JUDY VALENTE: At Old St. Patrick's Church in downtown Chicago, a chorus of voices fills the ornate sanctuary. On this particular day, the regular choir is joined by a group of mostly African-The environment they come from is very different from downtown -- vacant lots, abandoned buildings, poverty. And they live here along with their children: It's a shelter for the homeless, the abused, the addicted.
This woman, Marge Nykaza, has brought music into their world. A lifelong singer, Nykaza says the pursuit of pastoral studies changed her life. And with song, she says she wants to put these women on the path to personal healing.
MARGE NYKAZA (Founder, "Harmony, Hope and Healing"): Do you believe this instrument? Incredible! What an instrument! It's an instrument of God.I was naïve in some respects, you know. I hadn't ever been, really, in a shelter. I've done some outreach programs, but it was -- it was new territory.
VALENTE: Now she trains choirs in a variety of shelters around the city. Some of those choirs perform in public, a place these women never thought they would find themselves.
LORI WILLIAMS: Cocaine was my drug of choice.
GAIL TORRES: As I got grown and older, alcohol came into my life.
VALENTE: Lori Williams and Gail Torres are both recovering addicts -- both divorced, both with children.
Ms. NYKAZA (talking to choir): It doesn't make a difference if you can't read the notes. Don't worry about that.
Ms. WILLIAMS: I need time to focus, to get my life back together -- time to be still.
Ms. TORRES: I need this form of structure to help me learn how to live a life without the use of alcohol. And this is what I need to fulfill dreams that I have to be closer to God.VALENTE: Nykaza's project is called "Harmony, Hope and Healing."
Ms. NYKAZA: First it was, "this is going to be a nice little music program." Now it's more than a music program. It's a way of living -- to live in harmony with yourself, and then to be a person of hope. In this world so many people feel so hopeless.
Ms. ELLIS: To be in harmony with myself when there was a time I could never forgive myself for the harm that I've done to my family, to my children, to myself, and to my body. But there's harmony today because I can hold my head up.
Ms. NYKAZA: What do I see? I see God. It's such an awesome experience. You know, there's an energy that happens. The women feel beautiful and know they're beautiful and they're loved. It's awesome. It's an awesome, awesome feeling. And I feel very, very blessed, very blessed to have this opportunity.
