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Sukulwenkosi Dube-Matutu, Gwanda Correspondent
HEAVILY loaded vehicles with all sorts of luggage make their way to various destinations.

Suitcases, chairs, cardboard boxes, water containers, food stuffs — the list is endless. This is a familiar sight around this time of the year nationwide as members of the Seventh-Day-Adventist Church make their way to their traditional annual one-week camp meeting gatherings which have become familiar even to non-Adventists.

The church members converge in various locations according to their zones where they dedicate an entire week towards worshipping.

After decades of religiously adhering to this tradition whose origins can be traced back to 1868 when the church held its first camp meeting in Michigan in the United States of America, this year congregants have been forced to break the tradition as they cannot converge due to the prevailing Covid-19 pandemic.

The church leadership is instead holding a one-week virtual camp meeting and church members are following proceedings from the comfort of their homes. This year’s arrangement will obviously not have the same impact as previous camp meetings as members cannot physically interact.

Mrs Meltah Dube, an SDA, said the camp meeting was a big event which every member of the church looked forward to every year. “I was born in an SDA family and I started attending camp meetings at a tender age at my rural home with my grandparents. I grew up going to these camps up until I started my own family and continued attending the camps with my husband and children. Some of my children are now married while some have relocated. It’s been a symbolic tradition for me for more than 50 years,” she said.

Mrs Dube said she has only missed two camps in her lifetime because of reasons beyond her control and this year will be the third.

“I would sacrifice the little money I had each year to ensure I attended the camp meeting together with my family,” she said.

Mrs Dube said the camp meetings were an important time for members of the church from all corners of the country to meet as a big family of God for worship. She said it was an exciting moment when children of God would revive their hopes and for a moment forget their troubles.

Mrs Dube said the experience was so fulfilling that a week ended up being too short.

She said when she started attending the camp meetings, there were few sites and few campers but the church had grown in leaps and bounds over the years and there were now many campsites.

“I remember when I moved to the urban areas we had two campsites the whole of Bulawayo. One was at Makokoba SDA Church and the other was at White City Stadium. At that time the church was still small and a number of suburbs in the city hadn’t been built. Over the years the church has grown and a number of campsites have been established where people converge according to their districts,” said Mrs Dube.

She said this year was different as worshippers cannot converge due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“What has made it worse is that we haven’t been attending church for some time because of the pandemic. Having a virtual camp meeting won’t be the same as the actual event and on my part I won’t manage to access it as I don’t have access to the internet,” she said.

Mr Moment Malandu who is also a member of the SDA said when he was young, attending camp meetings was just a routine for him. He said it was only when he was an adult that he began to understand the significance and relevance of the event. He said a camp meeting was a big event which required careful preparation.

“Camp meetings are an important event in the life of any SDA member. It requires dedication and proper preparation. I grew up in a rural set up and we knew that camp meetings required a great deal of preparation. We would set aside special food which we would carry to the camp and our parents would buy new clothes for us specifically for the camp meeting. A goat would be slaughtered specifically for the camp. Even up to now people still delicately prepare for this important event.

“The camps also require careful planning and organising.Therefore prior to the camps we hold special prayers as churches where we pray for the success of the event and for unity and humility among the children of God. After the camp one comes back as a changed person,” he said.

Mr Malandu said the purpose of converging for a week was for people to leave the comfort of their homes and gather at a place where there would be few disruptions. He said members were also encouraged to use their cellphones sparingly during the period.

Mr Malandu said the programme covered sermons, lessons on various topics tackling life issues and the congregants were divided according to age groups. He said the congregants were equipped with skills in areas such as agriculture, carpentry and dressmaking among others.

“The camp meetings help nurture a culture of togetherness and fellowship among people. We share meals, we meet new faces each year and we create lasting bonds. It helps to revive that culture of “Ubuntu”. We become one family of God. For me camping symbolises leaving the world and going to Heaven where we will be worshipping God. Whenever I miss a camp meeting I really feel a huge gap. James 5v16 is a Bible verse which motivates me to attend camp meetings,” he said.

Miss Melania Marinyame said for her the camp meeting was an opportunity to take a rest from the hustles of life and to connect with God which in turn brought healing to the soul. She said it allowed for a lot of time to be dedicated to prayer and worshipping.

Miss Marinyane said she had a passion for music and therefore wanted more time to be devoted to singing during the camp.

This year the leadership of the SDA organised a virtual camp meeting which started on Sunday and ends this coming Saturday under the theme “A Christ-centred culture, Our culture”.

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