Africa Jam Camp

Well here we are on day 3 of Africa Jam camp and it has been going great! A lot of positive energy from the campers and staff has made being tired in the morning well worth it. We have teens here from a number of townships, and by the end of day 1 everyone has already started making new friends. All of us staff have divided up into different tasks varying from life guarding, counseling, fun squad, clean up crew, patrol, etc. I started camp as a life guard but was quickly recruited as a member of the fun squad for the week. Our job is to lead the campers in activities throughout the day and make sure energy levels stay high and everyone is getting involved.

The first day we welcomed the campers as they got off the buses and got them all checked in. Later on we had to divide the campers into teams that they will be on the rest of the week. We led them in a bunch of games and dancing after they had all arrived. At night we had evening worship followed by small group devotions and then snack. The first night the fun squad put on a show similar to Comedy Sportz (improv entertainment) and the campers took really well to it. By the end of the night we were all ready for bed.

Day two we started with breakfast and I say with a group of girls around the ages of 13-16. They showed me pictures of themselves and friends and filled me in on who the "cute boys" at camp were. I also shared pictures of my family and friends with them. PJ and Donny now have a growing fan club here in Cape Town.... Big surprise there. After breakfast we meet in the chapel area for a large group bible study kind of deal where the camp theme "Enlarge My Territory" was introduced and one of the leaders, Mr. X, gave a small sermon. Then we broke off into small groups and discussed in depth what we had just learned about.

After small groups we headed to the gym to play circle scavenger which is a game where the teams they were divided into the day before all send up different representatives to compete in different tasks. Walking into the gym I had a camper pull me aside to ask if she could speak with me. As I walked outside with her I was expecting her to ask me something simple, perhaps about what home for me was like, but when we got outside she opened with, "Do you fear death?"

It took me back for a moment and I stood there thinking to myself, how can I possibly come up with the right answer? Do I fear death? She stood there looking at me to say something and after a few moments I finally tried to explain how I thought that each person has their own interpretation of the "correct" answer to that question but as an end result I don't think that people really fear death but rather what they will miss when they are gone. So maybe it isn't dying that is feared but the fear instead is not living. We carried on talking on a nearby rock for nearly an hour and a half. She told me about the things that's were troubling her back home, personal battles she has faced and defeated along with those that she is still fighting with. She spoke about how important it was to her to get an education, talked about her friends, and how she feels misunderstood by her peers. Near the end of our conversation I realized I didn't even know this girls name. It left me completely amazed that this perfect stranger confided in me and looked to me for the right answer. After I learned her name we spoke for a few more minutes and she ran off to join her friends during free time. It only occurred to me after she left that we had been sitting in direct sunlight and I wasn't wearing sunscreen.... Sunburn well worth it.

Later in the day I met with Vyan, she and her husband are directors of Rockland's Centre and I will be working for them over the next year. We drove to a home down the way with another family, who will also be working here at Rockland's, to meet with a woman named Susan. After a short visit we hiked back to camp and Vyan also showed me how to identify porcupine droppings! After evening worship the staff put on a talent show which was really a variety of skits to entertain the campers. After that we had snack ad sent the campers off to bed. By the end of day two my body was sore from constant movement and sunburn and I was totally ready to crash.

Each night at evening chapel is an amazing experience. Their ways of worship are very different from church back home. Here it is all singing and dancing and it is completely consuming. Looking around the room at evening chapel is very moving. Watching as everyone puts their entire soul into worshiping is really something. Every night we have a different speaker who comes into camp and preaches to the campers with a sermon that is relevant to the expanding your territory theme.

The first we had a man, Pastor Kennedy, who came and gave a very moving sermon and personalized t so well that everyone in the room felt that they could relate. He told us the story of Jabez and how he prayed to God to help him enlarge his territory   He went on to tell us of all the things he has lost; a child, his job, his money, his car, his phone, everything had been taken from him except his faith. He spoke how he held on to God and how he has been given new opportunities that have been changing the way he lives and how he is expanding his territory.

The second night we had a woman speaker names Dominique Adams. Dominique began her sermon in a more playful way by having the campers imagine there was a machine that you could put anything into and have it become enlarged. She then spoke of her own personal struggles that started at a young age with physical abuse which later became sexual abuse. She spoke about her failed suicide attempt and how she was admitted into the hospital on suicide watch for a few months after. Then about how she had fallen in love, only to lose him to cancer. Then again how she fell in love with the man she is now happily married to and started a family, but then fell I'll during her pregnancy and was bed ridden for 7months and lost half her body weight. She encouraged the camp to see that when everything seems to be going horribly wrong that by continuing to worship and looking to God it will all turn out right and she is now blessed with two sons. She closed in a song that all of the campers seemed to know and ended her sermon on a very powerful note.

Africa Jam camp so far has been incredible and I am very fortunate to be a part of it. There is so much joy and music that it brings out a light in everyone and it is super contagious. I swear everyone here can sing and dance. It's like a country of Beyoncé's. As I get to know more and more campers and staff here I've found that we really aren't that different but we just have different battles to face. I've been in this country for 5 days and I already feel I am at home here. Don't get me wrong I know where my roots are and I miss my friends and family more than anything, but I can already feel myself growing into a person that I am more proud to be. Not to mention that I am physically sore from all the activity I've been doing. At this rate I can't wait to see what I can make of this experience.

Keep checking back! Xo
Maggie

P.S. You may all want to punch me for saying this considering I'm in 80 degree weather...... But I also miss wearing my oversized sweaters, leggings, and smart wools.