MURRAY — Murray High students received a rare treat this week — a special performance by the Mesgana dancers.
The Mesgana Dancers are a group of Ethiopian girls ages 7-12 who are students in the Children of Ethiopia Education Fund. The Murray-based COEEF is an international NGO/nonprofit that sponsors more than 700 girls in private schools throughout Ethiopia. Without the sponsorships, many of the girls would drop out of school and end up married at a young age, said Norm Perdue, who founded COEEF with his wife, Ruthann.
The dancers have spent the past two weeks performing around the United States, in cities such as Washington, D.C., San Jose, San Diego, Los Angeles and Oakland, Calif. They are Utah this month for a series of performances in Salt Lake City, Provo and Logan.
The Mesgana Dancers Tour is designed to not only allow the girls to experience the United States but also to help bring awareness of COEEF and how many are still in need of it.
"We have more girls who need sponsorships," Perdue said. "With people, it kind of touches their hearts when they see the kids. They can see pictures on the Internet, but (it's different) when they see the kids in person. This is the first time we've had a group of kids come from Ethiopia. It's something we've never done before."
The girls presented a shorter version of their program at Murray High School, in light of time constraints. They performed three dances instead of their traditional seven: a harvest dance, one from the Gurage region and the third from the Oromiya region. They concluded with a song of world peace called "Selam, Selam."
Melat Goitom, 11, one of the Mesgana dancers, said she enjoyed visiting Disneyland, especially seeing Mickey Mouse and riding Splash Mountain. She felt grateful to be part of the tour.
"Dancing is something for me to be happy," she said. "I'm very happy. I need to thank many people in Utah (and) in the U.S."
Perdue said having a dance group is something he and his wife have been thinking about for a couple of years. The idea finally came to fruition when they held auditions in April at five different Ethiopian schools, and the girls started training in June.
The star of the show, Perdue says, is the Sofia Kedir, 7, the youngest member of the team, who wows the crowd with her talent and charm. She's tiny for her age and looks more like she's 4, but he has been impressed with her efforts, he said.
Murray High was the only high school in the state where the dancers performed. This is because as a Murray resident, Perdue wanted to bring the project he and Ruthann started close to home and because his connection to the high school runs deep as all three of his daughters attended it.
"Most people can't go to Ethiopia because it's too expensive," he said. "To bring (the dancers) here was really interesting. It's generated interest in sponsoring more kids."
Education fund
For information about the Children of Ethiopian Education Fund, visit www.coeef.org, call 801-264-0099 or write to 5557 S. Fairhaven Circle, Murray, Utah, 84123.
E-mail: twalquist@desnews.com