They've held orphaned babies, mined for rocks and coped with sickness and malaria. After landing in Sydney yesterday, the friends and families of Sydney teenagers fresh from a mission to Africa are praying to overcome "reverse' culture shock.
On the first day back from an extraordinary month long trip with African Enterprise, the 16 Bible college students are resting and coming to terms with being back in a Western culture after being immersed in situations of desperate poverty in Uganda.
According to the team leader Peter Gunning, AE's Mission Development Director, the homesickness that affected some of the group could well turn into distress at being faced with a vastly different environment.
"Pray that" the reverse culture shock will not overwhelm them," Mr Gunning says.
"Pray that we will continue to allow these experiences to impact us now and in the future."
The students are all part of the Year 13 program, a gap-year for teenagers who have just finished studying their HSC run by Anglican Youthworks.
The year features a one month short-term experience to Africa to give students insight into overseas mission.
The students worked in two teams, one in the south-west of Uganda and the other close to the Rwandan border.
Apart from working alongside AE staff in various community projects, they also worked with the Anglican Church of Uganda, sharing the gospel at church services for local school children.
The teenagers also interacted in primary and secondary schools, using drama, songs and testimonies to communicate the good news.
Most recently one of the teams helped to build an energy saving stove and dig and move rocks for a development centre.
"They had to gather rocks from up the hill and the locals were amazed that the whites were willing to get involved and get dirty," Mr Gunning says.
"Both teams" returned to Kampala from their adventures in rural areas. For many, this was an eye opener into subsistent living and the issues that are related with that."
Some team members fell ill while the group praised God that their driver recovered from malaria.
AE's Special Projects Director John Beckett says Uganda was chosen because it is holds one AE's larger ministries in Africa and also because the country is relatively stable.
"When you're taking a bunch of 18 and 19-year-olds, it's good to take them somewhere where it's reasonably safe," Mr Beckett says.
"You get the cultural experience without putting them in danger."
The group was the first official trip between African Enterprise and Youthworks, and Mr Beckett is confident there will be more in the future.
"[Year 13] provides nine months (March to November) during which students "take a year on' and get a sample of Christian ministry in a close community of like-minded people," says Year 13 Director Jodie McNeill.
In addition to the two days per week at Youthworks College in southern Sydney studying a ‘Diploma-Lite’ course, it includes practical ministry experience at a church or a school.
Alongside the mission to Africa, there are opportunities to serve as a leader on several of the Youthworks holiday and Horizon school camps.
