Francis Lubuulwa found hope shortly after losing his parents in Uganda, a place where the crippling AIDS pandemic is rampant.

Lubuulwa is part of “Children of Uganda,” a critically acclaimed performance group of 22 Ugandan orphans, who are between 5 and 19 years old. The orphans share a piece of their culture through song and dance while raising public awareness of AIDS in their country on the “Tour of Life,” the group’s 10th anniversary tour.

Alexis Hefley, founder of the Ugandan Children’s Charity Foundation and the “Tour of Light,” found inspiration at an orphanage where a nun taught the children to sing and dance while living in Uganda in 1993.

“She wasn’t your normal nun. She was more like a Whoopi Goldberg, and that was a source of income for the orphanage. People would have the children out for weddings, graduations and parties to come and do ethnic dances,” Hefley said.

The “Children of Uganda” began in 1996 as a source of income for the orphanages the children came from. Since then, the tour has gathered critical support, with many of the shows being sold out.

“[Audiences] love the ‘Children of Uganda,'” she said. “It’s a message of ‘Wow! I can make a difference in somebody’s life.’ They’re inspired afterwards.”

Peter Kasule, artistic director and choreographer of the show, said one of the difficulties of putting the show together was choosing which parts of Uganda culture to represent in the show. He said Uganda is a place with many different ethnic groups and languages.

“I wanted to represent Uganda’s culture,” Kasule said. “So the show will cover seven regions from Uganda, and also music from the Republic of Congo, the Republic of Rwanda and Tanzania.”

Kasule said he enjoyed writing the choreography with his assistant.

The show begins with the story of a king who never cried. When he died, the elders of the palace searched the kingdom and found a woman pregnant with his child. When the baby was born he was not allowed to cry, so they had to sing, dance and make faces to prevent tears.

Another arduous task was choosing the performers, Kasule said.

The auditions begin with a group of 60 people, however only 22 children are chosen for the tour.

“The children are chosen according to how well they perform academically, how well they associate with others, how well they perform on stage and how well they’ll be able to comprehend their schoolwork when they go back,” Kasule said.

Peter Mugga, “Children of Uganda” performer, has toured with the group a few times before. He is 19 years old and one of the oldest performers.

Mugga said his hopes for the show are to present the beauty of Africa and to help raise people’s awareness of the crisis in Uganda.

“Uganda has been effected terribly by the pandemic of AIDS,” Mugga said. “People are always told before the show what has happened in Uganda, and what we are doing to overcome. After the shows, people can really see that we are fighting the problem.”

Mugga plans to attend a university in the future to study music. He said he plans on being a part of something most people in his country aren’t usually able to do.

“I want to benefit my country and do something,” Mugga said.

“Many people in Uganda have talent. They have good voices. People can compose good music and they like to listen, too. What happens is, most people don’t have money to go to studios and record their music.”

Lubuulwa, also one of the show’s oldest performers, is 18 years old and went on his first tour in 2002. He said he was always interested in music as a child and enjoys sharing his love of music with others.

He said he hopes the audience walks away from the performance with a feeling of optimism.

“The children of Uganda have so many experiences and difficulties they are going through, like losing their parents,” Mugga said.

“They are going through this without food. People should learn in the midst of all of these problems, life continues, and they should know there is hope for tomorrow.”

Kasule said he has high expectations for the show.

“They should see the beauty of Africa, the journeys of Africa and the tragedies the children are coming from,” Kasule said.

“But realize in spite of all the sadness, madness and the craziness that is running the country, there can still be hope and the joy within.”

“Africa is a happy place. We are not really here to share our souls, but increase awareness of AIDS and share African culture.”