales of souvenirs from Kenya go to benefit the schools and orphanage there, Craig said. She said the charity is run completely by volunteers in the UK so that all of the money raised goes to help the children.

The choir was asked to sing in the United States by one of the In Harmony directors that heard them rehearse during a tour in the UK.

"Little miracles have happened all along the way," Craig said. With the political unrest and violence in Kenya during December, along with finances and visas, Craig said she wasn't sure how they were going to get the choir here.

"We managed to get here," she said with a smile.

The choir has been treated like royalty, she said. Host families in the Salt Lake area have offered to have the Kenyan children stay with them during their tour, which goes until the end of August.

"The people in Utah have been so loving," Craig said. "Everyone who meets the children is touched by their spirits. The children are so genuine."

Angela Mitchell has two boys from Kenya staying with her family.

"We love them," she said. "They are such fun, warm kids."

Mitchell said her five boys have loved playing with the boys from Kenya.

"They're so easy to talk to," she said. "We wish they could stay longer." Mitchell and her family have been able to attend most of the performances that the choir has done.

"They're amazing performers," she said. "You can't help but smile when you watch them."

The choir will stay and perform in Utah even after the In Harmony Festival ends this weekend. The choir's performances are mostly free, but they welcome donations to help with their schools and the orphanage. The success they've had on past tours has helped build many of their buildings.

Craig said it's been a wonderful experience, and the charity hopes to continue to raise awareness of the poverty in Africa and how people can help.

"If we all do a little, a lot gets achieved," she said.

Copyright Brigham Young University 8 Aug 2008