Leadership Camp - 45 Student Leaders Camp in Tents

Three and a half days of leadership camp left me simply desperate for God, desperate for answers, and desperate for a bed!

It was incredibly fulfilling to work with these young leaders and help to provide guidance and instruction during these few days.

The weekend started with an intense challenge that would rival Survivor because of its more than two hour length! Students were put into groups of 5 and were given laminated maps, two inner tubes, 3 sticks and a rope. They were then sent into a gently moving river of varying depths to take their team and their raft upstream.

Several stops along the way had them searching for flags and working as a team. But easily the greatest challenge was the fact that of 45 students, at least 20 were not at all comfortable with water! Some could not swim at all and one of my own students said later that it was her first time being in a body of water of any kind! (It was great fun to watch her learn to swim in the pool throughout the weekend.)

“Going against the flow” was a common theme over the next few days as students grappled with issues of their identity, the effect that Apartheid has on how they value themselves, and forgiveness. Huge topics for a huge weekend.

If I’m being honest, I didn’t really want to go. Just the idea of taking a long weekend and spending it in tents was not that appealing to me. But man was I glad I was there!

The weekend really brought me back to the heart of what I do – and it connected me with students that I wouldn’t otherwise have known.

The weekend made me desperate to find all the answers in the bible to every question they have.

The weekend reduced to me tears as conversations about forgiveness led one young girl to speak about how rape had left her pregnant at 15. Through tears she told me about the blessing of that little girl’s life, even in such turmoil and hardship.

Days later I was struck with this picture of what happens when we don't strive after forgiveness as people who have been forgiven so much. I'm sure the analogy stems from so much talk about who is able to swim and who is not...Our feet are shackled to the bottom of a pool and the water is filling up around us, but we have the key to unlock our chains in our hand. But it's just too scary to put our face under the water, dive down and begin the process of unlocking ourselves. So instead we settle for drowning slowly.

From Cape to Kenya!

Ayanda Msebenzi has completed his 3 months of discipleship training and is now on his way to do 2 months of mission work in Kenya!

I was reminded by a friend recently, that it’s an amazing fulfillment of the great commission to see a young man who lives in a shack take to the slums of Kenya to spread the gospel.

Personally, for me it’s experiencing his dynamic change in just 3 months that blows me away. Before he left for Kenya, Ayanda joined us for our Monday morning prayer meeting. To hear the conviction with which he speaks and his command of the truth was just plain inspiring.

The other day I received an update that read, “Dear Parents” and I giggled. He and I laughed about it together over lunch, and then he later wrote me a text and called me mom. A touching sentiment for sure, but also an accurate account of how invested I feel in his future, and the future of others.

Upon his return Ayanda will start into the Media Village video production semester, and the directors there are already speaking with him about fulltime employment with them, which speaks to how hard he’s working.

The outreach cost was more than we planned, but it’s certainly not my place to halt what God has set before him, and so we step out in faith that God will meet these needs as He has met the others!

Jungle Room grabs cameras and takes to the streets (of Kuyasa)

Our 8 to 11 year-old art class is in full swing! We’re working through the ViewFinder Project curriculum – a wonderful initiative that teaches students that with the help of a camera they can make even “ugly” things beautiful.

It was insightful to get a glimpse into what they find to be ugly. When asked the question I heard answers like, “fights, stabbing, shouting, food in the road, police, vomit and Tsotsis (street thug)”. At the least it was a glimpse into what an 8-year-old might be exposed to in a township.

What a challenge and privilege it is to teach a young child about photography – and in another language! Each Friday I’m amazed with what they retain from the week prior, and I certainly love the tiny arms eager for hugs at the end of class.

First Kuyasa Photo Exhibition a Success

After six months of classes we have successfully graduated our first Kuyasa Level 1 photography class. The class was an initiative started by professional photographers Christine Meintjies and Lauren Kriedemann with the inspiration of The Viewfinder Project. Intern Ncumisa Siko, fresh off her time at the Media Village, was critical to the success of the project.

The students exhibited their work this past week, and the response was overwhelming. Many visitors that had never experienced Kuyasa came to participate in the day’s events. The demand was such that we actually began selling the photographs on behalf of the students, and it looks like a donor has stepped forward to create a book of their showcased photos. The theme for the exhibition was “Life In Kayamandi”.

Have a new or used digital camera that you'd like to donate? simply email lakatie_taylor@yahoo.com

Photo on the right was taken by student Cwenga Gwadiso

Another student is heading to the Media Village!

It is both incredibly rewarding and scary at the same time, but another student from the 2008 class is soon to pass his matric (graduate from high school) and his sights are set on the Media Village.

The Media Village is a YWAM program in the Cape Town area that focuses on different areas of the media, one of which is video production. And while we believe that one day the Kuyasa Film School will be pumping out incredible film talent, we’re not yet staffed and equipped to offer that kind of in depth training for our students.

So our very own Ayanda Msebenzi will start with his 6 months of discipleship training in January and will then transition into the school of video production at the end of June.

Ayanda has been a Hats & Glasses leader for several years as well as participating in the Film School. We are happy to support him in this effort, as this has been his focus for completing high school.

It’s a big commitment for me since it costs about $6000 for this 9 months of training/room and board. But I believe that God will provide and so we step forward in faith.

Breakthroughs

Thanks to many of you I am back in South Africa full time overseeing the visual arts department at the non-profit Kuyasa. We’ve successfully launched a new Level 1 film class of nine dedicated students. Thanks to the continued efforts of my former student Odwa, many of them are starting with a greater knowledge of cameras than the pilot program had in 2008.

After weeks of class work we recently evaluated their first short films, typically the movies that students look back at and laugh, and they are excited to hone their skills. When they sat down for their first personal interviews for the documentary I was truly inspired. We strive to create a very open environment of sharing and vulnerability and that was no different with this class. Students shared openly and honestly and I’m glad for the opportunity to truly know them through this process.

One of my favorite moments in this very busy week happened around the editing bay (sitting in front of our old mac laptop) with a student named Emmanuel. He was one of our first round of directors for their task 2 assignment, which includes their first crack at editing their films. It's a steep learning curve the first time, but to edit their own film is an invaluable lesson in directing as it helps you to think through how you would shoot things differently the next time. There are often shot opportunities missed and they always wish they had more coverage of each scene (shooting from different angles and more close-ups etc). It was so fun to sit down with Emmanuel - take his short film and just teach him one on one. He just soaked up the information, and at moments threw his hands in the air in amazement at how we were able to change and adjust his short to make it that much better. By the time we finished, he turned to me and said, "SisKatie, I'm so proud of myself, cause I've never done anything like this before. I didn't even know that I could do something like this."

It's one of those moments that makes all the work worth it.

It's one of those moments where my sacrifices, big and small fade to the background.

It's one of those moments that you can be proud of the dollars that you send in support of this project.

When passion meets opportunity there is no end to what we're capable of doing together. Thank you for believing in this project, in these students and in me. I'll never be the same.

My New Best Friend

This nine-year-old, Phlumehlo, is my new best friend. I remember him from years past as a real trouble-maker, but this year he’s anything but trouble. Phlumehlo comes to visit me at my office everyday in the afternoon. He starts by looking into the outside window to see if I’m in, and then comes tearing down the hallway and announces first that he needs a hug. Once he gets his hug, he promptly sits down and fidgets while I write out a sheet of math problems.

It didn’t take long to figure out that Phlumehlo couldn’t tell the difference between the addition and subtraction symbols, so that became our first lesson. Once we graduated to the adding and taking away of fingers, we then started the lesson that we will always have 5 fingers on each hand, no need to count them each time.

With each day he gets a better grasp on things, and while I’m sure he appreciates the help, I imagine that the individual attention is what he’s really seeking each day.