Bryan Yi (left) and Erica Kim (right) performed at the recent Huruma Benefit Concert which took place at UC Irvine.
On April 12, Beloved International, a ministry dedicated to the work of fighting against the orphan crisis in Africa, held a benefit concert at the University of California, Irvine titled, "Huruma," the Swahili word for compassion.
According to Beloved International, most recent statistics show that almost 5,760 children become orphans each day, and that there are more than 2.1 million children that are orphaned in Africa each year. 5.7 million were orphaned in the year of 2010 alone. The ministry holds events such as Huruma to raise funds and awareness regarding this issue, so that even more individuals can be equipped to take action and help alleviate the international crisis.
There was a total of six performances: Bryan Yi/Erica Kim, Mary Dao, Tim Ketenjian, Caleb Yu, Ariana Fong/Esther Chu/Abigail Young, and Orange Garage. Some of the performers were UC Irvine students who have been challenged by the motivations of the ministry to fight against the crisis. Others were graduates and had been asked by the ministry to perform for the night. Such was the case for Tim Ketenjian who was the winner of the first Soulstice, which is a talent show at UC Irvine, and Orange Garage, a band of postgraduates.
The first half of the event consisted of performances by Bryan Yi/Erica Kim, Mary Dao, and Tim Ketenjian. Between the performances, the Development Manager of Beloved International, Benjamin Du, came up to speak about the orphan crisis and why the students might want to participate in the works that Beloved International does.
"Beloved International is personal and relational. If you want to help us out, you won't need to be going through some organized structure but you will probably sit in with us and grab coffee," Benjamin Du said.
"Our ministry plans to bring the orphans the hope of spiritual adoption into God's family through the gift of physical adoption into a Christian home," Benjamin continued in explaining the mission statement of the organization.
There was an intermission between the event for snacks, a quick restroom break, and a chance to sign up for the prayer jar through which Beloved International would send prayer requests to those who are interested. During the intermission, Aaron Yee, a UC Irvine student, told Christianity Daily, "I knew talented performers were going to come, and I am definitely satisfied! When they were talking about what was going on in Kenya, I felt guilty of brushing off the issue. I was convicted that I should be more engaged with what is happening around in Africa."
For the second half of the event, Caleb Yu, Ariana Fong/Esther Chu/Abigail Young, and Orange Garage kept the audience entertained while constantly reminding the audience the purpose of this concert.
One of the directors of Beloved International, Mitchell Kim, came up to the stage to explain why there is suffering in the world and what the body of Christ can do to help. "Why does God allow suffering in the world? Many of us are here today because Jesus has touched us while we were in pain. God uses pain to draw us to Him; the point of suffering is to bring us to Jesus. There is always a meaning behind all suffering," he said. He later pointed to 2 Corinthians 1:3-7 to explain that suffering is part of life in order that we may draw closer to God.
"God has given us the local church and the global church to comfort and love each other. One of the ways to test the genuineness of faith is to test the extent to which we help the helpless and the needy," Mitchell continued. He read from James 1:27 to explain that the believer has responsibility in helping those who are in need.
"I had no expectation coming to the event, but it was awesome," Michelle Choi, a UC Irvine student who attended the event, said. "The mission statement for the organization was eye-opening. The speakers really got the point across regarding what the ministry does. I put my name in the prayer jar, and I would like to be more involved."
Caleb Yu, who was one of the performers and also a fourth year student at UC Irvine, said, "It is my third time performing for Huruma, and I wholeheartedly believe in what Huruma does - not just physically adopting orphans but sharing the gospel. Every time I come help for the event, I know it is going to be a great experience because I know how God will work through this event."
Alex Yi, the electric guitarist for the band Orange Garage, said, "A lot of my friends are organizers for Beloved International. I share the same heart and I wanted to contribute. I know that the college students organizing this event did an exceptional job, attempting to remind the audience constantly the mission of the organization rather than making it just a music show. It was surprising to see how many people were caring about the crisis!"
About 80 people attended the benefit concert and left the night, more aware of the international crisis of orphans. Also, through the benefit concert, they were able to raise $350 which will all be used to support the families that are physically adopting the orphans in Kenya.
Joo Heon Lee is a volunteer student writer at the University of California, Irvine.
