Worship and the Riots

If you followed the team's blog while we were in South Africa, you might remember reading about the riots taking place in the township on the second Monday we were there. Well, here's the other part of the story that you didn't read about on the blog.

The Friday before the riots, about 8 members of our team went with the Academy kids to a youth worship night in the local town of Stellenbosch. It was great to be out with the kids in the community and see them interact with other local youth. Overall, it was a great night, and the best part about it was the clarity I received. I was forced to stop working on the team's schedule. I wasn't being asked any questions by anyone. I didn't have to be "on" as a leader. I could simply sit and worship and rest.

God had some words for me that night. Words that I definitely needed to hear. I had been frustrated because it seemed like we kept hitting roadblocks with Vacation Bible School (VBS) during the first week. There weren't a lot of kids coming. There wasn't space for us. Our time was cut short. That night, I heard God say to me, "But you're already doing what I asked you to do. You're living out Mark 10:16. Why are you trying to do anything more?" That hit me hard. I realized that as much as I was trying to be open to what God was going to do at VBS, I was still forcing my agenda and my control onto that situation. The next thing I felt him say was that we weren't going to have VBS on Monday. That was really weird to me. I was trying to process this on the way home that night with one of my friends because it just seemed so strange to me. I questioned where this message was really coming from. Was I really supposed to cancel VBS on Monday?

I shared this with 2 of my co-leaders. We decided to wait and see how things played out on Monday. When Monday came and we were getting everything ready to go, I still had my doubts. It still felt like we weren't supposed to have VBS that day. So, I let the VBS team know that we were just going to play it by ear and see how things go while we're in Sweet Home.

We were about 20 minutes into our hour long drive to the township when Wade, who was driving us in that day, got a phone call from his wife letting us know about the riots. He pulled over into a gas station. (If you're worried about safety at this point, please know we're still out in the suburbs in wine country. This wasn't a sketchy gas station at all). Wade asked to talk to Nate, my co-leader, and I outside of the van. When Wade asked us what we wanted to do, I turned to Nate and just said, "Remember how I said I felt like we weren't supposed to do VBS today?" There was our confirmation about what we were going to do. We waited to hear back from the local leaders about what their recommendation was for us, but I already knew what the answer would be. Don't go into Sweet Home today.

So, we returned to the Academy. It ended up being the best thing. It was the first day of our HIV/AIDS curriculum with the students. That afternoon, the presentation was about the basics of this disease, how it's transmitted, the medication involved with it, and the stigma's attached to it. If we had gone into Sweet Home that day, we would have missed the presentation for that day.



The finale of the team's skit illustrating how HIV can be transmitted.

 During our time with our devotion's group that night, Rachel and I had a list of questions that we asked the girls about the curriculum from that afternoon. The answers they gave us spurred on deeper and more important questions about the disease. We really got to see how much they knew and how much they still didn't know. The girls also educated us about what the medication is like for people living with HIV. It was interesting to hear them talk about it, and the way they view people who have HIV versus TB in the township. Overall, they were supportive of people who are HIV positive, and they thought that people who had TB were worse off. They described for us what it was like to watch someone live with TB especially when they were close to dying from it. Wow. For me, those two diseases are so far removed from my world. To hear the girls talk about them like they were as common to them as the flu might be to us was fascinating. When Rachel and I left the girls' room that night, we both shared how thankful we were that we had been at the presentation that afternoon. Otherwise, we wouldn't have been able to answer a lot of the questions they had or been able to provide clarification about some of the things we discussed.

Thus, I'm thankful that the riots prevented us from going into Sweet Home that day. I'm thankful that I was one of the team members who went to the worship night, so I'd have the comfort and peace needed to make the decision not to go into Sweet Home that Monday. I recognize that each of those were steps leading up to that discussion with the girls that night. It was all part of a bigger plan that I couldn't see at the time, but now, fully acknowledge as a blessing from God.


My devotion's group (From top left): Rachel, Thandie, Mimitha, Sive, me, Asanda, Vuyiseka, and Zanele