The African Children’s Choir has wowed audiences across the world and joined their voices in recordings with artists like Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox, Keith Urban and Mariah Carey. In March, a troupe of these schoolchildren from Uganda will perform at Harvest Church in Washington.

The public is invited to the free concert on March 8 at 6:30 p.m.

The Washington appearance marks one of the choir’s first concerts of a 10-month-long North American tour that will take them from North Carolina through the northeast and across Canada. Harvest Church Music Minister Treva Tankard said she was thrilled when she was asked if the church would like to host the group.

“Everybody’s excited about it,” Tankard said. “We don’t always get things like that, especially around this area.”

The children and their chaperones will be staying in town for three days and several Harvest Church families will be hosting the group in their homes. The 18-member choir, consisting of nine boys and nine girls, will use church classrooms for schoolwork while in Washington — schoolwork being a priority for the choir and its parent organization.

The choir is sponsored by Music for Life; the children selected at the recommendation of local social workers or pastors who identify families in need. They come from seven African countries: Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa. In exchange for a 10-month tour, on their return to Africa, each child’s education is provided through university, according to Sarah Lidstone, the North American choir operations manager.

“When they return home, they go to the (Music for Life) boarding school, then are supported through college and university. This tour is a way of fundraising for their education,” Lidstone said.

While on tour, the children take camp breaks for a week at a time, resting and doing schoolwork until the next venue and concert.

“The concert is a lively and energetic performance. The children sing and dance throughout the entire performance,” Lidstone said.

Lidstone said the choir, dressed in beautiful African costumes, will be joined by drummers for a program of traditional African songs, as well as English spirituals.

In a special appearance, local schoolchildren will join the African Children’s Choir onstage for a song toward the end of the 90-minute concert. Tankard said that to prep for the performance, music directors at Beaufort County schools received music files, lyrics and a pronunciation guide.

The choir draws a big crowd, Tankard said, so in addition to Harvest Church’s 525-seat sanctuary, there will be other rooms in the church hooked up for sound and video.

“It’s a highly entertaining evening that is very hopeful,” Lidstone said, adding that the concert is for people of all ages. “The whole family could go and have the opportunity to be in touch with another part of the world without having to travel out of their neighborhood.”

There will be a free-will offering taken up at the concert.