April 2013 - The Boys' Brigade

“The work out here has been at times challenging but also
rewarding… The children all appear to be eager to learn and
it has been great building up relationships with them and their
teachers.” (Toby Smith, Uganda)
“The kids’ clubs are so much fun… the young guys from
the church that lead them do such a fantastic job… Everything
has just left me thanking God at the end of each day!”
(Jono Sparey, Kosova)
If you would like to see God work in the lives of young people,
then please do not hesitate to get in touch with us or point others
in our direction. Email trips@smileinternational.org or call us
on 01689 870932 – we’d be delighted to help!
You can keep up to date with our work by looking at our
facebook page www.facebook.com/smileinternational
Are the young people in your Company often wondering
what to do when they leave school?
Wondering whether to go to Uni, start work straight away or go
travelling? With Smile International they could:
See things that many people could not even begin to imagine!
Meet extraordinary people!
Learn from the very community they are serving!
Meet God in the last place they thought they’d fi nd Him!
• Come back different!
We have opportunities for 3, 6 or 9 months in Kosova, Uganda,
Zimbabwe, India or Sri Lanka where young people can work
alongside our Project Managers to provide essential support
for some of the world’s poorest people.
The Secret Diary of Alexander Williams, Captain of the 1st Nowhere Company
April 2013
They don’t write hymns like that anymore, I thought to myself as I was driving home from the Easter Sunday service and found myself
humming the tune to “Thine Be The Glory.” I never have been sure what a “raiment” is (apparently it’s not some sort of waterproof), but you
can’t beat the tune. That Handel knew what he was doing.
My journey home from church takes me through Snaresville, one of the less enticing parts of Nowhere. Admittedly, it’s not the sort of place
where you don’t even dare to stop at the traffic lights (although I noticed that someone seemed to have stolen the red bulb from both lights
at the junction of Wilson and Haffenden streets). But it’s definitely the least salubrious part of town. Lots of sprawling estates and known
locally for its drugs problems and widespread unemployment. I had occasionally played with the thought that there was a great opportunity
for BB work on the Snaresville estates. Once I even half-hinted at the possibility with our previous minister. But he looked at me as if I had
just asked him to preach for the rest of the year on the book of Leviticus. So I decided to drop the idea.
But with thoughts of glorious victory won over death ringing in my ears, and the warmth of the sun behind the windscreen, the idea began
to eat at me again. Doesn’t the BB have something to offer the kids who live on the Snaresville estate?
My brain was quick to answer in the negative: after the tentative steps first taken at our January staff meeting, we are now well-advanced
in our plans to organise a Fun Day in May in the local park. It’s a profile-raising, recruitment initiative for the 1st Nowhere. This is not the
time to be trying to set up a new satellite BB unit on a nearby estate. We barely have enough leaders as it is. And, let’s be honest, who
wants to spend most of the evening worrying if someone is nicking your car stereo while you’re trying to teach first aid.
But my mind then went back to a presentation at a recent Battalion meeting by a member of the national Brigade staff. The Brigade had
been awarded government money to work in deprived areas and we might have to think about new ways of working. There was a man in
my office who volunteered at the Salvation Army’s day centre for old people in Snaresville. I suppose that it’s theoretically possible that the
Sally Army might be prepared to sponsor a BB company in Snaresville, even if the home church isn’t too keen. And the Brigade apparently
has resources for working in new ways in deprived areas. So if I got in touch with one of the new development workers, maybe we could try
to recruit some leaders from some of the men who live on the estate? In fact, I had read in the local paper the previous week that there was
a group of unemployed men on the estate who had got hold of a piece of land to use as community allotments. I wonder if any of them
might be interested in doing something for kids at the allotments. I remember reading in the Gazette once about a BB crop-planting
project somewhere in Africa. Maybe we could try to interest the urban tearaways of the Snaresville estates in gardening?
I suddenly came to my senses as the lights changed to green. A BB company based at an allotment on the Snaresville estate? What was
I thinking? No boy in his right mind would come. We’d never recruit any reliable leaders in a place like that. And the idea of getting any
of them (boys or leaders) into uniform (or even any form of common raiment) was laughable. I turned left into Hudson Road and then took
the next right into Neilson Drive. The tune came back into my head. But, this time, so did the words: something about scattering fear and
gloom. Maybe I’ll just give that new development worker a ring after Easter and see whether or not he thinks it’s bonkers.
Apr 2013 The Boys’ Brigade Gazette 67