Experience #1: Leading Worship in Sotho

The Mamelodi Initiative: Final Week

Its too bad that I did not have the time to process all of this information and experiences in the moment but we really did have to give it our all the last week of program to make it work. I'm going to blog about things that I observed during our groups final hours on the trip as well as the three most formative final experiences for me.

Experience #1: Leading Worship in Sotho

This is truly a weird experience for me to write about. My singing is perhaps and will likely always will be the heart of my spiritual connection with the Lord. My mother has a beautiful voice, she is still requested at events by relatives in Surry County for her vocal chords. She wound up recording some music in her band Moon Wind that I proudly play on my ipod every now and again. My sister sings, she plays the guitar and has also recorded music I play on my ipod. I however, have had a different path with music. I always enjoyed music but for some reason or another never thought that I would be suited to learn guitar I got invested in the harmonica for awhile, but it never stuck with me. I tried out for choir at church when I started going when I was 17. For some reason, I just didn’t like singing the hyms, I felt that I did a bad job at staying in the right key and restraining my voice within them didn’t make much sense to me. That being said, I only gave choir a shot by attending a whopping one practice, but if anything this was do to the still lack of confidence that I had in my voice at that time.

Every once in while I would get bolder in church and sing a little bit louder. Someone would compliment me and eventually in that fashion I started discovering my range mostly through singing in the car. I’ve sung on youth retreats for my former church in Winston-Salem. Those times were so good, I always have felt like I was just up on stage when everyone else had the real talent with mastery of an instrument. It really was not until college when I started finding Christian music that I could take pride in and more opportunities to sing that I would eventually consider myself good. It was something that has always been spiritual for me because of it, because honestly I don’t know if I ever could have figured out if I could sing had I not been doing so in church when others actually had the chance to hear me. Otherwise my voice would have stayed trapped inside my ‘95 Geo Prism and all the beautiful experiences I have had with music may never have happened.

So ANYWAY that’s enough backstory.

 I found myself at worship practice once again after program at the Old Vista Campus of the University of Pretoria in South Africa. Unami, our kind South African worship leader who is almost as talented at slapping the base as he is a heart-throb. If there’s any doubt I know that statement would have significant female backing. I can also hear his voice in my head selflessly directing praise away from himself, “Aww shucks, you’re too kind.”  For some reason, I still have no clue why, Unami decided I should lead worship the second to last day of program. So I decided to pick the two songs that would get the kids the most amped up. I know that most of the kids have sung worship before but that many of them don’t have positive experiences associated with the experience of singing in church. Maybe many of them think its boring like I first did. So with song choice in hand, we went for it in a practice where everyone was exhausted and tired from nearly three weeks of volunteering enough time for it to be a full-time job.

The next morning I was informed that Unami was either sick or his car had broken down, possibly both, so I was on my own on getting the band together for practice. Without Unami there, there was some doubt (that may not have been unjustified) that we would be able to pull off these two songs well based on how dismal the practice ended up being the day before. Still wanting the kids to get that possitve experience I had been looking for I stayed persistent and eventually we agreed to do the songs we had agreed upon the day before with our fearless leader Unami.

When it came time to sing the first song, Ahuna ya tswanang le Jesu (There is no one like Jesus) I was a little nervous. And for good reason since the first four lines of the song are sung by the leader before the rest of the band comes in. The song goes like this

Ahuna ya tswanang le Jesu              There is nobody like Jesus

Ahuna ya tswanang naye                 There is nobody like him

Ahuna ya tswanang le Jesu              There is nobody like Jesus

Ahuna ya tswanang naye                 There is nobody like him

Ahuuuna                               

Kamatla matla, hohle hohle             I looked around, everywhere

Kadikulaha, hohle hohle                  I turned around everywhere

Kamu fumana Jesu waka                 I eventually found my Jesus

Ahuna ya tswanang naye                 There is nobody like him

Kamaaatla

I got through that first line and all of a sudden those kids were cheering really loud. So loud in fact, that I could not really hear myself. There are no speakers in the auditorium and so I was singing into a wall of calamitous sound that was drowning out everything I said for a moment and if it had not been for the drum behind me I’m confident I would have lost time.

The second song was Deep Cries Out to Deep.

I've got a river of living water
A fountain that never will run dry
It's open Heavens You're releasing
And we will never be denied

Cause we're stirring up deep deep wells
We're stirring up deep deep waters
We're going to dance in the river, dance in the river
Cause we're stirring up deep deep wells
We're stirring up deep deep waters
We're going to jump in the river
Jump in the river and everybody singing now

Deep cries out to deep cries out to                                     Chorus
Deep cries out to deep cries out to
So we cry out to, we cry out to, You Jesus

We're falling into deeper waters, calling out to You
We're walking into deeper waters, going after You

If He goes to the left then we'll go to the left
And if He goes to the right then we'll go to the right
We're going to jump jump jump jump in the river
Jump jump jump jump, everybody
If He goes to the left then we'll go to the left
And if He goes to the right then we'll go to the right
We're going to dance dance, dance dance in the river
Dance dance, dance dance, everybody
If He goes to the left then we'll go to the left
And if He goes to the right then we'll go to the right
We're going to shout shout shout shout in the river
Shout shout shout shout in the river, everybody

The second part is where the fun came in, the songs done with a lot of movement and we went for the final part at a super fast – increasing speed the whole time. By the end of it essentially no one could breathe, and I had so little oxygen going to my noggin I actually forgot to pray. Thankfully one of the other singers pulled me back by my shirt before I sat down.

As I was setting up to do some interviews of my fellow co-teachers, I heard kids singing on the way to class and I smiled knowing we had accomplished our goal. I only wish Unami was there to see it.

God bless and all the best,

Dylan Rollins.