Camp Ngoma: life in the village

Last Monday, we traveled to the village of Ngoma for our first week of camp. What a wonderful and stretching experience!

Road to Ngoma

The whole week was basically a cultural overload for me emotionally, spiritually, and physically. I’m still trying to process it all. How can I begin to describe all that I learned, felt, and experienced? In a material sense this was probably one of the hardest weeks I’ve ever been through. I’ve never been so happy to see an actual toilet, sleep on an actual mattress, take a shower with running water, and eat “normal” (non- Ugali) food in my life…

Last night we were reflecting on the week and Ryan said some things that hit me to the core… He said, "My life is not my own. I have given my life to God. Therefore, I am called to serve Him. Serving Him is certainly not boring… there is much joy and blessings from it, but

it’s a sacrifice."

I was definitely feeling the weight of this sacrifice this week. Yet, God showed me his blessings through getting to know the campers. I got to teach, eat, talk, dance, sing, play, learn, read God’s Word, and simply do life with them for an entire week.

The village kids teaching me how to make rope out of Sisel plant!

Shaina and the girls at game time.

We did a skit with the translators for each chapel service.

Nathan sharing the gospel in his class.

This game involved a lot of running, throwing, and catching... Not my forte.

Girls hard at work during my craft class!

One evening I had some time off and I started walking through the village, watching daily life functioning all around me.

I passed a young boy cutting firewood, women humming to themselves while cooking over a fire with a baby on tied their back, some children laughing and playing in the dirt with garbage as toys, men chatting over a local board game, and a grandma with the most beautiful weathered face sitting outside her door taking in the cool evening air. How I wish I could have sat down and listened to her, for I’m quite sure that each deep wrinkle held a wealth of stories about life here in the days past… In the midst of living in such extreme poverty, I found that though they may not have material gain, but they are rich in so many ways that matter in this life and in the next.
To immerse myself in village life was something I really wanted to do... Having done it for a week has just shattered my outlook on life and turned my perspective upside down. And to think that I still have two more weeks to go. What new challenges, blessings, and lessons will God reveal to me next?

Village of Ngoma.

Please pray for the team next week. we will need God’s strength to pick ourselves up and do this all over again. May we be overflowing with the love of Jesus Christ and the fruit of the Holy spirit.

Goodbye, Ngoma... Next stop, Mkunda!

P.S. Here's Shaina's blog. You should definitely read it. She's great about giving some awesome details and stories in her posts!