Posted by Andrew
Mon, 29 Sep 2008 21:41:00 GMT
This is continued from the previous article.
Romark was part of the children’s camp I was helping with. He and 19 other boys would come to a farm a little way out of town each day and there we had our camp. I was Romark’s small group leader. That meant throughout the day, whether we were playing soccer, doing work duties, discussing the lesson, just hanging out or swimming, Romark was with me. It was that last one, swimming, which bonded us together the most.
Swimming was a big drawcard for the boys. The town swimming pool was a fair walk from the community in which they lived, and I’m not sure they could always afford the entry fee and the pool at the farm we were at was always a hit. At the mention of swimming, the boys in my group quickly got changed, showered of and ran to the pool gate where they would wait for me. I guess Romark did the same, I didn’t notice. What I did notice is once we reached the pool and I allowed the boys to jump in (and boy did they jump in), Romark was left standing by the side, possibly shivering.
Now at this point, I have to admit, I had jumped in and was already playing with the other boys by the time I noticed. Romark seemed to be shivering, as I mentioned, and that didn’t add up – it was a barmy thirty-something (that’s mid-to-high eighties for those of you stuck in Fahrenheit) and despite his slight physique, I was sure that Romark could not be cold. I asked one of the kids that was helping us with translation to ask what was wrong. She said that Romark couldn’t swim – in fact he was afraid of water.
That threw me. I live in a land of swimming pools and coastal cities. You learn to swim around about the time you learn to walk. I honestly cannot remember a time when I could not swim, so the idea that a seven year old boy couldn’t swim was definitely something I had to get my head around. Having done that, I decided that I wanted to fix that. I didn’t really know how. I had no recollection of learning how to swim, so I couldn’t rely on that. I decided getting him in the water was a start. I told him that if he wanted, he could hold onto me and we would go in the pool, and that he would be safe with me. Romark, after some convincing, agreed.
Romark
The result was comical indeed. A tiny coloured kid clinging to the neck of a lanky, very white, Sydney kid wading through a pool whilst several other splashed and played around them. He was shaking, even as he clung to me and as I walked through the pool, I kept repeating to him “I’ve got you, you’re okay, I’ve got you.” I’m not sure how much he understood, or how much it changed things, but at least it seemed to help. From there, over the next weeks, I managed to get Romark to loosen his grip a little, then to let me hold him while he kicked and even to jump and splash his way over to me a couple of times. By the end of our time, Romark would happily enter the pool on his own. He wasn’t swimming much, and stuck mostly to the shallow end, but it was a victory for me.
Now I didn’t write this story to blow my own trumpet. I’m not a swimming instructor. I’m sure plenty of people could have done a much better job than I in getting Romark comfortable in the water. The reason I’m writing is because the moment impacted me. This kid, who has been through a lot, there’s no question of that, decided that I was trustworthy enough that he would cling to me in an environment which he saw as hostile. I had the chance to do something for this kid that most fathers do for their children. To me that’s something special.
People give Christianity a lot of flack as a religion. I know, I just spent two and a half months on outreach, trying to effectively get across the message of my faith. People label the Christian faith as a lot of things, and I’m not about to deal with all of them here. What I do say however, is that my understanding of the Christian faith is that it is based around a loving father. I’m not going to quote scripture at you, or even say any more than that, but I believe when I carried Romark around that pool, I had a chance to show him a little slice of God’s love for him.
Tags christianity, faith, kids, southafrica, stories | no comments
Posted by Andrew
Sun, 28 Sep 2008 21:06:00 GMT
This is something of a test post, I’m interested in the reaction I get from attaching a story to a photo like this. I anticipate I’ll do something on Flickr as well, but just to say that this post has bigger implications than just filling space on the blog.
Romark was fascinating. At seven years old, might have been the youngest of the eco warriors, I’m not sure, but he was definitely the smallest. He barely passed my hip when standing next to me (although in fairness, my hips are a fair way up). I’m not sure what to attribute his small stature to. I’m not very good at associating size and age, but he did seem a little below the average. Perhaps it was just genetics, perhaps malnutrition, perhaps exposure to drugs at an early age. Whatever the case, his small stature was easily made up for by his brain.
Romark
It’s funny to judge a child’s intellect when you don’t really speak each others’ language. While Romark’s English was much better than my Afrikaans, our direct communication mostly consisted of him speaking in Afrikaans and I in English – our bodies spoke more than our words I think. Despite these communication issues, Romark had that certain something, that spark which conveys – more than words ever could – the fact that this boy had smarts.
I had heard stories of Romark’s exploits. One story detailed him masterminding a copper heist, planning the theft of copper wire from somewhere or other. I’m not sure if he was involved in the execution, but as the story was told, Romark came up with the plan and had other older boys do the dirty work. Remember, this is a seven year-old. To me, he stood out as a leader. Not because he was bossy, or because he had a lot to say, but because he didn’t need to say a lot. Romark would say something, (most of the time, I didn’t know what he was saying) and the other eco warriors would follow his lead.
Alas, because of the language barrier and because of the position I had over Romark as a camp leader, I never got to see the full extent of his craftiness or his leadership. My story is much more about my contact with Romark. That story comes tomorrow.
Tags kids, photos, southafrica, stories | no comments
Posted by Andrew
Thu, 15 May 2008 22:19:00 GMT
Here we go, almost a week after I finished production, the second episode of the DTS Podcast.
Unfortunately, it seems like iTunes is broken at the moment, so you’ll have to rely on the other methods provided below. I’m sort of working on iTunes, but I’m not exactly sure where the problem lies, it possibly came about after those months of downtime and the move between hosts. I’ll try and sort it out, but no promises.
Direct Link | Vimeo | iTunes | Feed
Update: The iTunes feed is now fixed, but has been moved. Please use the new iTunes link provided above.
Tags dts, photos, southafrica, tdts, video, vodcast, ywam | 1 comment
Posted by Andrew
Fri, 04 Apr 2008 12:39:00 GMT
I decided since my last video diary was so wildly popular (three people said they liked it) that I would do another one. Since this time I have access to half decent production equipment, you can maybe expect some improvement in production value. Right now, however, I’m just learning the ropes.
Sorry about the sound on this one, I didn’t really have time to think about doing it properly. Maybe next time.
As for why this has nothing to do with my DTS, let’s just say, the DTS hasn’t started yet, but I wanted to put some content up.
For this season, I’ve ditched Youtube in favour of Vimeo. Unless someone can think of a great reason why I should do both, or switch back to Youtube, it’s looking like that’s going to be the run of things.
At the moment, Vimeo is slightly odd, so may I suggest using the direct link or the podcast for the minute
Direct Link | Vimeo | iTunes | Feed
Tags dts, photos, southafrica, tdts, video, vodcast, ywam | 3 comments
Posted by Andrew
Sat, 24 Nov 2007 21:23:00 GMT
That’s right! I managed to make a video diary in Worcester. Unfortunately, the witty naming centre in my brain has gone on holiday, so you’re stuck with this. There may be more to come… WHO KNOWS!
Direct Link | YouTube | iTunes | Feed
Tags 2007trip, southafrica, travelblog | 1 comment
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