(Luna) This morning a small group of us visited a church in Lusaka called Tabernacle of Power and Praise Ministries International, or TOP. The music when we first came made the service feel more like a party than a church. Everyone was singing and dancing along to the live band. What surprised me most was the energy in the room. I sing in the National Cathedral Choir, so despite not being Christian, I have an abundance of church experience from singing up to four church services a week during the school year. While the National Cathedral is a very specific type of Christian worship in the US, I can personally say I am sometimes struggling to keep my eyes open during early morning Sunday masses. This music made me want to dance and sing along but unfortunately because we got there a little late, it only lasted a short amount of time.
After the music ended the service took an unexpected turn. A group of children put on a play on the stage that depicted Jesus beating a man who represented the devil. I have always been told that Jesus is all about God’s love on earth, and this depiction of him surprised me. The congregation and the children performing were clearly having a blast, distracting from the violent message of the play. I also noticed a banner above the stage-like platform at the front that said “where champions gather in praise and worship.” I had never heard the word champions used to describe a congregation, as if they had won something or were somehow superior to non-members. The experience for me was intriguing. I feel as if I don’t have a large enough scope of either Zambian or American churches to come to a conclusion about the differences between the countries as a whole, but the experience made me curious to explore more Christian churches in different countries.
(Romeo) Today, I got to sleep in while most of the group went to church. Even though I missed out on a great experience, I’m glad I got to finally fix my new sleeping schedule. After everyone got back we headed to Daughter’s Vision. Our purpose today was to paint several walls of the school and have discussions about healthy relationships and sex with the boys and girls. Before that we had a talk with the owner, Ms. Gladys. She told us what she wanted us to talk to the children about. She is very firm on teaching the kids to abstain from sex to prevent teen pregnancy and STD’s.
I thought this was very ineffective because teens ARE having sex, so instead of telling them not to have sex all together, I think we should teach them ways to protect themselves. This way we are addressing the problem at hand, and not completly ignoring it. I agree with Ms. Gladys on one thing though. I do believe kids should focus more on education and their careers, but if we don’t support them in the way that’s most effective, that won’t happen. After that quick discussion, we split into two groups (boys and girls). The boys we talked with were a part of a soccer team that Gladys knows. We talked about sex and ways to identify a healthy relationship. Even though there was a little language barrier, Japhet, the Program Officer for Africa Directions, helped with that.
The conversation took an unexpected turn to drug abuse. We briefly talked about ways to avoid drugs by keeping yourself occupied and knowing how drugs affect your body. After that we played games, where I quickly became competitive. The first game was called Master, Captain, Mate- I don’t know the actually name so I came up with this. There was three people that were the master, captain, or mate. Then there were people number 1 through however many people were in the game. You would call your own assigned number — or master, captain, mate — then call someone else’s name. You were supposed to do this without hesitation. Whoever hesitated had to squat in the middle of the circle. Once someone lost everyone would do something called a “Kilo”. A “Kilo” is where you would clap three times and do some kind of action. This simple game got really competitive for me. Me and someone from the soccer team won. We even took a picture at the end.
Another game we played was called 1,2,3. In this game one person would say one, the next person would say two, and then the third person would clap. As the game would progress the second person would snap and then the third person would clap. Even though I lost, I was still glad I got to play. These activities really required you to focus and provided a sense of community where I hadn’t expected it. I also believe through these games, we gained trust from the Zambian teens. They trusted us because we were becoming friends. Every time we would leave, a bunch of kids would gather around Daughter’s Vision. I enjoyed giving them high-fives and picking them up. They were always happy to see us, which warmed my heart. Even though today was more of a low-key day, I loved talking to the soccer team at Daughter’s Vision and playing games with them. It was beautiful day.
Luna S., National Cathedral School and Romeo P., College of Wooster