Church on Sunday

Some of the children of the Hananasif Orphanage Center gave a concert in a Lutherian church near Dar-Es-Salaam today. We went to meet the children and "Baba" for the first time. Baba means "father" in Swahili as Hezekia, the founder of the Hananasif Orphanage Center, is called like this by all the children. It was a real experience to join the mass.

The children from the HOCET performing during the mass.

It started around 10 am, with a group of people singing a very lively song/spiritual at the front while people were still arriving. Big speakers filled the church with the rhythmical sound of the song and people were dancing and singing on. In the rows, men, women, children were also dancing and clapping to the rhythms. We were warm heartedly invited to "clap and dance" if we feel like and after a while, we joined in. During the mass (which lasted until 12.30 am) several songs were performed/played trough playback. Each time, there would be a group of people dancing in the front and sometimes, other people would walk to the front and join the dance.

With the children at the church.

For lunch, we were invited by the very friendly locals, who greeted us with a big smile and a charismatic "Karibu!" (=welcome). In the afternoon (around 2 pm) the concert started with songs similar to the ones sung during the mass. It was very clear to us that the church plays a very important role in the life of the people, Everyone was very fine dressed for church and it seemed to us that the whole village attended church. Also it was very obvious that everyone enjoyed their time in church with songs, dance and prayers.
We stayed there until 5 pm before we drove back to our hostel, very tired but amazed by this new experience.

Tired but happy on the way back.