“Shoooosholoza!” Sizwe called out, and the band of children that were trailing behind us like the Pied Piper echoed “Shoooosholoza!” and blew their vuvuzelas. Balloons bobbed in the bright spring sunshine, hands clapped, feet stomped through the muddy dirt paths, and all along the way we called out, “Wozani! Come!” to the children who stopped their playing to stare at our parade.
We were quite an interesting bunch. David had his trombone (this was a lot more involved than marching band–hiking up hills and dodging cows and muddy rivers while playing requires much skill), Justina had the guitar, and the kids all had balloons or vuvuzelas. A huge banner announced, “Jabulani Kids Club! All children Welcome!”
It was our day to advertise, so we met at the school where we usually have the club at 9am, gathered all the kids together and started out. We began by singing praise songs, but the one that the kids liked the best was “Shosholoza” (the song South Africa sings at soccer and rugby matches, also made famous in the movie Invictus), so we stuck with that. One old gogo (granny) thought we were all marching to go vote. Nope. This was not a political parade–it was a Jesus parade. By 10am when we returned to start the kids club, our numbers had doubled. The kids still had tons of energy, but all us leaders were pretty exhausted. 🙂
Pray for the children who attend this Kids Club– that they will grow in Christ and their hearts will be changed. Pray for the teens who help to lead JKC– that they will be great leaders and role models.
Stephanie Ebert 