By Michelle Solheiro
I recently had the pleasure of hearing Pastor Romando Carey’s story of how he ended up in pastoral ministry and founded the Ubuntu choir at Burman University, in Lacombe, Alta. I would like to share that story, as well as the effect the choir has had on its members, the vision of Ubuntu, and the ways you can make an impact in your community.
For Romando, it all started when he came to Burman University in 2017. He had always enjoyed music and had a classical upbringing at his all-boys school in Jamaica. His teenage years were full of Negro spirituals and classical music. He went to law school initially. God had called Romando to ministry when he was 15, but it was only later that he had a full-on “Moses moment … Jonah, even,” he remembers. “I got swallowed up in Jamaica and spat up at Burman.”
He started over in Canada. Romando wanted to follow God and tried to be obedient. He had incurred a lot of debt from pursuing his law degree and needed to pay it off. He began fasting and praying every Wednesday for two years, asking God for money. Romando wanted to follow God’s call on his life, but he couldn’t afford to attend Burman University and get his theology degree. So, he told God that He needed to open the doors.
He prayed and reached out to people to see if he could find some financial support. Someone connected him to a marketing representative at Burman University, and they said, “It sounds like you would benefit from a Dare to Dream Scholarship, which is a full-tuition scholarship. We don’t have one available at this time, but you are a suitable candidate.”
This lit a spark of hope in Romando’s heart, so he kept praying. During that time, he also read a devotional book by E.G. White called Prayer. It talked about making specific prayer requests so that when God does respond, there is no doubt that it is the answer to your prayer. He quickly started to pray for a full-tuition scholarship to Burman University and said, “God, if it’s Your will for me to be a pastor, it’s going to have to be Your bill as well.”
Close to the end of those two years of praying and fasting, he received an email from the Burman music department saying, “We don’t really have the funds for the scholarship at this time, but you can potentially get one if someone fails and loses theirs.” He immediately told God that he wasn’t going to be praying and fasting for somebody to fail. Is that what God was asking him to do? He felt that God did not need to take from other people to provide for him, and that God knows how to get His resources. So he just kept on praying.
A month later, he got an email from the president of Burman University asking if he would accept a Dare to Dream Scholarship. Romando was ecstatic— this was the answer to the prayer he had for two years. He finished his theology degree in the four years allotted to him.
During his time at Burman, Romando felt so inspired by the way God had met his needs that he wanted to give back and invest in other people, similarly to how God had provided for him. He pledged to create praise teams and start a choir with the gifts God had given him. He also pledged to create more opportunities for others to express themselves in the ways they are most gifted.
He noticed a particular lack on the Burman University campus and felt that something could be done about it. Romando’s parents had often told him that you shouldn’t wait around for other people to do things for you if you can do them for yourself. It is important not to complain about what isn’t present but rather to create it. And if you don’t feel welcome at a table, build your own.
When he noticed an opportunity for a choir that celebrated African music and let African students sing in their heart language and worship God in ways that were more natural for them, he decided to create it. He focused on music that was within the realm of Negro spirituals and gospels, or that came from Black arrangers and composers. Burman University had so much talent, and the school needed some diversity. He saw that space to fill and wanted people to have a bit of home on campus.
Romando asked God what he should call this choir and received the name Ubuntu. Although he had been enjoying singing since he was a toddler, he had never conducted a choir and had no musical education or ability to read music. He didn’t know where to begin but kept on praying, as was his custom. God guided him to pick some songs that he enjoyed, find some people who would be interested in this sort of group—which ended up being 25 individuals—and just give it a shot. Their first songs were “Lift Every Voice and Sing” and “Beulah Land.”
Now the Ubuntu choir has 38 people. It became an official university choir three years ago, after lots of lobbying and proposal writing to create more equality, diversity, and inclusion on the Burman University campus.
Ubuntu is a Zulu word from the Bantu languages and means “I am because we are.” It is not a direct translation but the idea that our humanity is inextricably wound up in others. “I am human because you are human. I am a person because you are a person. I experience personhood from other people. I am changed and impacted and moulded by human experience, and every interaction is a sacred experience where we are made into the people that we are. I am a collective of humanity being impacted and am not an individual on my own.”
Romando has witnessed the students in the choir take more pride in themselves. Ubuntu emphasizes the pursuit of excellence and community. Members aim for excellence in all spheres of life— in music, academics, their interests, and especially their spiritual lives. They have grown in their relationship with God and in how they show up in their community. They are some of the busiest students on campus, yet they are among the most productive. They are truly the heart of the culture on campus, participating in activities like campus ministry, student government, and cultural clubs.
In their time together, they have honed their skills and have a lot of pride in who they are and what they bring to the table. Most importantly, they empower other people to feel the same way. They have also become more sensitive in their musicianship. When they come together, they are intentionally merging the best of both worlds to create something new—a combination of classical musical, gospel, and African ideals.
Romando encourages people to start with prayer as they endeavour to make an impact in their own communities. “We are put on this planet to serve and God has a purpose for every single one of us,” he says. “Prayer is a great way to start and connect with our Creator and meditate on how we can reflect His image by creating. He can connect us to places where there are needs and where our gifts and talents intersect. Where we find that intersection is usually where we find fulfillment.”
At this year’s annual Black History Month concert at Burman, titled Unsung, Romando handed the reins of the choir to Sean Kapakasa, a founding member and student. Sean will be the new conductor, and his assistant conductor will be Bruce Ruzindana, a legacy member and teacher at Parkview Adventist Academy in Lacombe.
The members of Ubuntu are thrilled for what the future holds. Romando will become the musical director and support the choir behind the scenes. He will also lead clinics with the members as he continues his education at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Mich., getting his masters of divinity degree.
Romando felt it was important for the choir to have longevity—he didn’t want to create something that would be for a season, but rather, something that would last. Illustrating the concept, the heart of Ubuntu’s logo is a tree surrounded by the phrase “I am because we are.” The idea for the tree came about when Romando was looking for a philosophy to guide the way the choir would operate. He wanted to reflect a quote he had come across by Nelson Henderson: “The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.”
Romando wants to see this choir last longer than any of its members and provide a safe haven for students coming from all over Canada and the world. He wants them to feel a sense of belonging and enjoy a community that inspires the pursuit of excellence in all things. Ubuntu aims to remain a beacon for these ideals at Burman University.
Romando acknowledges that this choir stands on the shoulders of many people. A lot of individuals may see him and immediately see Ubuntu, but before Romando came to Burman University there were others who saw the need for this choir. They had tried to create it but were unsuccessful. Ubuntu wouldn’t have got to where it is today if it were not for the members’ efforts. Their desire is to continue to create a campus where new ideas can come to life and more people feel at home, creating equality for all students.
This year, from May 5 to 13, Ubuntu went on its first international mission trip to the Bahamas to celebrate five years of music making and community building. Visit burmanu.ca/ubuntu for more information about how you can support this group.
Source: https://adventistmessenger.ca/features/ubuntu-the-genesis-the-journey-and-the-vision
