It was the best sleep in about a week. However, I still found myself lying there awake at 4:45 a.m. even though I was negotiating with myself to sleep more. I guess I had something on my mind; this was later confired when one of my roommates told me that I was talking in my sleep last night. I was tasked with speaking at the orphan church in Cork that out team was going to worship at. "Speaking" really is overstating it as I was asked to prepare 10 minutes worth of material.
There is something about hearing the music that comes from within a church before one enters the church. This is the second Sunday that this is happened and now I think that it is part of the church's marketing plan: to let people outside know that the church is rockin' to draw passerbys in. Although, in the case of the orphan church, there weren't really any passerbys because the church was located in one of the hard-to-access villages. The people approaching the church were mainly children and, supported by their tiny frames, they were carrying plastic chairs. The church is not "well endowed" so the congregants (in this case, mainly children) had to carry their own chairs to church. But they were obviously excited to be there. This was fuelled by the overloaded speakers connected to the overloaded amp. A low end Roland keyboard pumped out both polka-isque automatic rhythms and cheesy synthesizer sounds. A quartet of distorted voices rounded off the audio spectrum that left anyone sitting in the first 5 rows leaving partially deaf. But, this is how they worshipped. And worship they did! After each section of the sermon (and the sections were short and sporadic enough to cater to the attention span of the children in attendance) there would be a song. Often, the pastor would start off, only to be cut off when the keyboard came in on a different key. But, these technical glitches did not hamper the momentum of the service. Everyone would get up and dance for that song. I could count off 3 separate occassions where a conga line formed. I'm not sure how these kids learn these songs given the distorted sonic environment, but they were all singing along! After the service, we were invited to stay as they served us a humble meal of pap and chicken.
Our team prepared 3 songs to sing with the church. We only practiced once, so I printed off the lyrics as an aid. However, due to a miscommunication, my pile of lyrics was handed out throughout the church instead of to the team. No problem; the songs were simple enough that I could prompt them with the next verse. However, at the end of the service, I was looking for one of these sheets, so I could write out the chords to give to a new guitarist (see next section). However, not a single one was to be found. I asked my friend Themba if he had one and he reluctantly pulled out his folded up lyric sheet from his Bible. I think he was going to be sad that I was appearing to ask him back for it. I immediately told him that I was looking for an extra one and that he could keep that one. Paper is very scarce in this community and valued greatly. In my past worship experiences, there are always extra song sheets lying around, discarded after its initial, one time use.
The donated guitar has found a new home. After leading the short singing session, I left the guitar near the front of the stage. At the end of the service, the pastor took it out of its case and started strumming it. Because of the noise of the impromptu jam session at the end of the service (picture about 20 kids around the cheesy keyboard, singing their hearts out whether they were in tune or not), I could not hear what the pastor, who was jamming with them, was playing. Only when they stopped did I notice that he was just strumming without forming any real chords on the instruments. I walked over to him and showed him how to play some basic chords. He was fascinated! The passion in his eyes as they lit up told me that one of my prayers had just been answered: God, help me to find a suitable home and steward of this instrument. I went through some of the basics with him and he promised that he would practice hard, every day. He also promised that he would teach some of the other children how to play when he got good. One of the first chords I taught him was a "G". This involved using his left pinky finger on the bottom string. For some reason, his pinky fingernail was longer than the others. I pointed out that playing guitar would mean having short nails. He immediately puts his pinky finger in his mouth and rips offs that long nail, quickly discarding its previous purpose for its new found calling!
Back at my home church, screaming babies are not welcomed. Why do I say this? Well, there is a separate nursery that babies are supposed to be brought, dropped off and the parent is given a number. Should that baby cause a disruption, there is a big LED number screen that flashes a number, indicating to the lucky holder of that number that they are to immediately go to the nursery. For the few brave parents who actually choose to worship with their toddlers, the moment that there is a disruption, a few nasty glares persuades the parent to immediately evacuate the worship area with their child. So, what happens when you're in an orphan church and the people in the service don't have parents, and someone starts crying? Easy, one of the other orphans console the crier, holding them gingerly until everything is okay.
We went to one of the older orphan's home to video tape a couple of interviews (their stories are in the process of being published, as part of the healing and dignification process). Outside of this home is a community soccer field and there was a game today (the road actually formed the sideline of the field; it truly gave a new meaning to "CAR!"). It seemed like a large chunk of the community was out, kids and all. So, it didn't take long for a large crowd of kids to form around the home where 2 vans full of foreigners just entered. First it was gawking. Then they were practicing the limited English that they knew. It wasn't until one of the long term workers here, a daughter of one of my teammates, rounded them up and started playing games with them did the connection happen. These are not games that rely on technology or fancy equipment. Instead, they are simple games that really engages the kids:
1. FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN (kids form a conga line and walk in a circle) "Fire on the mountain, RUN-RUN-RUN" (repeat for an undetermined number of times) "#" where the number is random. The kids are then to form groups of #'s
2. POTATO CHIP "Potato Chip, Potato Chip" (kids repeat) Crunchy, Crunchy (kids repeat) I love Jesus (kids repeat) A Bunchy, Bunchy (kids repeat)
There was once a man (kids repeat) And he walked like this (kids repeat) Then he met Jesus (kids repeat) Now he walks like this (kids repeat)"
3. HANDS TO HANDS (kids form groups of two, chant each line a random # of times, kids do each action with their partner) "Hands to Hands Back to Back Bum to Bum Knee to Knee Head to Head"
One of the orphans. I tried three times, but he couldn't keep still! |
