Twin brother and sister, Vin and Nina Lightfoot have never met their grandfather. They were told by their parents that he passed away shortly after their birth. On the 10th of October 2010, however, they each discover strange and mysterious birthday gifts and decide it best to keep them hidden. Should children really have to tell their parents every little secret?
In my book, KIKABU refers to the enigmatic name of a farm. A farm with mysterious ownership, a strange history and a backyard that makes no geographic sense. The farm got its name for good reason – the pursuit and contest for revelation and enlightenment. To uncover hidden wonders! Some seek it for their own power and glory, but that is not its purpose. The concept of KIKABU is beautifully expressed in the Bible: “… the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of HIS CALLING, and what is the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints…” (Eph1:15-23.)
Seekers, by definition, are on a journey of discovery. They are people with a certain mindset – a curiosity that asks questions, not just to gain knowledge, but to find wonder, solutions, identity, meaning and purpose. The destination does not lie in the answers, but in the relationships that make the journey feel like home. The best relationships are forged in Jesus Christ – the greatest unfolding revelation of them all.
Our Potgieter family bloodline is directly linked to the rich history of South Africa and the pioneers that set its Northern borders, named its landmarks and founded many of its cities and towns, but our forefathers were not alone in shaping this nation. We have learnt from their examples and mistakes that a nation cannot be built upon cultures and traditions of the past, but on a united future outlook, based on God’s agenda for our place in the world, in Christ. We are not focused on a National loyalty, -pride or -patriotism, but on the responsibility of each individual to find their unique place in this breathtaking rainbow tapestry. There are a few elements of the Voortrekkers youth organization that inspire us, but we do not share their concept of values, structure or history.
The go-to answer would be YES, but we all know it’s not as simple as that. Firstly, we are not an organization. Are we a co-op, a movement, or a ministry? All of them and none of them. What we are is an unfolding discovery and we are okay with that. We believe in relationships based on free association and guidance by the Holy Spirit – not traditional organizational structures or principles. The words: Christian Organization – much like Christian values or Christian schools, are a contradiction in terms to us. God does not live in structures made by human hands. In Christ, we are free from the Law, to take up the responsibility of spiritual relationship. We like the terms Ecclesia, Body and Family!
We are passionate about education, learning and growing – but not in the context of a school system or a system-based curriculum. So NO, we are not a school but, we love school people. We prefer the idea of “homeschooling” in the sense that raising children should be mentioned in the same conversation as raising a family or – a community in God’s plan. Proverbs 22:6 says it so well: “Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” It is supposed to be a challenging, “out of the box” endeavor – as all the best things are. Every child is exceptional and forms part of a unique family structure and therefore their tailor-made learning environment should reflect that. At best, we’d like to serve in a creative, imaginative and adventurous “enrichment” capacity, within friendship/community networks.
No, although we find that more homeschooling families find the freedom in their structure and schedule to incorporate our material. If not, your homeschooling is missing the point. No human being should EVER be too busy to play. We encourage education centered on unique personal requirements and identity, rather than traditional societal norms and standards. We welcome everybody who’d like to join the adventure. Your involvement and participation is at your own pace and discretion. Kikabu Seekers is also not only for children, but for all the young at heart who love family, fun and surprises!
Our greatest passion and preference is for personal interaction. That is what human beings are built for! We are grateful for internet and social media coverage to share our adventure, but “virtual” will never be real. Our events are what we excel at and what we would like to focus our time and energy on, so missing out on events is really MISSING OUT. If you live too far for our events, our advice would be to get in contact with us to help you with strategy and ideas for your own events. We’d feel very honored if you would like to start a “Seekers Outpost” in your area and we can surely help with that, but your unique creativity and attributes are what your community needs most and we’d be more than happy to help you discover and develop those too.
We can all agree that there is some SCARY STUFF out there, but it’s often not the “scary stuff” you should be worried about the most. It is often the “very acceptable”, sweet and cute stuff that cause the most damage. Things we perceive as “normal” and traditional – taught in schools, churches and households can be way more destructive than magic dragons and fantasy worlds. The Bible says that Jesus never taught anything without a story. The imagery in the Bible spans the whole spectrum – from the purely heavenly and symbolic to the most shockingly evil and explicit. You would also be surprised how God can use the most worldly or outlandish tale for His higher purposes – with the right mindset and guidance. Distinguishing between fact and fantasy and the vital role that imagination, symbolism and characterization plays in understanding “real world” scenarios, is something that comes naturally to children and should be encouraged and developed with wisdom and guidance from the Holy Spirit. Never throw out the baby with the bath water.
My son’s first birthday had a “creepy creature” theme and my invitation card artwork set our imaginations off in a significant way. It demanded a story and that’s where my first book; “Professor Speloek en die Hik-Hop” was born. We started homeschooling our kids eight years later and by then, all the original creatures had back stories, well-developed characters with motivation and they all needed a working world to function in – a world destined to collide with ours in a big way! The characters played important roles in defining our homeschool subjects and – in being their champions. At that time, God was calling us toward a fresh and pioneering step of faith and surrender to His plan for us and the best way I could express it all, happening at once, was to write a story. The story does not only lend itself to a sequel, but to a world that generates stories- as every well-imagined world should. I have enough in mind for about six books and the first one has already been adapted as a movie script… The dream lives on.
If the question was: “Should parents homeschool their children?” the answer would be an easy YES, but answers are not always that simple. My answer would rather be a conversation on where you are in relationship with God, on this matter. What has He commanded you to do, personally and explicitly and where do you currently stand in that scenario? God didn’t want kings to rule Israel, but they nagged until they got their way and a lot of sorrow came from that – but King David and a lot of other good things came from that also. The future, we are heading into, does not look too bright for the “kingdoms of the world” and God is taking authority back to where it’s supposed to be. The equation can easily be made with the school system versus the family unit and the Christ community, but just like moving from worldly politics to a royal priesthood – it’s going to take a process of surrender to God and you need to find your place in that process. Will you be found in Babylon when she falls?
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