Back in Arandis

February 29th, my favorite day of the year. It’s almost like a holiday, like Christmas or Easter or Free Text Friday. Enjoy today, it only comes around once every four years!

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Bible studies this week went well. I love teaching the kids at the secondary school even though they tell me I use “hard grammar.” The other day I taught them the word indictment. The Firm Foundations curriculum flies through the history of kings and prophets with only a passing mention, so I thought I’d go back and fill in some of the details. It’s been fun and I think very important in pointing toward the kingship of Christ. Thursday morning at the woodcarvers market we continued in Romans 11 talking about how God had hardened the Jews to bring the Gentiles into God’s family in order to then make the Jews jealous so they too would believe.

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The crusade in Arandis started Thursday evening. After taking in some of Pearl’s dance class we started moving the equipment over to the amphitheatre around 4:30pm. Many of the churches in the community are involved so it truly is a community crusade. The speakers are quite…shall we say…Pentecostal. After the music team had finished and sat down, they called us back up again, and then a third time, until they finally felt we had moved to a place where we were “ministering to God.” For his message he read out of Numbers 19, the story of the bronze snake in the wilderness, and spoke about Jesus being the answer to everyone’s problems. Then came time for the alter call. As we played “Hold On To Me” over…and over…and over, the benches emptied and just about everyone came forward. (That’s when Don & Jackie bailed to the preacher saying, “I can feel the demons leaving now!”) The community pastors prayed with different people and the Pentecostals brother was pushing people over “slain in the Spirit.” The whole night was pretty wild, very different from what I’m used to. I finally got home that night at about 10:30pm quite exhausted from a long day.

This morning I went over to the secondary school with Boniface to attend his Scripture Union club. I saw many familiar faces from when I was here last July. (For those on that team, I saw Charmaine, Raymond, Maria and Maria, Rebecca, Jesme, and others whose faces I remembered but names I did not.) They remembered the girls from last year and wanted to know when they’re coming back. Then it was off to play photographer again, capturing pictures at the preschool and the Talitha Kumi primary school to use for the Hope’s Promise website. Molly and Jaime, this pic's for you. Revival became a quick favorite for them last year. :)

To shoot or not to shoot

As promised, I thought I’d share a few thoughts about photography and ministry in Africa. This is only from my experience so I’m sure others will have differing opinions. You may have noticed that thus far I haven’t posted many pictures of people or ministry. It’s all been sunsets or insects or doors or random other things that caught my eye. The trouble is tourism is the number one industry in Namibia. People come from all over the world to snap photos of animals at Etosha or one of the many other wildlife reserves. They’re coming to an intriguing culture so they shoot photos of things that are quite normal here but are new and different to them, sort of like the Japanese tourists who take pictures of squirrels. One American saw a man thatching a roof and stopped for a photo of what was this man’s ordinary, everyday job. But that mentality has transferred over to poverty. Squatter’s camps and people in poverty become a tourist attraction. They take pictures of the ‘poor’ Africans just like they’re animals in Etosha. Some have even promised to send back the money they make from the photos, but the people never see those benefits. It’s become an industry based on exploitation and it’s saddening.

As a result, I’m very careful when and where I pull out my camera. As one here to immerse himself in the culture the easiest way to ruin that is to come across as just another tourist. Tourists come for their own interests, not the interests of others. Tourists don’t build relationships. They keep the people at a distance through the lens of their camera. The irony is that photos are more than welcome within the framework of relationship. It’s natural to take pictures of and with your friends. The photographer in me cringes every time I have to pass by a beautiful photo op, but I understand that’s not my purpose. I’m here to share God’s love with people, not just shoot cool photos. Some may say, ‘But you could share these photos with the first world to communicate the truth and make a difference,’ but sometimes the best way to make a difference is to put the camera away and share your heart instead.

Late nights and weekend highlights

I haven’t been to bed before 12:30am since Don and Jackie arrived. That’s late for me here, and I have to drive 2 and a half hours back to Okahandja tomorrow. At least I’ll have company. I’m taking Caroline and Bolla (2 new friends) out to Okahandja to catch a ride to Windhoek. But I’m getting ahead of myself…

For coming to Arandis the wrong weekend I’ve been kept pretty busy. The crusade that I was originally coming over for turned out to be next weekend, but it seems God had a plan for me being here anyway. The first practice for the worship team next weekend was this Sunday afternoon, so it worked out for me to be here for that. We’ve also had some good talks with Brenda and Nan about Hope’s Promise, Namibian culture, and our summer teams. Brenda wants to update all the family pictures on the Hope’s Promise website so I have my second official photography gig. It’s cool to finally get some pictures of people (I’ll address my photography philosophy about that in an upcoming post). It’s the most time I’ve gotten to spend with many of the families because the times I’ve been here I’ve been focusing on other things. The kids are a blast, and most love to have their picture taken. Two families done, four more to go next weekend.

After dinner Jackie and I went to photograph the sunset then over to the Banda’s to hang with Pearl. Late that night Fabiola and their friend, Bolla, came out and asked if I could drive Tresford to the hospital in Swakop. He’s been running a high fever for a couple days and Fabiola had a relative on duty at the hospital that night. They tested his blood for malaria and checked his tonsils, but in the end determined it was just a bad flu and sent us home with some antibiotics. This morning his fever still hadn’t broken, but by afternoon he looked much better.

Other highlights: At church this morning I joined in with the worship team, no practice, no chord sheets, and without Tresford I was the only musical accompaniment just making it up as we went along. Fun times. And I almost keeled over in disbelief…Jackie didn’t take a picture ALL DAY on Saturday! Pretty shocking for those who know Jackie. But then not so shocking, she brought me Nutty Bars. :)

Photo of the Day

Photo of the Day

Not quite as much as doors, but gates can be cool too.