This week I decided to focus on the story of The Feeding of 5,000
found in John 6. I had several students help act out the story while I
narrated. When appropriate, I had them say their “lines” in English,
then Kiswahili. As we reflected on the story afterward, I wanted to
encourage students to have willing hearts – like the little boy in the
story who willingly gave Jesus the little that he had (5 loaves of
bread and 2 fish). With this little amount of food that the boy gave,
God worked a miracle and fed a crowd of 5,000 people. I asked the
students in one of my fist bible classes, “What is the word for
‘willing’ in Kiswahili?” “Wasi-wasi” was the response I received. So
in all of the following bible classes, I encouraged the students to
have “wasi-wasi hearts” – like the little boy. Today, as I taught the
same lesson to a form 3 class (upper classman who are the most
advanced in their English skills), I discovered that “wasi-wasi” does
not mean “willing”, it means “worried”. So…yeah. Basically, I’ve been
encouraging students all week to have “worried hearts”, because God
loves a “wasi-wasi heart”. Great. Welcome to heretical teaching 101
with Jen!