Thursday, October 17, 2013

Kanisani (In Church)

I've started going to a local church, which is all in Swahili. It's one of the places where I feel uncomfortable snapping a picture, so I drew one instead. (I don't want to draw attention to myself and treat the service like a tourist event.) I drew my favorite part, the singing. Usually a lady sings a verse and the chorus, then we all sing the chorus a few times together. Sometimes there is a drum and/or dancing. At the end of the service we go out into the yard singing, shake hands around a circle, then finish the song facing each other in the circle.
I'm understanding parts of the speaking. If it's a sermon based out of scripture, I can follow that pretty well, because I have a context to work from. The other speaking, prayers, and announcements are hit and miss. I'm going partly to get the practice listening. To make sure I get deep Word and fellowship, I'm listening to downloaded English sermons, and thinking about starting a prayer group at camp.
I also want to make Tanzanian friends at church. This Sunday I walked back to camp with a lady my age who goes to the church and works at the camp as a cleaner. She shared part of her life story; Her husband left his faith and her for another woman and her child died at birth, all around the same time. She seemed resigned to the fact that life is hard, especially life as a Christian. She trusts in Christ for salvation and to open doors for her in the future... at least that's what I understand with my current Swahili abilities! I'm wondering what kind of friendship we have with such different life experiences. 
The church, as with many new experiences, is an adventure, exciting and confusing at the same time.

3 comments:

  1. You are AMAZING! Love your illustrations, and can't wait for you to get to Musoma! Crystal :)

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  2. Thanks for sharing your experience and artwork! Beautiful! Happy Belated birthday!!

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  3. Supeydupey illustration Sar, love the patterns, color, characterization. And of course your words, story too! Thx for your bloggin.

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