Students See Missions in Africa

It’s one of those moments where you can almost hear crickets chirping. Two International Mission Board short-term missionaries are trying to get a room full of high school students to open up about issues they face at home.

Silence.

A sea of blue and white uniforms begins to move as the teens fidget and squirm. Jay Dannelley and Chris Reasner wait for someone – anyone – to bail them out. Just as they’re about to toss this exchange into the hall of fame of awkward moments, some of the students at this school in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, start talking.

“Drugs,” says one. “Abuse,” says another. “Anger.”

Slightly stunned by the response, Dannelley and Reasner encourage the class to share their struggles with others. They also discuss how faith in God can change lives.

“We try to tell them, ‘You can change your school. You can make it better…if you are on fire for the Lord.’”

Hands On is designed to give young people a taste of life on the mission field by spending a semester or two overseas working alongside missionaries sharing the love of Christ.

They worked with the Cape Malay, a people of mixed races who trace their ancestry to Malaysian slaves of Dutch settlers. The slaves intermarried among a group of South Africans, now known as the “bushmen.” The Cape Malay live in some of the roughest areas, where 70 percent of the city’s crime is reported.

“The schools are the most dangerous (areas) of all,” says Wayne Barros, a Cape Malay and local Baptist pastor who has been working in high schools for the past 12 years.

“There have been a lot of cases of stabbing, getting guns into school.”

One evening, while riding on a street near his church, Barros spots a couple of young people behind a bush lighting what looks like a cigarette. Barros says they’re not smoking tobacco.

“Dagga,” he says, pronouncing it da-ha. It’s what Americans know as marijuana.

Gangs are also a problem, says missionary Boyd Hall, who works with the Barros and helped supervise Dannelley and Reasner. Hall scans some recent photos of students, looking closely for gang signs and their signature colors.

“I didn’t see any of them flashing gang signs with their fingers,” he says, but adds, “If you (had) known what you are looking for, you would have seen their tag markings in the schools. Those schools are rough. There are a lot of (gangs) there.”

Suicide is another major issue. There is a bridge at the edge of the city where so many people have jumped to their death – so many that the city installed a video camera and an emergency phone.

In a city of 1 million people, Hall knows he and his team are up against a mighty challenge.

One afternoon, students crowd into a classroom. Some stand on desks. Some sing and dance. Others nibble on their lunch. To an outsider, the situation appears to be bordering on chaos.

For those in the room it’s a typical monthly Christian club meeting of praise and worship.