Chuukese Youth Creates Songbook to Uplift Her Community Through Faith and Music

By Kim Free

Oriann Soichy, a youth participant in the HELM (Higher Education and Leadership Ministries) Youth Leadership Symposium from the Salem Chuukese Fellowship Church of Christ, recently completed a special project for her community. She created a songbook written in Chuukese, the local language spoken in her church and by many Chuukese people around the world.

Oriann worked hard over several months to collect, translate, and organize about 80 songs. Many of these songs are used during worship in her congregation, and some had never been available in their dialect. Her goal was to make sure these songs were accessible and could be shared with others, especially younger generations.

“I wanted to make something that would help people stay connected to their faith and culture.”

~Oriann Soichy

Through the Youth Leadership Symposium, Oriann gained the support and tools she needed to bring her vision to life. She hopes the songbook, in print and digital form, will encourage worship, bring hope, and support the spiritual growth of Chuukese communities everywhere.

During the project, an exciting new opportunity came up. To help make the songbook even more accessible, Oriann and her supporters began exploring the idea of creating a mobile app. This idea led to a partnership with Alexandre Sitole, a member of the United Church of Christ in Mozambique, one of our Global Ministries partners. Alexandre works with an organization called Equip Moz and offered to help develop a digital hymnal app. Now, Oriann’s project is not only helping her church—it’s also connecting people from around the world. What started as a local project has become a global collaboration.

About the author: Kim Free is a former Global Ministries mission co-worker to Mozambique and currently serves as a Regional Elder for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Oregon & SW Idaho.