South Africa - Part Two

Several people asked me what Sister Ross’s house looked like after they read last weeks messenger. I found this photo of a house near Sister Ross’s. This photo was taken in 2000 during our second trip to South Africa. We had played a concert the night before at the church in Upington and we were visiting some of the church folk in the surrounding townships. Several people in this neighborhood told us that they couldn’t make it to the church for the concert but they were glad we came to visit them. After a little discussion we found a house three doors down that had power so we hooked together two extension cords, these are 230 power cords by the way, and strung them over two fences to reach the porch of the house that sat right behind this one. We sat up all of our equipment on the concrete slab porch and played a concert right there. The whole neighborhood came, bringing their chairs from their kitchens, and watched. The folks in the photo showed up just to watch us setting up.

The man is the owner of the house that he had built with his own hands. He was building a concrete block house behind it that would house the rest of his family. In several different colors of spray paint he had inscribed the address, Aurora 8, on the front of the house. Aurora 8 was the sight of the most successful concert I ever play because without any advertising or advance notice we had a great audience who enjoyed the music and let us know it! I have played many beautiful venues in front of larger audiences but nothing will ever top the porch at Aurora 8.

Remember, I’m listening.

Ralph Sappington – Director of Worship Arts