As the camp theme song says, God indeed gave us a brand new start today. An early start was recommended, people were encouraged to jog between 6am-7am and this was incredibly successful with three people out of 240 making it for the jog. Luckily everyone made it for the filling breakfast before devotions.

As the day began we were reminded that Fusion (our camp theme) seeks to capture the sense of celebration when a believer gets to heaven. A celebration one can imagine will be full of playing instruments and happy songs, highly significant to the atmosphere in the music camp this week. The morning devotion also highlighted the importance of not allowing ourselves to be distracted by how good we are and to always remember that it is all for the glory of God.

Auditions continued through the morning and finally the bands could be grouped and named and the afternoon witnessed the campsite resounding in music from all corners as the four bands and two songsters rehearsed through the afternoon. Since auditions started on Sunday, there were delegates that were finished and they were not left occupied!

 

There was an intense sport session that witnessed the friendly soccer and netball competitions. There was cheering and screaming and good team spirit in the atmosphere.

Featured Band: Bramwell Coles

This group consists of 34 members all at learning level, for many its the first experience with brass band music and the motivation levels are high. For the first training, the group was split into 3 and each of the leaders took their time training similar instrumented players. In an intimate semi-circle John, one of the facilitators spoke to the delegates and taught them about breathing technics as well as scales from A to G. He also explained that the professionals in brass band music have only reached where they are because of practice and encouraged them and told them that they too would be able to play at this high level with practice. Hans-Peter encouraged the learners that instead of one long practice once a week, they could start with 10mins a day to regularly practice. Christian completed the trio of facilitators by teaching the delegates how to play with strength and patience.

Six Countries Under One Roof

As we go on in this journey of this camp together, it is important that we understand each other and where we come from hence the evening program was dominated by the sharing of the below information:

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is 9000km away from Zimbabwe and although it is linked to the UK politically, the culture is more similar to Scotland and the Republic of Ireland. St. Patrick is famous because he brought Christianity to Ireland. Ireland has the shamrock plant that was used by St. Patrick to tell about God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. The Salvation Army first arrived 140 years ago in Ireland. The band in the local corps in Belfast plays an open concert every Sunday and even the open top bus for tourists stop to listen to them.

Malawi

It is also called the warm heart of Africa and there are 17 million people in Malawi. The main language is Chichewa.Malawi is almost famous for their delicious rice though the main export is tobacco, tea and sugar. The women wear the chitende and have a special technic for tying it around their wastes. Salvation Army Zimbabwe brought the Salvation Army to Malawi and they are thankful for that. Salvation Army Malawi is growing every day and they call for other fellow worshipers to stand with them in prayer that they may keep going forward.

South Africa

There are 9 provinces that they are proud of in South Africa. It is a rich country with 11 official langauges. South Africa boasts of many tourist attractions which include the Kruger National Park, they also have natural pools and waterfalls around the country. South Africa says it is part of their culture to teach others how to dance and they graced us with one such performance accompanied by song and the african drum. In their local corps, music gives the people hope and helps them believe that they can face another day.

Switzerland

Switzerland, a tiny country in the middle of Europe has the Matterhorn. 8.2 million people living on 41 277 square kilometers. There are 4 official languages. 64% speak German, 19% speak French, 8% Speak Italian and 0.6% speak Romanch. Zurich is the economic capital and Bern the political capital of Switzerland. Salvation Army started in 1882 in Switzerland and they are also responsible for Austria and Hungary. At the moment the church in Western Europe is shrinking and they would like to ask for prayers from fellow believers to see to its expansion.

Zambia

Zambia is landlocked and is surrounded by over eight countries. There are over 16 million people and it is one of the fastest growing population with the highest levels of urbanization. Zambia shares the Victoria Falls with Zimbabwe and tourism plays a major role on the economic performance of Zambia. Zambia has 73 tribes despite it being a small country. Zimbabwe introduced the Salvation Army in Zambia.and it has now spread up to the Copper Belt. By 2016 there were 268 officers and 235 of them are active.

Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe means house of stone. The flag shares some colors with the salvation army: red, white and yellow. Zimbabwe is a continuum of people originating from other African regions. Zim is sitting on a belt of minerals Harare is the capital and is also referred to as the sunshine city. Bulawayo is the 2nd largest and is referred to as the city of kings. Salvation Army is the largest territory in the world (125 years) with over 680 active officers and 150 retired officers. Zim oversees salvation army work in Madagascar and Botswana.

 

Photo Credits: Tobias Kramer

Like SwiZimAid on Facebook for blog updates.