Raisin' Hale: South Africa Days 3-5

We have internet access again, so I’m going to try to recap days 3-5 in South Africa. Monday morning, we woke up early and met at Ithemba to leave for teens camp. The leaders had a devotional time and then we headed out on the bus to fetch the kids from Sweetwaters. We were told that camp starts as soon as we get on the bus, so we were to sit in our groups. I met my girls. They were very reluctant to speak English to me. One little one even told me she didn’t speak English which I later found out wasn’t exactly true. So, everyone gets on the bus and it’s just like a big party. Everyone is walking around speaking zulu to one another and dancing to loud music. Occasionally, one person would just start chanting something and everyone on the bus would join in with some counter part to the chant. Our American group was just sitting there not knowing what to do. It was SOOOO loud. There was such a sense of community, it was like all the teens were one big family. Everyone was so excited to go to camp and having a blast on the bus. I’ve done a terrible job of describing it. I wish I would have videoed it, but I think I was a bit overwhelmed and just lost in amazement of the fun. So, I’m just sitting there, when one girl in my group who was sort of talking to me was long gone and so I just stare out the window at the South African landscape, which is both gorgeous and often very poor. A girl comes and sits in front of me and says, “I’ve come to talk to you.” Can I just tell you how thankful I was for this precious girl? It was so nice to have someone to speak with. So I said,"great, how are you?" She asked me where I was from and when I told her America her face lit up and she said, “Oh, do you know Oprah?” I had to tell her sadly I was not friends with Oprah and that where I live is a long way from where she lives. Anyway, we had some great conversation about America. She told me how thankful she was for Ithemba ministry and how they’ve changed the community she lives in. She is 16 and has a 2 yr. old little girl. Everyday she walks to the crèche(daycare/preschool) with her little one on her back and then she walks to school. After school, she walks back to the crèche to get her little girl and then goes home. She said her Gran looks after her and her sisters , but she’s not well, so her two sisters were looking after her daughter so she could go on camp. This girl is a precious soul. She lives a difficult life, but she is so joyful and she wants to be a part of ministry when she’s older. So, we finally got to camp and the fun began immediately. We started with a scavenger hunt with our team. It was a lot of fun, but somehow our team got mixed up with our clues, so we finished next to last, but we finished. After that we went over some camp rules and headed to the beach for more fun and games. We spent about 3 hours out there playing all kinds of team building games. This was one of my favorite times during the whole camp. It was just fun to play with our girls, to work together on games. It helped us to bond and the scenery was gorgeous. We were on the beach right next to the Indian Ocean with waves bigger than I’ve ever seen crashing onto the rocks. It was extremely beautiful. We then had free time to swim, play, water slide, and in the afternoon we played bible games where we would have to look up books in the bible and find out where they were located. It was a really sweet time for me to show the girls how to use their bibles. It was just a special time being in the Word with them. There is such power in God’s word, After dinner we played more games and each night all the campers voted on what leader they wanted to see go down the water slide fully dressed. That was a lot of fun. The kids got SOOOO excited. At night we would have worship. (which was amazing.) Zulu worship is one of the most fun things I’ve ever been a part of in my life. I took some video to share. It was so special. We then watched some dvds about values. After that we would have discussion time about the dvds and prayer time. That pretty much sums up day one of camp. Sorry about the run on sentences. Lots to catch up on.

My group of girls.

I can now say I've walked in the Indian Ocean. It was gorgeous.

Trampolining

Curt's group

Curt was with Mlo. He is a guy who grew up in Sweetwaters and did a year of volunteer work with Ithemba and is now on staff. He is awesome. Hilarious.

Sizwe is on staff with Ithemba. He led the zulu worship. He is an incredible guy. Love him.

Me and Karabo my group leader.

So, here are some thoughts on camp. Ithemba did a great job. It was a wonderful camp. Bex and Sizwe were great camp leaders. They kept us so busy and the games were so fun. The language barrier was a little harder than I thought it would be. It's funny how I want God to get me out of my comfort zone and stretch me, but often I think that that process is still going to feel comfortable. Being stretched doesn't always feel good, but I'm thankful that God is faithful, His grace is sufficient, and He teaches me during those times. I was with a zulu leader Karabo, who was awesome. It was just hard sometimes during share time b/c our group was the youngest group of girls and they were very hesitant to share. When they did share, I would have to ask Karabo to translate. I just felt like it was hard for me to bond with them, but then I realized this camp is not about me. I quickly got over myself and just prayed that God would reveal Himself to them during camp. I also decided day two I was going to be intentional about hugging them. (for those who know me it's kind of a big deal b/c I'm not a hugger). This made a huge difference in our connecting. One of my girls shared during one of the prayer times that the local sangoma (healer) was putting a lot of pressure on her. I'm not exactly sure what pressure, but I think he was telling her she needed to bring him things or make sacrifices or she'd die or something. Whatever he said, she was extremely fearful. Karabo and I prayed over her and I wrote down many scriptures that she could look up when she's fearful. I prayed that God would protect her from this man. I also prayed that God would blind his eyes when she's around so he wouldn't even see her so he couldn't harass her. God is able. It was really special time and I loved being around all the teens, some of whom come from very difficult situations. One of the girls in my group didn't have a mom and didn't live with her dad. Her grandmother looks after her. I'm so thankful we were able to be apart of this camp and I'm so thankful for the difference Ithemba is making in the community of Sweetwaters.