Monday - Friday, September 22nd - 26th , 2008
Wow, I wish I could summarize all the cool things that happened during the after school program. I’ll do my best, and then try to give a few quick stories as well...
The after school program we did was for 11-14 year olds who’s families were signed up with ARTSA. We had 26 kids every day, a few ARTSA staff, and 12 of us from the States. The kids participated in the feeding program and then stayed for the after school program. Before arriving in South Africa we were told that we’d have the kids for approximately 2 hours every day, and were given one topic per day that we could share with them via whatever method we chose. Eventually we broke into teams, so whenever you see a kid with a green bandana, that’s one of the kids that Nate and I worked with the most. Side note- one day we kept the kids 1/2 hour too long and the gogo’s complained because the kids needed to be home by 4:30 to wash their clothes as each of them only had one uniform to wear to school every day.
Throughout the week we did a lot of different things- name games to try to teach ourselves how to say everyone’s name, the game telephone, singing American and South African songs, acting out skits to illustrate creation and parables from the gospels. It was such a privilege to work with these kids.
The first day we game them each their own handmade journal (paper between two pieces of card stock with a comb binder). We didn’t realize what a gift this would be for each of them. We said they could each take three crayons to draw a picture of their favorite thing. One girl drew cutouts of clothing, they way a clothing designer would draw an initial sketch- how amazing that one of our team members is a clothing designer herself- it was an immediate connection! The second day they were able to decorate the cover with stickers, animal shapes, etc. I know you might be getting board of reading at this point and thinking, why is this worth writing about? I guess the thing that struck my heart was that these were 11-14 year olds who were so innocently excited about drawing with three crayons, decorating with stickers, and simply having something to call their own. While we think we have so little in life to delight in, these kids new the joy in delighting in the simple things. This is a lesson I hope to carry with me for years to come.
The third day, Wednesday, the kids had a national holiday, which meant no school! We were able to spend the entire day with them, and ARTSA had arranged a field trip to a local lion park/zoo. Check out that blog entry for details.
Thursday was a super special day. After spending several days with the kids in Freedom Park, we had found that they all knew of God and sang songs of His goodness (and how these kids could sing), but they had no knowledge of a personal relationship with Him and what He did to allow for that relationship. On that day we were able to talk with each of the kids individually about their lives, how death has affected them, and how we can all have new life in Jesus. At the end, we led them in prayer and asked if anyone wanted to accept Jesus into their heart. Without peaking an eye, many of the kids raised their hands and committed their lives to the Lord. Some kids had giant smiles on their faces when they did it, and some had the most serious of faces as they realized the weight of the decision they were making.
The last day, Friday, we were able to give a Bible to each of the kids and share our favorite verses with them. You could feel the Spirit moving in the tent that day- the kids were so hungry for the Word. It was interesting that they could read English pretty well, but needed help understanding what the words meant. We were able show them how to find verses, and how to take a verse word by word and figure out what it was talking about. This is a great picture of Sanele ( from our green team) receiving his Bible.
Pray for these kids! They are the first generation that has grown up without Apartheid in place and have the opportunity to grow themselves outside of Freedom Park. They all have big dreams, dreams of being doctors, teachers, clothing designers and many other things. With the Lord’s hand directing their steps I believe they can bring a new reality to South Africa.
