We are Marching in the Light of God (Siyahamba)

I was making dinner tonight and I started to sing this song.  I remember my mom listening to it on a tape (yeah a TAPE!).  My father had spent some of his life growing up in South Africa and my aunt (my mothers sister-in-law) introduced her to a group that was traveling around the united states and then thus introduced the song to churches here in the U.S.

My family is not overly religious but we have a strong faith.  My religion was something that was challenging to write about as it is one of the questions on the home study.  I don't believe in a God per say but I do believe that there is a common language of love that ties us all together.  This song is so joyful while it also reminds me of the struggle of the South African people and apartheid which my father would tell us stories about growing up.  How can people write/sing such a joyous song when people like Nelson Mandela were jailed and you had to carry papers to show your ethnicity in your own country?  It makes me wonder were they really joyous or was their only option to sing joyously in order to keep from crying?

Day six of this "project" has made me realize what a connection mood and music have.  It also makes me realize how often music was a part of our day to day growing up.  I think in the day to day of my adult life I've allowed music to slip away.  I hope I can regain that incorporation of music into my day to day and to instill this love into my children and I