We just returned from a Eluxolweni (place of peace) Children's shelter outside the Grahamstown township. It was quite an experience with many similarities as well as differences with doing youth work in the States. The children, like all children, were rowdy and excitable. But they love to sing and do so often. It's as if someone flips a switch and suddenly they are all singing and dancing (most songs have some level of movement associated with them.) It is a joyous sound that wells up from so many tragic stories. These are children who have fled abusive homes. Homes where they had to learn to be adults long before any child should. But at this shelter they can be children and many have reconnected to that part of them.
Nkayniso, Numba, Johanna, Maria, Gates and myself traveled to spend a short hour of time presenting a program and playing and singing with the kids. I didn't understand a word of the program as most of it was presented in either Zulu or Xhosa. But it seems like the kids understood it. Gates, who had recently spent about a month at a summer camp, managed to come up with a simple call and response song that was "from American." He put on quite a show and had all the kids laughing and singing. It was a side of Gates I was totally unfamiliar with. I closed the hour with a short prayer. And we said our goodbyes. Although there was very little direct interaction and communication was difficult, many of the children expressed love and perhaps a little curiosity about our awkward American-ness as we left. We will return next Friday with more songs "from America" and maybe a goofy game or two. Perhaps in honor of Casey Duncan I will teach them all to speak pirate.
-Dean
Friday, July 25, 2008
Worship at the College of the Transfiguration
There is at least one worship service every day at COTT. Weekdays begin with a 6:45 AM meditation. Doors close promptly at 6:45 and students spend the next half hour in meditative silence. Students do a range of things during this silent period: some pray, some read, some write, and some just sit and think. There are no guidelines for this time, just that silence is required.
At 7:15, the doors reopen and any remaining students are allowed in for Morning Prayer or Eucharist. Almost all students turn up for meditation so there are usually few who come in late. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are morning Eucharists, and Tuesday and Thursday have morning prayer. Tuesday and Thursday also have an evening Eucharist at 5:15 PM.
Services at COTT are a multicultural experience. There are more than 10 languages spoken at the college and all of them are featured at times in worship. When the service itself is in English, they Kyrie is almost always sung in another language. The readings from the bible are often in different languages as well. And the Lord's Prayer is usually said by everyone in their own native tongue. Hymns come from around 8 different collections and although English hymns are slightly more common, we sing hymns/songs in just about every language spoken in this province. So far we've had English, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Setswana, and those are just the languages that were pointed out to me.
When one comes to chapel at COTT, other than the mix of languages, the first thing one will notice is the singing. Everyone in chapel sings, and sings loudly! This is by far the most musical worship experience I have ever had. Accompaniment is generally by piano or marimba. And one can expect any silence lasting more than 10 seconds to be spontaneously filled first by one person singing a song and then by the whole congregation joining in.
Worship liturgy itself is practiced in a rather broad style - the style varyies often according to who the celebrant is, but always with a deep intentionality. Students are well versed in their supporting duties as they assist the celebrant and mistakes are rarely made.
Worship at COTT is a true example of how worship can be made to be multi-cultural and yet seem to be a natural, organic experience, rather than a stiff and awkward one. The most important element is that it is always this way and that it has the buy in of the entire student body.
-Gates
At 7:15, the doors reopen and any remaining students are allowed in for Morning Prayer or Eucharist. Almost all students turn up for meditation so there are usually few who come in late. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are morning Eucharists, and Tuesday and Thursday have morning prayer. Tuesday and Thursday also have an evening Eucharist at 5:15 PM.
Services at COTT are a multicultural experience. There are more than 10 languages spoken at the college and all of them are featured at times in worship. When the service itself is in English, they Kyrie is almost always sung in another language. The readings from the bible are often in different languages as well. And the Lord's Prayer is usually said by everyone in their own native tongue. Hymns come from around 8 different collections and although English hymns are slightly more common, we sing hymns/songs in just about every language spoken in this province. So far we've had English, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Setswana, and those are just the languages that were pointed out to me.
When one comes to chapel at COTT, other than the mix of languages, the first thing one will notice is the singing. Everyone in chapel sings, and sings loudly! This is by far the most musical worship experience I have ever had. Accompaniment is generally by piano or marimba. And one can expect any silence lasting more than 10 seconds to be spontaneously filled first by one person singing a song and then by the whole congregation joining in.
Worship liturgy itself is practiced in a rather broad style - the style varyies often according to who the celebrant is, but always with a deep intentionality. Students are well versed in their supporting duties as they assist the celebrant and mistakes are rarely made.
Worship at COTT is a true example of how worship can be made to be multi-cultural and yet seem to be a natural, organic experience, rather than a stiff and awkward one. The most important element is that it is always this way and that it has the buy in of the entire student body.
-Gates
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Initial Thoughts about Grahamstown and the College
It's a bit intimidating coming up with what to write, not because I can't think of anything, but because there's so much going on here.
The College of the Transfiguration (COTT) is situated in a pretty wealthy area of Grahamstown. Grahamstown certainly does not seem to be a typical South African town. COTT is situated next to several schools of varying degrees of education. Rhodes University dominates the city and it is filled with thousands of students from all over South Africa. Between Rhodes and COTT lie St. Andrews College, the South African equivalent to a boarding school like Exeter or Deerfield Academy in the United States. St. Andrews has the reputation of being the best school in South Africa. The Diocesan School for Girls is right next door to St. Andrews and directly across the street from COTT and it serves as the girls' school counterpart to St. Andrew's boys'.
COTT is not nearly so well off financially as its neighbors. The buildings are serviceable, but many things are in great need of replacement or updating. However, what COTT lacks in plant resources it makes up for in human resources. The students here are extremely welcoming and faithful people. There are students here from all over the Province of South Africa, which also includes Lesotho, Swaziland, Namibia, Angola, St. Helena, and Mozambique. There are a few dioceses which seem to have several students: Cape Town, kwaZulu-Natal, Umtata, and the small country of Lesotho.
Most of the socializing is done around meals and two different tea times (10:30am and 4pm). Tea is a particularly wonderful time to get a break from classes (Hear that, VTS?) and get to know your classmates. Everyone congregates in "Freedom Square" - a paved courtyard in the midst of the college, and shares tea while chatting about anything that comes to mind. I have heard and participated in discussions about the Lambeth Conference, family histories, the relative merits of culturally enforced mourning periods (3 months for men and 2 years for women), and polygamy, among others. Students here are just like students at home. Some are shy, some are outgoing, some are quick to throw out opinions and get emotional over issues, some are reserved and seem to be figuring things out. However, the students at COTT do seem to have two things in common: they are loud and always laughing. It makes getting to know them easy, and it makes feeling a part of the community instantaneous.
Already there are about 10 things running around in my mind to comments about: the Contextual Theology program itself, worship at the College, the makeup of the faculty, racial relations, thoughts about Apartheit and the feelings of students about the current situation...and many others, but I will wait to tackle them at another time. No doubt I'll come back with another topic altogether.
-Gates
The College of the Transfiguration (COTT) is situated in a pretty wealthy area of Grahamstown. Grahamstown certainly does not seem to be a typical South African town. COTT is situated next to several schools of varying degrees of education. Rhodes University dominates the city and it is filled with thousands of students from all over South Africa. Between Rhodes and COTT lie St. Andrews College, the South African equivalent to a boarding school like Exeter or Deerfield Academy in the United States. St. Andrews has the reputation of being the best school in South Africa. The Diocesan School for Girls is right next door to St. Andrews and directly across the street from COTT and it serves as the girls' school counterpart to St. Andrew's boys'.
COTT is not nearly so well off financially as its neighbors. The buildings are serviceable, but many things are in great need of replacement or updating. However, what COTT lacks in plant resources it makes up for in human resources. The students here are extremely welcoming and faithful people. There are students here from all over the Province of South Africa, which also includes Lesotho, Swaziland, Namibia, Angola, St. Helena, and Mozambique. There are a few dioceses which seem to have several students: Cape Town, kwaZulu-Natal, Umtata, and the small country of Lesotho.
Most of the socializing is done around meals and two different tea times (10:30am and 4pm). Tea is a particularly wonderful time to get a break from classes (Hear that, VTS?) and get to know your classmates. Everyone congregates in "Freedom Square" - a paved courtyard in the midst of the college, and shares tea while chatting about anything that comes to mind. I have heard and participated in discussions about the Lambeth Conference, family histories, the relative merits of culturally enforced mourning periods (3 months for men and 2 years for women), and polygamy, among others. Students here are just like students at home. Some are shy, some are outgoing, some are quick to throw out opinions and get emotional over issues, some are reserved and seem to be figuring things out. However, the students at COTT do seem to have two things in common: they are loud and always laughing. It makes getting to know them easy, and it makes feeling a part of the community instantaneous.
Already there are about 10 things running around in my mind to comments about: the Contextual Theology program itself, worship at the College, the makeup of the faculty, racial relations, thoughts about Apartheit and the feelings of students about the current situation...and many others, but I will wait to tackle them at another time. No doubt I'll come back with another topic altogether.
-Gates
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
The Eagle has landed...
We've arrived in Graham's Town after spending one great day in Cape Town. We got in to Cape Town on Friday and stayed for bargain basement prices at the Ritz. I know, I know, as one of my colleagues here said, "You stayed at the freakin' Ritz?!" Well, no it's not the "Freakin' Ritz" here, it's just the Ritz. And it's undergoing renovations, which means we had some spotty power problems which really didn't affect us. Other than that, the place is very good. It's located in Sea Point and has a great view of the water.
Dean and I spent our only day exploring Capetown to the best of our ability. We found that cabbing it to the city center and then walking around was a bit better than spending two hours on a tour bus, but we may have missed out on some good info. We had to skip the mandatory Robbin Island and Table Mountain trips for now, due to time, but we might make them up when we come back. We walked around the craft market/flea market in Greenmarket - which, while quaint, is pretty much like every European street market, full of people hocking handbags and mass produced "original" paintings (warning Tim Backus!!!), and then walked up to the Cathedral of St. George, which was making a loud statement by being noticeably closed on Saturday.
It was at this point that we began to realize that there were very few people around on an absolutely gorgeous Saturday, with temps in the 70's. We spent the balance of the afternoon walking around town and stopped into a couple of pubs.
At the Dubliner Irish Bar on Long Street, we found a terrific football (soccer) match beginning between Man United and the Kaizer Chiefs (Jo'berg's biggest team). The crowd (Dean, myself, and the one other guy in the place, named Nicholas) went wild as Kaizer scored a goal in the first half to go up on Man United for the first time ever. We left at half time, but Man United eventually equalized - I'm pretty sure they're evil like the Yankees.
We eventually made our way down towards the Waterfront, and got some advice on where to eat some good seafood from some locals. We ended up at Quay 4 (pronounced Key 4), which proclaimed itself a brasserie, but in reality is little more than a seafood sports bar, with a fabulous deck. The food was okay but nothing to write home about (and yet I am writing home about it anyway) - my Myanmar friends will note that they had some fantastic hot peppers, so I was quite happy.
The Waterfront, by the way, is phenomenal, it makes the wharf in San Francisco look like a small flea market. There is every store under the sun and uncountable pubs and restaurants. And it's truly interesting because giant fishing boats and cargo ships are sitting side by side with million dollar yachts.
We called it an early night at the oil burning hour of 8pm and cashed in our tired chips.
We had an 8:10 AM flight to Port Elizabeth the next morning.
-Gates
Dean and I spent our only day exploring Capetown to the best of our ability. We found that cabbing it to the city center and then walking around was a bit better than spending two hours on a tour bus, but we may have missed out on some good info. We had to skip the mandatory Robbin Island and Table Mountain trips for now, due to time, but we might make them up when we come back. We walked around the craft market/flea market in Greenmarket - which, while quaint, is pretty much like every European street market, full of people hocking handbags and mass produced "original" paintings (warning Tim Backus!!!), and then walked up to the Cathedral of St. George, which was making a loud statement by being noticeably closed on Saturday.
It was at this point that we began to realize that there were very few people around on an absolutely gorgeous Saturday, with temps in the 70's. We spent the balance of the afternoon walking around town and stopped into a couple of pubs.
At the Dubliner Irish Bar on Long Street, we found a terrific football (soccer) match beginning between Man United and the Kaizer Chiefs (Jo'berg's biggest team). The crowd (Dean, myself, and the one other guy in the place, named Nicholas) went wild as Kaizer scored a goal in the first half to go up on Man United for the first time ever. We left at half time, but Man United eventually equalized - I'm pretty sure they're evil like the Yankees.
We eventually made our way down towards the Waterfront, and got some advice on where to eat some good seafood from some locals. We ended up at Quay 4 (pronounced Key 4), which proclaimed itself a brasserie, but in reality is little more than a seafood sports bar, with a fabulous deck. The food was okay but nothing to write home about (and yet I am writing home about it anyway) - my Myanmar friends will note that they had some fantastic hot peppers, so I was quite happy.
The Waterfront, by the way, is phenomenal, it makes the wharf in San Francisco look like a small flea market. There is every store under the sun and uncountable pubs and restaurants. And it's truly interesting because giant fishing boats and cargo ships are sitting side by side with million dollar yachts.
We called it an early night at the oil burning hour of 8pm and cashed in our tired chips.
We had an 8:10 AM flight to Port Elizabeth the next morning.
-Gates
Saturday, July 19, 2008
We will Be updating this regularly
We will try and post articles and pictures here as often as possible. Until then keep checking.
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