SENTINEL WATCH April 5, 2004 Issue

South Africa sings a new song

By Kim Shippey

KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Come With Me into an un-air-conditioned school classroom just outside the capital city of Pietermaritzburg on a late summer's day when the temperature at 8:00 a.m. is already 80 degrees F.

The teacher, Nonhlanhla Khuzwayo, stands where she has stood every school morning for 28 years, leading her class in prayer. With an enthusiasm matched only by cicadas in the gum trees outside, 51 third graders recite the 23rd Psalm in Zulu.