Yesterday started as a very lazy day. I woke up at 7 and puttered around for a couple hours. I was really bored with nothing to do; maybe I’ve been taking my buddy Jovin for granted. I finally got moving with some chores and tasks around 9. At noon I got picked up to go to a Grand Praise concert!
Earlier this week, a teacher from school, Pamela, had invited me to join her. I wasn’t sure if I was going to go, especially because I was weighing the decision of going to Serengeti with Jovin and Lucas. Once I decided $300 was too expensive for 10 hours of driving and one night in the park, going to the concert just fell into place. The concert didn’t start until 3:00ish (with doors opening at 2:30) and I thought Pamela was crazy for wanting to get there at 1:00.
Turns out she was sane. I would say there were at least 2,000 people in attendance. The hall ended up being too small for all of the people; the seats were filled within 5 minutes, the standing room filled shortly after, and people who decided to come on time—not to mention the late comers—were forced to watch on a tv outside.
It was a pretty interesting event. We only stayed until 9:00, I’m not sure how much longer it went, but I was getting tired and hungry. The concert aspect was fun. It was like any other music performance, people danced and sang and what not, but then came the main sermon.
The sermon lasted for maybe 4 hours. I’m not exactly sure what was being done (because I’m not religious and it was all in Swahili), but it seemed to be an intense type of prayer/preaching with some singing sprinkled in. My legs got shaky from the amount of standing/dancing/swaying and it was like a sauna inside the room. On top of that it seemed like nobody was eating, drinking, or using the bathroom for 6 hours straight (I was an exception, I made sure to bring a bunch of water). It definitely felt spiritual. Although there were thousands of people it was a good time sit alone with myself and look internally.
At some points it got strange to me. And not because people were crying or hissing out prayers or screeching in an unusually high pitch, but because a few people began convulsing and were carried escorted to back room by event staff. There was one woman who was holding her body rigid like a plank of wood, arms stretched above her head, legs twisting and stretching, head thrown back (like an image out of The Exorcist), who was being held up by 10ish staff and carried, as well, to that back room. Whenever it got quiet in the auditorium, you could hear the individuals screaming prayers from the spiritual emergency room.
When I got home I had dinner and went straight to bed I was so tired. Even though my clothes were wet from sweat as if I’d got caught in a thunderstorm, I didn’t shower and passed out seconds after laying in bed. Overall it was a great experience. Like church I was appreciative of the time to be intrinsic with my thoughts, but it did feel a bit extreme and over the top. I also enjoyed the workout it gave me, I woke up this morning with sore legs and had to stretch em out a little bit. I don’t know if I’d go again. If it were just the music, definitely, but otherwise I felt like I was intruding on very private and holy moments that I don’t have enough appreciation for.