Cape Town, Part 2

Flexibility. We often remind ourselves that flexibility is one of the most important traits one must develop to minister in Africa. Our Tuesday night Bible studies in Cape Town provided us with opportunities to tune up our flexibility.

We headed off in different directions after dinner. Don Boyd took David to do a Bible study for a combined group of congregations while Sondra Davis took me to the Westlake neighborhood for a women’s Bible class. Westlake is made up of new but tiny duplexes. The Westlake church meets in a “windy house” behind a duplex belonging to Congolese refugees Honore and Bizou. A windy house is a term for any kind of prefabricated structure built behind another dwelling. Some are used as living quarters, some for storage, and this one houses the thirty to forty members of an inner city congregation. This windy house was made of metal sheets on sides and top. The floor of the 8 x 12 room was a layer of sand, and about 12 plastic chairs were arranged in a circle. We arrived and sat with one or two others as the rest of the women trickled in. As the daylight faded, one of Bizou’s daughters announced that someone had gone to buy electricity. It seems that in these low-income housing areas, electricity is a pre-paid item. You pay your money and are given a code to activate the meter.

The women began singing, alternating songs in English, Langila (a Congolese dialect), and Xhosa, the language of distinctive clicks. A few minutes later Bizou arrived and tried switching on the lights in the windy house. Nothing. She adjusted the light bulb and inspected it to see if it was burned out, but it seemed to be fine. Still no light. I mentally began going through my notes in case I had to teach in the dark, but Bizou decided we should all come inside her house since the electricity was working there.

We picked up a few of the chairs and trekked into the tiny cubicle that serves as kitchen and living room. Sondra whispered to me, “There are seven people living in this one-bedroom house.” We found places at the narrow end of the 6 x 8 foot living area while more women filled in the rest of that space and then the slightly larger kitchen area. Bizou graciously welcomed all of us and worked to free up every inch of available space for chairs and women.

The Bible study went well, and I was pleased to see many of the ladies diligently looking up every scripture as we went along. We were all so close together that it was easy to maintain eye contact with every one of the twelve or so women. Afterward two of the women arranged for individual studies. We said our goodbyes and headed back to Sondra’s house to meet up with David and Don.

When we got to Sondra’s, we were told that David and Don were now at the Riverview church building and we should meet them there. It seems that they had set off for the community center normally used by one of the congregations, but found it empty. After driving around for several minutes, they found a church member who said the meeting was at a different community center in Lavender Hill. They drove there, only to find their Bible study group standing outside the locked doors. No one had gotten the key during the daytime, and now there was no way to get in. Someone had access to the church building at Riverview. Don had his Toyota pickup, and two or three others also had vehicles, so the decision was made to load everyone up and go to Riverview. The Bible study that was set to begin at 7:00 finally got started after 8:00 and was just winding up when we arrived shortly after 9:00. No one seemed to mind, and all of us enjoyed refreshments and fellowship after the study. The vehicles were loaded once again, with people sitting on laps and filling every inch of the truck beds for the trip back to their homes.

The evening was declared a success in spite of all the moves and changes. It’s all about flexibility!