Event Reviews

Summer Term 2009

by Kyle Armstrong

The first thing that might spring to mind when you think of a Christian youth group is a bearded man in shorts and sandals, teaching young children about Jesus, going on camping trips in the summer and playing guitars around a camp-fire. Perhaps with some hide and seek thrown in the mix.

Not this one. Tribe from Newlife church is a youth group with a difference. The group, for 11–18 year olds, which can be around 50 large on some occasions, meets at Histon Baptist church on a Friday evening, and have various activities, some of which include table tennis, football, different outdoor games and much more. The name Tribe is quite fitting, as the group are very close to each other, in some ways like a family. Not all of the group are Christians, but all enjoy coming along and developing the friendships they have. Over the past year they have been learning about social action and Justice in their weekly meetings.

Last September, they took part in a nationwide event called slum survivor. The aim of this weekend was to understand more what it was like to live in a slum, and raise money for soul action, a UK charity. This involved the youth raising sponsorship to sleep outdoors in D.I.Y shelters and eating very little. Over a Friday and Saturday night the group built shelters out of donated wood and tarpaulin, with rare pieces of cardboard, which became home for two nights. They also had to live off rice and Dahl, which is a spicy food used to give some taste to the rice. During these tiring two days the group performed many tasks, some of which included walking to get water from a tap and brining it back to the camp, in order to gain a perspective of how it felt to live in a slum.

This term Tribe also took part in a No Slumber event, similar to Slum Survivor but focused on the impact of aids in Third World countries. This time they slept indoors, but the group was split into families, and all members of the family had different roles to play. The tasks and decisions were very mentally and emotionally challenging, as the wrong choice could mean a lack of a meal, or even the 'injuring' of one of their family members. Other tasks they took part in involved collecting firewood from the local forest and scavenger hunts in the local village of Histon, which surprised many of the locals.

This scenario helped the group understand how it felt to live without parents, and to deal with the difficulties of aids in their family.

For the last term, Tribe have been studying different aspects of social action, with speakers from Tearfund coming to talk about what social action is, and how we can help as individuals.

The leaders of the group have seen a positive response from these activities, with members of the youth stating that they now feel they understand certain issues more, and feel they would like to change their lifestyles in different ways in order to benefit and help those around them who are in need. Tribe also had a fasting day, where they fasted for one day, raised money and thought about how it feels to have no food to eat for a day. But of course, they all ate pizza at the end of the night as a special treat.

So keep an eye out for Tribe. If your out for a nice relaxing walk in the beautiful village of Histon one evening, you never know what you may come across...

Harlaxton Manor Weekend!

by Kyle Armstrong