Kloof Harvest Church near Durban has been our host church these past 2.5 weeks. Ingane Yami is just one of the many programs that Kloof supports in the Durban surrounding areas. Another program which we had the privilege of witnessing is called True Life.
True Life is an internship program in which young adults who are interested in dramatic, creative, and media arts use their gifts to reach the children and youth of local primary and secondary schools. We had the opportunity to attend two of these True Life productions in our final week here at Dassenhoek. Half of our team loaded up with the True Life interns and headed 45 minutes outside of Kloof to a rural primary school.
The production team and our team of 5 helped to set up a double classroom with the things needed for the production. After a bit of practice and ushering in grade 6 and 7 students we watched their production on bullying for grade 6 and identity for grade 7.
This True Life program is quite an amazing little production, and in the 5 years since it began it has expanded from 6 programs a year, to productions every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday each week during school term. The impact has been real and seen among the people of South Africa.
True Lifers share productions on various topics ranging from Bullying to Human Trafficking and there have been some great things happening as a result. One story in particular that really struck a chord with me happened after a grade 11/12 human trafficking presentation.
During this show students are engaged early on in an interactive piece. One of the True Lifers comes out and talks up a program that the students can be involved in. They get the kids excited about the opportunity and all hyped up about being a part of this amazing experience which will let them travel all over the world. Then, they branch into how this is how children, young adults, and especially women are lured into the human trafficking industry.
After presenting this program at a secondary school, a young girl came up to one of the True Lifers and told her that she was pretty sure that this was what was happening to her right then and there. The young lady had posted on Facebook that she was interested in a modeling opportunity and she was quickly contacted by someone in an industry asking for photos which became increasingly explicit over time. Contacts were exchanged, police were involved, and now a child sex trafficking ring is being investigated as a result of this program. Talk about making an impact!
Because the program is used in all types of schools, including public, private, and even Muslim schools there is no mention of God or the church, but what they are doing is bringing back morality to a world which has so dramatically shifted from it. They present the values of God without mentioning the name of God, but it is certainly anointed by and covered in God and the Holy Spirit. They plant seeds in students which will hopefully grow into lives which are more rooted in morality. True Life is making a difference!
What a joy it was to experience this excellent program. I can’t wait to hear more about the impact that it is making on the youth of South Africa. Their goal is to see it branch out to different countries and eventually be seen across the globe. We could certainly use programs like this in the states. We shall see what the Lord has planned.
