Children Singing for Children : Hunger: A Ugandan choir presents a high-energy concert to raise funds for victimized young Africans.

Fred Otukuru makes a rather unusual missionary. For starters, he’s only 9 years old. He’d love to hang out day and night at a Chuck E. Cheese pizza joint. And though he ministers to Americans, he speaks English only haltingly.

But when it comes to delivering religion--and hope, and faith, and cheer--Fred is an old pro.

A member of the African Children’s Choir, Fred proved his flair for missionary work in a supercharged concert at a Thousand Oaks church Wednesday night. Along with two dozen other impoverished or orphaned students from war-wracked Uganda, Fred exploded into song and dance to raise money for victimized children elsewhere in Africa.

“So many times we see on TV or hear on the radio that a huge number of children are starving to death in East Africa, and the problem seems so overwhelming,” choir director Gordon Tonn said during a fund-raising intermission. “These children are here to show you that you can make a difference.”

The high-energy concert drew more than 500 people to Emmanuel Presbyterian Church. Backed up by a booming sound system and a driving drum beat, the choir belted out African and American religious tunes--and threw in a few secular favorites as well.

Most of the children had suffered horrors in Uganda.

Many had lost parents to the ethnic violence that has shredded their homeland during recent years. Others had endured gripping famines.

Terrorizing the nation from 1971 to 1979, dictator Idi Amin persecuted Christians with special vigor. The regime that followed his was equally brutal. For years, the children endured hunger, war, isolation, fear. But through it all, they kept their faith.

And at the Thousand Oaks concert, they set aside their nightmares to focus on their dreams.

“It’s fantastic to see that, even though they’re orphans, they have so much hope,” said Holly Emerson, who towed her two children to the concert.

Founded a decade ago by the nonprofit Christian charity Friends in the West, the African Children’s Choir tours the United States each year, showcasing the talent of several dozen children ages 5 through 12.

After stops in Washington and Oregon, the choir arrived in Thousand Oaks this week. They will sing in Disneyland on Dec. 19, and then swing through Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada.

While the children receive several hours of schooling each day, their main focus remains the performances--up to 250 during the yearlong tour.

“We’re singing to raise money for the other children, so they can have clothes, go to school and have a house to live in,” explained 11-year-old Charity Nyamungu, who hopes to one day be an airline stewardess.

The choir’s hearty, heartfelt performances tend to fill collection plates everywhere. Bolstered by donated clothes, food, shelter and even medical care, the choir tour costs very little to stage. So more than 80% of the money collected during concerts goes directly to Africa, according to tour leader Debbie Tonn.

Last year, the African Children’s Choir raised enough money to support 3,500 orphaned children in Sudan. This year, the group will dedicate its profits to building orphanages and schools in the devastated nation of Rwanda.

“We want to show people that these kids are worth saving,” Debbie Tonn said.

Even as they teach Americans about far-off Africa, the Ugandan children delight in learning about the United States.

Bopping from host family to host family, the children are grateful when they are served traditional Ugandan foods like chicken, rice, yams and mangoes. But they are equally thrilled when presented with exotic treats like pizza or spaghetti.

Tour leaders forbid the children to drink soda, watch television or play video games, since they will not be able to experience such luxuries when they return to Uganda. Still, the kids have tasted other all-American activities--and most have become fanatics about swimming, roller skating and Sea World.

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They have also picked up some cultural savvy: “I think all the people in America want to go to Disneyland,” Fred said, grinning broadly at the thought of his planned visit to the enchanted theme park.

Despite the allure of American life, several members of the choir said they will be glad to return home next summer.

Back in Uganda, they will live and study in a Friends in the West orphanage. They may also witness--or perhaps even spark--their country’s renewal. Last summer’s reinstatement of a long-suppressed monarchy has raised hopes that Uganda may soon overcome its history of corruption and violence.

“It’s so encouraging to imagine their futures,” said Debbie Tonn.