Africa Blog
Google in Sub-Saharan Africa: news, stories and thoughts
Pray #WithMe: Connect online with your faith community
Friday, April 10, 2020
This week, millions of people across the globe will celebrate Passover and Easter. And in the coming weeks, millions will begin to observe Ramadan. This year, these important religious holidays will feel very different, as faith organizations all over the world look for new ways to celebrate safely in order to reduce the spread of COVID-19 within their communities.
During these difficult times, it’s important for us to continue to connect with each other and feel part of our wider communities, even from home.
While some faith organizations have used digital tools to connect with their congregations for many years, this year’s broadly mandated orders to stay home will make it essential for churches, synagogues, mosques, families and individuals to find new ways of coming together, online.
The shift has already begun - since the start of March, the combined subscribers of all
Vatican News
channels has more than doubled.
To assist faith organizations everywhere who are new to online services, YouTube has brought together helpful information to get started with live streaming. Please visit our
Playlist
and
Help Center
for best practices, or check out instructions for hosting a live stream event either from a
mobile device
or
desktop
.
African artists are also joining this special weekend of music and celebration. We invite you to join top African artists like
Jethro Tait
,
Joeboy
,
King Perry
, and
Nasty C
as they make music and chat with fans. As it is Easter weekend, gospel music lovers can join special performances hosted by top African gospel artists such as
Benjamin Dube
,
Folabi Nuel
,
Glowreeyah
,
Mnqobi Nxumalo
,
Mthunzi Namba
and
Nosa
, . Please visit
goo.gle/stayhomewithme
for the complete schedule and YouTube livestream links.
We also invite you to celebrate with a special Saturday Night Seder, premiering exclusively on YouTube via
Tasty
and
SaturdayNightSeder
on Saturday, April 11th at 12am GMT. This Passover-themed variety show will raise funds for the
CDC Foundation
, and includes comedy sketches, heartfelt moments and music, with an impressive list of participants including Jason Alexander, Ben Platt, Idina Menzel, Dan Levy, Henry Winkler, Tan France and Senator Chuck Schumer, among many others.
For those celebrating Good Friday and Easter, many churches are hosting live streams for their local congregations, so please check in with your church.
The Vatican
will live stream all of its Holy Week services from St. Peter’s Basilica, including Easter Sunday mass at 9AM GMT
Renowned opera singer
Andrea Bocelli
will perform live at 5PM GMT on Sunday, April 12 from Milan’s historic Duomo Cathedral, available exclusively on YouTube. The concert entitled, “Music For Hope,” will represent a message of love, healing and hope to Italy and the world. The Duomo, currently closed, will open its doors exceptionally for Andrea Bocelli who will be accompanied only by the cathedral organist, Emanuele Vianelli, playing one of world’s largest pipe organs. The “Music For Hope” trailer can be seen
here
.
We’ll have more to share in the next few weeks about upcoming Ramadan celebrations.
We wish safe and healthy holidays for faith communities across the world.
-- The YouTube Team
====
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