Music Camp 2023

Today’s the day! The final concert took place at 9.15 a.m. Before that, all the delegates and camp leaders had a photo shoot. It was a warm and sunny day, everyone was wearing their uniforms and excitement for the concert was in the air. There were a few visitors from the Salvation Army in Zimbabwe, and even from Malawi. The concert went smoothly and excellently. Luckily, there were no power cuts. The hard work everyone had put in this past week definitely paid off. The final song was called “Someone Cares”, written by John Larsson and arranged by Daniel Bates. This was not only the theme of this camp but also a very important message that was given to the people in attendance. The lyrics to the song say “Do you sometimes feel like no one really knows you, and that no one understands or really cares?”. We all have our moments of doubt, anger, frustration or sadness. We feel left out, lonely or unheard. But there is someone who cares for every single one of us. God hears your prayers. He is by your side, because he cares!

After the concert was done, we had lunch and then it was time to say goodbye. Lots and lots of pictures were taken, memories were captured, contact information was exchanged, hugs were given, departing words were spoken…

A successful Southern Africa Regional Music Camp 2023 is coming to an end. Over a week ago, we started the camp with about 300 people, coming from various countries. Some people already knew each other, some were strangers to one another. But through our shared love for Christ and music, and also the various activities, we grew closer.

Us here from the Swiss/Norwegian team would like to say a massive thank you to all the delegates and leaders from Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Botswana and South Africa. It was a pleasure to have you at the camp! Thank you to the staff from Howard High School for their hospitality, generosity, for always providing for us with anything we needed and making sure we were safe day and night. Thank you to the catering service for all the delicious meals. Thank you to Lt. Colonel Jesline Sithole for always having our backs and making so many things possible. Thank you to all the donors of financial aid and/or instruments and people supporting SwiZimAid. Your contributions are greatly appreciated! We want to thank our heavenly Father for all he has given us during this trip. We are grateful and our hearts are filled with joy!

The Swiss/Norwegian team left Howard High School at around 2 p.m. As we stay one more night in Harare, our group is about to separate as well. Some of the guys and girls are going back home to Europe, others will stay in Africa for another week to go to Zambia. We shared a wonderful time together in Zimbabwe and had a lot of fun. For now, we say goodbye, take care and may God bless you!

On a personal note: thank you for following and sharing this blog!

This morning, the bands and the choir had their last rehearsals before the concert. Since there were no workshops planned, practice went on until lunch. With the concert so close, the delegates worked even harder than ever. In the afternoon, one final rehearsal took place with all the bands and choirs. The five bands (named Rhinos, Leopards, Lions, Buffalos and Elephants) and the two choirs (Joy Choir and Grace Choir) performed the pieces they had worked on this past week. The dance group got to show their work as well. Since we don’t want to spoil the surprise, there won’t be any pictures of this rehearsal. 🙂

In the evening, we had the chance to look at all the pictures that were taken by Martin during the camp. A few of these were already posted on this blog. Further pictures will be available on the SwiZimAid website, as soon as Martin returns home.

This camp could not have worked out so smoothly if it wasn’t for some very important people running things in the background, mostly before, during and after the workshops or rehearsals. A catering service provided us with delicious meals every day. About 300 people were part of this camp, which required a lot of food.

What would you do if your instrument got damaged during the camp? Don’t you worry, there was even a repair team, equipped with tools for a quick fix.

As we look forward to the concert tomorrow, it is also hard to believe that the camp will be over after. Luckily, we still have a couple of hours ahead of us.

There will be a live stream of the concert, starting at 9.30 a.m. on Saturday the 12th of August 2023.

Follow this link to find the stream: https://m.facebook.com/salvationarmyzim/

Hello, good morning, good afternoon or good evening, wherever you are reading this from. For us here at Howard High School, we have a few busy days behind and still ahead of us. Our mornings are filled with band or choir rehearsals and later on with workshops. Of course, we also take breaks in between.

In the afternoon, the practices continue. I took the time to go listen to all the bands and the choir several times, and I can confirm that progress is being made. This really speaks for all the delegates and leaders!

The past two days our evening programme was filled with fun activities. On Tuesday, we had a game night. Now, who doesn’t love games? The countries were tested on their knowledge of each other and some other tasks involved singing, dancing or instrument playing. For each activity, the countries were rewarded with points. In the end, Zimbabwe won with 17.5 points and Switzerland/Norway was close with 15.5 points. On Wednesday was talent night. The delegates had the chance to show off their singing skills or gift of instrument playing. There were many different performances which made for an entertaining evening.

Today was the first day where camp life officially went underway. Wake-up time was at 6 a.m. with a jog (I wonder why not everyone seemed to be too happy about this…). At 7 it was time for breakfast. We had our daily devotional time at around 7.45. An hour later, all the practices started. They continued until 10.30, then we had a morning tea break. Refreshed and fuelled for another 90 minutes, we were ready for the workshops. As promised in yesterday’s blog post, I’ll introduce you to some of the different options the delegates could choose from.

Theory Grade 1-3: the delegates get to learn about music theory, starting with the basics.

Dancing: the delegates come up with a dance which will be performed at the final concert on Saturday.

Norwegian Music: the delegates can learn all about Norwegian melodies and simple greetings and words.

Ladies band: a group of women get together to play brass tunes.

Photo shooting: all you need is a phone with a camera and you’re good to go.

Brigade Management: have you ever wanted to learn something about leadership? This is the workshop to attend, then.

… and there are even more! Some are just on one single day while others last three days in a row.

Here are some words of the delegates about the workshops they attended:

“It was fun. We played soccer. Zimbabwe played Malawi. We won 2:1.” (Simba, Basil, Takudzwa, all from Zimbabwe, Workshop Sports Competitions)

“It was fun. I learned a lot that I hadn’t known before. The leaders were also making jokes”. (Rita, Workshop Theory Grade 1)

“It was cool. There were only a few ladies, which made a one-on-one coaching possible. It was good to have technical assistance from Monika”. (Restina, Workshop Ladies Band)

In the afternoon some more practices took place until 5.30 p.m.

As for the evening programme, one person from each country had prepared a presentation about their respective country. I think it is fair to say that we all got to learn at least one new thing tonight.

On this Sunday morning, we started off the day with a wonderful breakfast. We were pleased to see that the delegates from Malawi and Zambia had arrived safely last night. So had the delegates from Botswana. Unfortunately, we were informed that the delegates from South Africa wouldn’t be able to make it to the camp. On the programme today was an official opening service. After the Swiss/Norwegian and African “staff band” kicked off the meeting, Lt. Colonel Jesline Sithole took the time to introduce everyone involved in this camp. The service continued with brass music, choir songs, prayers and testimonies from representatives from the different countries. The energy in the Church Hall was joyful and contagious.

After the service, it was time for the remaining auditions for the brass bands. Then we had lunch.

Later this afternoon, the official brass bands were announced. The place was buzzing with excited delegates. Then the first choir and band practices took place.

After dinner, the camp leaders and delegates gathered in the Church Hall once again for the evening programme. The leaders played some brass tunes and made several announcements concerning camp life. Then it was time to present the workshops. Besides singing in a choir or playing in a brass band, the delegates got to choose workshops which they’ll be attending the next couple of days. Which workshops there are and what they entail will be in tomorrow’s blog post. A busy day is coming to an end and the next few days will be even busier.

Good night everyone!

The day has finally come! Today at 2 p.m. the 2023 Southern Africa Regional Music Camp officially started. The first delegates from Zimbabwe arrived at around 3.30 p.m. People from all ages and different corps got here.

As soon as the delegates were settled in, auditions were held to determine which brass band the participants would join. Every person got to show their instrument-playing skills for about 5-10 minutes. For the choir, no auditions were required. After a quick dinner, the auditions continued. This went on until late at night.

We are glad the delegates had a safe journey and made it to Howard High School. The excitement and curiosity as to what will happen in the next couple of days can definitely be felt. We are confident that the Lord will provide us with a wonderful time here.

Sincere apologies for no blog post yesterday. Due to a lack of wifi service, the upload was not possible. Here’s a quick summary of what we did on Friday the 4th of August:

Once again, the Swiss/Norwegian Team and African Team sat together and finalized some last details about the camp. Same procedure as yesterday, pretty much.

After lunch, we got to visit Howard Hospital of the Salvation Army. The project manager of the hospital gave us a short tour of the different wards, whilst they were running their daily business. Some impressions of this tour are down below.

Another band practice took place later this afternoon. Afterwards, a delicious dinner awaited us. Going to bed early was definitely a big priority this evening, since on Saturday the music camp officially starts. We’ve got a week with a packed schedule ahead of us.

We are very excited about this upcoming week and look forward to having amazing experiences with everyone involved in this camp.

This morning we had our first meeting with the band and songster leaders from Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi. After breakfast, we sat together and started brain­storming to come up with an ideal schedule for the camp week. Since there were a lot of things to consider, like the number of participants, the room capacities and the organization of things, it took us quite a while to figure everything out. But we managed to get there as a group. After lunch, we continued our planning and even started to get together in smaller groups to discuss details about the brass bands, the choir and a lot more. We shared ideas, laughs and made the best of what we had and could use. We’ve got a fun and varied programme for this upcoming week ready.

The first band practice of our “staff band” also took place. After a long day filled with discussions and instrument playing, we had dinner and went to bed. We have one more day of planning and organizing ahead of us before the delegates arrive on Saturday.