Jesus is THE Perfect Sanitizer
Using Vacation Bible School to Help Combat Coronavirus in Tanzania
Atlanta-based UboraTZ creates “Jesus is the Perfect Sanitizer” VBS program to educate and feed children in Siha District
Vacation Bible School (VBS) is a right of passage for many American schoolchildren each summer. The kids gather at church during the week to sing songs of hope and love, make crafts, engage in other fun activities and learn about the love of Jesus.
It wasn’t too long ago that children in the village of Karansi, Tanzania had never heard of VBS before. That all changed in 2018 when a group of volunteers with UboraTZ and Perimeter Church in Atlanta decided to combine our VBS tradition with the vibrant worship of our Tanzanian brothers and sisters – so that the children could experience the Gospel in a very new way.
“VBS has been a huge hit for the children in the village and it’s something we normally work on for at least six months,” explained Dave Burgess, who oversees the Community and Discipleship pillar for Ubora. “There’s a lot involved as it relates to prayer, planning, mobilization of volunteers, purchasing items and then international travel and implementation of VBS in Karansi for the children in that area.”
““It is a co-mingling of the gospel ideas that make it so much better when you go out and touch the community. With VBS, we are equals learning from each other, reaching kids who may not know about Jesus.””
Ubora is an Atlanta-based non-profit dedicated to serving a remote area in Africa near Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania–Karansi and the Siha District—that was once almost devastated by disease, drought and systemic poverty. Ubora comes alongside local churches, government and community leaders and its non-profit partner, SHEFO on the ground in Karansi, to help facilitate holistic community transformation in the area.
“VBS is usually carried out by “family trips,” which include at least one parent and their middle or high-school aged child” – but we also love to have adults and college students join as well,” explained Dave. “Typically we travel to Tanzania with about 20 people from Atlanta, with our suitcases packed full of items for VBS. One year, we brought 300 pounds of different colored sand and 1,000 clear plastic bottles. As the children created sand art, we discussed how God loves them more than the grains of sand on the seashore, and also about how each of them is unique and beautiful – just like the art they created. This way of using art to bring the Gospel alive is new and really impactful.”
Each child attending VBS received a face mask, hand sanitizer and bag of rice.
This year, as the group of volunteers gathered virtually due to COVID-19, they all agreed that canceling VBS and letting down the hundreds of Tanzanian children who normally attend each summer was not an option. The group soon discovered there was another more urgent and pressing need that the VBS could provide: a way to get food into the hands of the children and families in that area. Another pressing need was the fear that was surrounding the pandemic.
Because of the urgent need for food, the planning schedule was compressed and a different type of strategy was implemented to bring VBS to life for the children of Karansi. “It was all hands on deck as we utilized all of the resources we had, including our volunteers here in Atlanta, along with our partners in Karansi, including SHEFO, the teachers of Siha Leadership Pre- and Primary School and the local churches there,” said Dave.
“This year’s VBS programming had to look a lot different because of COVID-19,” said Dave. The group landed on the theme: “Jesus is the Perfect Sanitizer,” to help carry the combined message of Jesus + COVID and to help the children overcome fear of the disease by relying on the hope of Christ.
“Jesus is the Perfect Sanitizer” VBS in Tanzania was carried out over the two weeks of May 25 and June 1, 2020.
Each child also received a gospel bracelet and learned the meaning behind the colors for each bead.
This year’s VBS featured:
A half-day program held at various churches in the area, which provided the opportunity to reach more children in smaller groups versus the traditional one-week large session program
Education around the importance of proper handwashing and social distancing
Each child received a VBS gift bag that included a face mask, sanitizer, soap and a bag of rice for their family
Each child received a gospel bracelet with colored beads representing:
Black – Our heart covered with sin
Red – Jesus’ blood that washes us clean
White – Our heart clean, sins have been erased and we are presented as faultless to God
Green – Let us continue to grow and walk with Jesus
Yellow – Remember to always walk in the light
“Pastor Wariaeli has long been the visionary faith and community leader in the area,” said Dave. “Earlier this year, Pastor Wariaeli and local health officials arranged for a meeting of faith leaders to inform about COVID-19 and to help bring the community together; these new relationships with the faith leaders were important when the decision was made to bring VBS to the various churches versus hosting it at our school. As a result, we had ten local churches participate in VBS.”
To make the magic of VBS happen, the team in Atlanta worked with the team in Karansi which included: representatives from Siha Leadership School, including the former headmaster, Godfrey, teachers PC and Jane, and our social worker, Witness, along with children from the school and our team from SHEFO, including Baraka and Joseph and the community health leaders Mr. Peter Msaka and Dr. Aman Kisanga.
“The response was tremendous as we had 531 children attend this year’s VBS,” said Dave. “ We had participation from two churches in Karansi and eight outside of the village in the district.”
““There is a cultural thing (in Tanzania) that perhaps the adults don’t play with the kids as much. VBS shows us new ways for the kids to experience the gospel that culturally we don’t do.” ”
“Our Atlanta team grieved the fact that we couldn’t be there as we had been the past two years,” said Dave. “However, we were also super excited for the team there in Karansi and their chance to really take ownership of VBS. And they did it so well! They came up with the theme, put together all of the deliverables very quickly and then delivered VBS to the children with lots of joy and enthusiasm.”
The work of Ubora is carried out through the Project Child sponsorship program and Ubora’s four pillars of excellence created to educate children, provide healthcare and humanitarian aid and help build economic sustainability for the future.
To learn more about Ubora, visit: www.uboratz.org.
Joy was in the air as children learned how to protect themselves from the virus and about the love of Jesus.