Africa Meets Appalachia

My hometown of Hendersonville, North Carolina is known for its religiosity.  Literally hundreds of churches lie within a 15-mile radius of this town of 12,000; most prominent amongst them is not surprisingly First Baptist Church, which locals view as being in a never-ending "building" war with the nearby First United Methodist Church.  Today, Hendersonville's newspaper, The Times News ran a story that logically caught my eye: "Camp Africa to Give Teens a Glimpse of Different Culture." Two Christian missionaries who had served in Africa named Justin and Rebekah Rhodes are constructing what they call an "authentic African village" in the hills of North Carolina which will play host to a group of Christian teens for several days in the summer. Not surprisingly, the goal of Africa Camp is to encourage teens to consider becoming Christian missionaries in Africa.  Screeeeeeech. 

Of course, the Rhodes' efforts to encourage youth to have a global perspective and to share concern about mutual humanity is highly laudatory. Their commitment to the continent is evident.  What is worrisome is both their portrayal of Africa and the necessity of further proselytizing from outsiders.  The portrayal of the continent from Camp Africa's website speaks volumes. “It all happens in an authentically simulated village. The living quarters, the cooking fires, the meals, the clothing, the language, even the currency is truly African. The only thing we’ve left out is the malaria!" And Africans, whom apparently have no hand in determining what "authentic" African culture the teens will be taught. The advert concludes, "You’ll experience the culture and mystic [sic] of ‘the dark continent’ without traveling there.” The game is not a new one: Christian missionaries portraying Africa as "mystic" and "malarial" so as to convince future generations of their need to bring those living in the "dark continent" into the light of a (Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, etc.) set of beliefs.  Perhaps most disconcerting about the story was the "unbiased" reporting by the story's author, Ann Wirtz, who reported summarily that: "Africa Camp aims to show campers the need for Christian missionaries in Africa, where tens of thousands in villages are unaware of God’s love for them." We shan't even begin to approach the importance of distinguishing between fact vs. opinion in reporting.  The Rhodes should be congratulated for their commitment to the continent and their willing creativity to share this passion with youth.  They should be careful, however, not to denigrate the continent in order to convince American Christianity of its necessity to "save" it once again.