International Missions

International Missions Index | South African Summer Camp - December 11-22, 2011

Bryce Minke (Surrey congregation) and Victor Zampino (Montreal, English congregation), travelled to South Africa to be a part of the summer camp. Here are their thoughts as they immerse themselves in this short term mission project.

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December 26, 2011, final update from: Bryce Minke

I have now returned to Canada after this amazing, life changing experience in South Africa. I apologize for not being able to post more comments on this blog. I had written much more but the lady who was typing and sending the messages was too busy to do them, and I got behind as well since I was just too tired at the end of the day after putting all my kids to sleep. There was barely any individual time in our hour breaks for journal writing because we had to take showers and attend a meeting with the other counselors, so I did the majority of it after lights out.

The first day when all my boys arrived was really difficult to get through. I was so thankful for the VBS break and meeting. I don't know how I would've survived if there weren't any breaks throughout the day. In the meeting it was reassuring for me to see that other counsellors were also having a hard first day. I don't think any amount of training could have prepared me for that day. Everyone expressed how the day went and how they were trying to overcome the obstacles they faced in taking care of their kids from language barriers to emotional walls. We concluded the meeting with a prayer asking for God to strengthen us for the upcoming week so that we might share his love to his little children. I left that meeting with a renewed peace of mind and was even excited to go and get my kids again.

When my six boys arrived I was a bit anxious about the task of getting them to open up to me. One boy seemingly didn't want to be in my dorm (Emmanuel), but I figured out later that he probably just wanted to talk to his friends. Oreniele and Tokelo hardly talked and Phumulani kept disappearing. As the days flew by and we participated in many different activities, I began to see them working together. This was very encouraging both for me and them. Within a few days, the team spirit they expressed in sports had spread to all other areas of camp as well. I think that they were all somewhat shocked that I was willing to give them my constant attention. Throughout the week, I used principles of God's love and superheroism to build a mutual trust within my dorm. I wanted to care for them and they all possessed a desire to be cared for so we all found what we were looking for.

One particular memory I will cherish forever happened on the second night. Phumulani was being his normal mischievous self as everyone else was trying to sleep. He kept on hugging and trying to climb me like a tree. Then he jumped onto his mattress and tried to pull me down with him. He asked me to sleep with him on his bed that night, so I laid down with my arms around him and he fell asleep. That was really neat and helped me bond with him through fatherly love.

In that VBS program God's love was everywhere, in everything and everyone. I could feel it flowing through me and giving me strength. This love changed the experience for me. This job went from a job to a privilege and gave me a new and powerful perspective on what I was doing. It changed the kids in my dorm as well. They all wanted hugs and to hold my hand and their love for Jesus and I created a new respect. Because they loved me, they respected me, and because they respected me, they listened to me. This is when it became a whole lot easier for me. By the last day I was exhausted but I felt closer to God than I'd ever felt before. I knew in my heart that He loved these kids so much and I felt so blessed to have gotten to know and love them like He does. I gave them all hugs and kisses and told them I'd miss them as I said goodbye to them. This was the hardest part of the week for me because I know that we all had something special between us. As I said goodbye, I found comfort that even if I never saw those children again, I know that God changed them just as he changed me.

I would like to thank everyone who made this trip possible. I was blown away by the entire experience and am extremely grateful for everything. I can say that I returned a changed person. While I gained a ton of respect for single fathers of little boys and stand in awe of their superpowers, I also learned a lot about what it means to be a positive role model to other people. I feel that both the six boys in my dorm and myself were changed over those four days by the power of God's love for us and we grew very close to each other as well. This was a mission trip that will be treasured in my memory forever. I look forward to the next adventure Jesus has planned for me.

 

December 16, 2011, update from: Bryce Minke

I went to bed last night worrying that my alarm would not wake me up and that my dorm and I would be late for breakfast. When I was woken up by another counsellor named Sonnyboy, I had a miniature wave of dread. Immediately afterwards, however, he discovered that his time has been off and that it was simply a false alarm. Then I had to put all of my kids though their morning routines.

 

December 15, 2011, update from: Bryce Minke

Wow!! I don't know where to begin explaining everything that has happened in the past few days. This experience has just washed over me like a wave; it's probably the best wave that I have ever felt.

After the adventure of travelling for almost 2 days straight, I was even more excited to be back in South Africa again. This country has grown on me to an extent that defies description. After leaving at the end of March from my first trip to South Africa, I had thought that I would be saying good-bye for a very long time. God's plans for me have never really been predictable but always more amazing than I could ever have imagined. So I returned to South Africa and was greeted by a warm and glorious sun. On this, the other side of the world, I feel at home. God's love abounds from every person and every nook and cranny. These were the thoughts that crowded my mind (and still do) from my arrival here. I then took a long (1 hour) drive to camp. The school rounds here are simply beautiful. there is grass and greenery everywhere. There is a basketball court, tennis (I think) court, swimming pool, and many more buildings. I first unleaded my luggage and put it in my dorm room. I went from there to register and received my shirts and name tag. I saw a couple of people playing a game of basketball so I joined in and we played quiet a long time. It was a great way for me to meet some of the staff and campers. Shortly after that, we ate dinner and had praise and worship.

Praise and worship is among my favourite camp experiences because these African people have an unmatched and great energy when praising God. Their energy is visible and powerful. Everyone dances, claps their hands and sings with all their hearts. When I close my eyes and listen to their voices I am humbled and become energized as well. There are very few sounds in the world that can compare to it. I look forward to this time every day.

In the next three days, I spent the majority of my time with the young adults. We went swimming and had great devotions. We also went out for the 'overnight' experience. We slept in tents and had team building activities at a small at a small campground/property where we drove to.

The second day of the overnight, we went to a local dam in a mountainous area. We got to rappel (or abseil as they call it) down the dam wall, climb actual rock faces (as opposed to climbing walls) and had a very intense and tiring time at it. It was neat to be a part of that group for the first few days.

VBS

The vacation Bible School kids arrived this morning. After all the training and details that had been given to me, I was feeling somewhat anxious for the task I was to take on. All of my boys were somewhat shy, but have really opened up as the day came to a close. It was fairly difficult to keep track of all of my boys. They seem to need the washroom every 15 minutes. I was extremely stressed when I brought my kids up to the room. We all came in, I put my bag on the floor by my bed, turned around and one of them was missing. This issue was resolved within a few minutes when Candida brought him back to me. This little boy, named Phumulani, really gave me a hard time today but I am confident that I will be able to rein him in. Our first activity was basketball. Although we were simply passing the ball, I felt an amazing connection to all my little boys. After 1 hour together I felt an indescribable sense of love and pride for them when we say that they were working together. After a bit of a shaky start to the day, I really felt God's hand reaching into my heart. He has truly shown me a different perspective on love through his little children.

When basketball had drawn to a close we went and watched a devotional cartoon kids' movie. I ended up spending more time watching my kids' faces than the movie itself. They were all so engulfed in it and it face me some time to figure out who is who (which is difficult even when they are wearing their nametags).

By the time supper came around, I was hungry and stressed - six kids might be a bit much for a first-time father. I was almost to the point of tears and kept wondering how I would survive another 3 1/2 days of this.

Every evening, we get to leave our kids with the young adult campers for about an hour. This gives us all enough time to have a shower and a counsellor meeting. In this meeting I was relieved to discover that I wasn't the only one struggling with their dorms. It seems like every counsellor has to deal with certain difficulties: from language barriers to disappearing kids. We concluded this meeting with a prayer. We all prayed that we might share God's love with our kids and that He would give us the strength that we need to complete this Vacation Bible School Camp in one piece.

I truly believe that God let this day go just as he had planned and that the next few days will bring my kids and I closer to God and each other. I thank God every minute for this great opportunity to serve and for the privilege of staying in this beautiful country.

P.S. My kids names are:

• Emmanuel Moyane (age 10)
• Francois Burt (age 12)
• Simphiwe Madela (age 11)
• Oreneile Tau (age 8)
• Phalani Tovelo (age 8) - troublemaker
• Tokelo Madela (age 8)

We decided to name our dorm "The Tigers"

 

December 14, 2011, by Victor Zampino

This is my first report since coming to South Africa, and while I still can’t pronounce the names of a few of my campers, I feel like I’ve finally adjusted to the Camp culture here just outside of Johannesburg. Before, I get into the spiritual side of things (Which is the reason I’m writing this letter, and most possibly the reason you’re reading it), let me first tell you about the camp culture that has been causing me problems.

The first thing which I had trouble dealing with was the schedule, it is extremely compact. This alone is not entirely bothersome, as I can adapt quite comfortably from my preferred “relaxed” scheduling to a more rigid and organised one. Furthermore, everything the dorm does is graded and compared with other dorms, but again not really a big deal. The problem friends lay in the perception of time or rather the lack of perception. In the last three days, my dorm has been early and deemed late because the activity coordinator was waiting longer than she deemed necessary, rather than basing it on the actual time. The opposite has happened as well. This started to stress me out quite a bit, until I started to wonder why this was bothering me so much. The reality is that because there was a score associated with being on time, in this instance, I felt like I was the one being graded rather than my boys. That if this score was not good, that would mean I was a bad counsellor and wasn’t doing my job properly, and that insecurity ironically, stopped me from being the counsellor I know I’m capable of being.

The second issue I had was this fear that I would not be able to connect with the boys in my dorm. I soon found that I had been looking at all the differences between African boys and Canadian ones rather than trying to find the similarities. Like all thing as soon as God revealed this to me, the problem that once daunted me just fell away and was quickly resolved. I found that the similarities were numerous and that in fact African teens are just like Canadian ones except with more rhythm.

I know I’ve spoken mostly of the difficult side of things, but this experience has been amazing so far and these things can only help me connect with my boys. Because, after all, it’s for them that God has sent me here.